1 5 *7S GjS %5 59-C5970
Genetic studies of genius
I 4 -** gifted group at nil-life
GENETIC STUDIES OF GENIUS
EDITED BY
LEWIS M. TERM AN
VOLUME V
THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
THIRTY- FIVE YEARS* FOLLOW-UP OF THE SUPERIOR CHILD
GENETIC STUDIES OF GENIUS
EDITED BY LEWIS M. TERMAN
VOLUME I. MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAITS OF A
THOUSAND GIFTED CHILDREN
By LEWIS M. TERMAN and OTHERS
VOLUME II. THE EARLY MENTAL TRAITS OF
THREE HUNDRED GENIUSES
By CATHARINE M. Cox
VOLUME III. THE PROMISE OF YOUTH : FOLLOW-UP
STUDIES OF A THOUSAND GIFTED CHILDREN
By BARBARA S. BURKS, DORTHA W. JENSEN,
and LEWIS M, TERMAN
VOLUME IV. THE GIFTED CHILD GROWS UP : TWENTY-
FIVE YEARS' FOLLOW-UP OF A SUPERIOR GROUP
By LEWIS M. TERMAN and MELITA H. ODEN
VOLUME V. THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE : THIRTY-
FIVE YEARS' FOLLOW-UP OF THE SUPERIOR CHILD
By LEWIS M. TERMAN and MELITA H. ODEN
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS 7 FOLLOW-UP
OF THE SUPERIOR CHILD
VOLUME V
GENETIC STUDIES OF GENIUS
LEWIS M. TERMAN AND MELITA H. ODEN
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
LONDON: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1959
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
LONDON: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1959 BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 25-8797 REV.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF FINANCIAL
ASSISTANCE
The research studies reported in this volume have been financed by
grants-in-aid and anonymous gifts totaling close to $250,000.
The greater part of the expenses incurred between 1921 and 1929
were defrayed by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. Stan-
ford University, through the Thomas Welton Stanford Fund, financed
the follow-up study of 1936-37 and contributed minor supplementary-
funds as needed between 1928 and 1936.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York provided two grants which
made possible the extensive follow-up of 1939-41 and the statistical
work on the resulting data between 1941 and 1943. The National Re-
search Council, through its Committee for Research on Problems of
Sex, financed the studies on marital adjustments reported in Volume
IV, and the Columbia Foundation of San Francisco provided three
annual grants which met approximately three-fourths of the expenses
incurred between 1943 and 1946 in continued follow-up of the subjects
and analysis of data. Annual grants from the Marsden Foundation of
Palm Springs from 1946 to 1953 provided partial support of the study
during those years.
Three grants from the Carnegie Corporation from 1949 to 1951 and
a grant from the Rockefeller Corporation in 1950 financed the 1950-52
follow-up investigation. A research contract from the Office of Naval
Research in 1951 defrayed the expenses of a study of scientists and non-
scientists in the gifted group.
In 1955 a grant from the Fund for the Advancement of Education
made possible the mail follow-up of that year and the preparation of
much of the data for this volume.
Material assistance has been provided from time to time by gifts
from various individual donors including several parents of the gifted
subjects, a few of the subjects themselves, the owner of a well-known
magazine, and other anonymous donors.
To all these benefactors, grateful acknowledgment of their support
is made.
By special arrangement, all royalties from the publications result-
ing from this study have been assigned to the research funds.
FOREWORD
This report on the further development of the Terman Gifted Group
brings them into mid-life. It provides a concise summary of the main
findings reported in previous volumes, and then presents the data ob-
tained in the field and mail follow-up studies that were completed in
1955. It tells, dramatically but objectively, what thirty-five years of liv-
ing have done to those gifted eleven-year-olds whose characteristics
were first described in Volume I of this series. If the interim evidence
examined here leads to any one salient conclusion, it is that the end of
their intellectual and social vigor is not yet in sight. Indeed, if ever
there was excitement in figures, it is in those that form the data for this
skillfully presented and gracefully written report of what these men and
women look like in their maturity. For many a student of contemporary
society, this volume will be the pay-off, the best and most informative
of the series of Genetic Studies of Genius.
Professor Terman began this study in 1921, when he was in his
mid-forties, and most of the children were about eleven. When he died
near the end of his eightieth year, the "children" had reached their mid-
forties themselves, and Professor Terman had maintained continuous
data collection from them for more than three decades. In this time, he
conducted three major field studies, several mail follow-ups, tested a
large proportion of the group's offspring, and maintained such close
personal relationships with the nearly 1,500 members of the group that
95 percent of them were still active research subjects.
The present volume was fully planned and the data analysis com-
pleted before Professor Terman's death. He had written initial drafts
of Chapters I, II, III, and IX, and had made notes for Chapter XI ;
Mrs. Oden wrote the others, and prepared the final manuscript for
publication. Thus ends a personal collaboration of many years and many
volumes. It was a fortunate one, and one for which the collaborators'
colleagues render much thanks.
What does not end is the lives and careers and our study of the
gifted group. With data already in hand, Mrs. Oden will continue the
analysis of developmental trends, including a number of investigations
that had been projected by Professor Terman. The body of information
provided by the gifted group to date is extremely valuable, not only for
Vlii THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
the findings already reported, but for analyses yet to be made. The
future promises information of equal importance. Professor Terman
foresaw this clearly, and before his death he completed arrangements
with Stanford University for the continuing maintenance of the integ-
rity and confidentiality of the files. He designated his son, Dr. Fred-
erick E. Terman, now Provost of the University, and his long-time col-
league, Dr. Quinn McNemar, Professor of Psychology at Stanford,
as the official custodians. To me, he delegated the administrative re-
sponsibility for planning such continuing research operations with the
group as may seem appropriate. To assist in this enterprise, he assigned
funds from his estate that will provide partial support for maintaining
the files for several years.
In this connection, a word is in order. Professor Terman began
the project with a grant from the Commonwealth Fund in 192L Since
then, half a dozen other foundations and government agencies have
contributed financial support. The total expended to date has been
approximately a quarter million dollars. The largest single donor was
Professor Terman himself, who provided more than one-fifth of the
total cost by direct gift. In addition, he and his co-authors assigned to
the study all royalties from their publications relating to the study.
And so we reach the end of one stage in this extraordinary research
enterprise. When Professor Terman came to Stanford in 1910, as an
assistant professor of education, the scientific study of the intellect had
scarcely begun. In Paris, Alfred Binet had constructed an ingenious
test for measuring academic ability in school children; at Columbia
University's Teachers College, E. L. Thorndike had begun work on
the measurement of school achievement. But it remained for Lewis
Terman to conceive the development of a rigorous intelligence test
that could select the ablest children and thus allow society to focus its
full educative power on developing their potential. In 1916, Terman
published the Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon test. In the last
years of World War I, he was a prime mover in the construction of the
Army Alpha and Beta tests. After the war, with both individual and
group tests available, he turned to the problem that had enthralled him
ever since his graduate student days at Clark University. Although
he made two useful excursions into other fields the measurement of
masculinity-femininity and of marital happiness his main concern for
the rest of his life was the research on gifted children.
What he started, now remains to be finished. Science is cumulative
FOREWORD IX
by its very nature, but only among the chroniclers of the stars and the
waters have such prolonged studies of individual objects been made
heretofore. We can be grateful for the courage and vision of the man
who finally broke the barrier of the limited lifetime alloted to any one
researcher, and got under way a study of man that will encompass the
span of the subjects' lives, not just those of the researchers. So Pro-
fessor Terman has bowed out, and this is the last interim report in
which he will have participated personally. Certainly there will be other
replacements in the list of our research personnel before the final vol-
ume of this series can be written. On actuarial grounds, there is con-
siderable likelihood that the last of Terman's Gifted Children will not
have yielded his last report to the files before the year 2010 !
ROBERT R. SEARS
Stanford University
January 10, 1959
PREFACE
This is the fifth volume in the Genetic Studies of Genius series and
the fourth concerned with the longitudinal study of gifted children
initiated by Lewis M. Terman in 1921.* As this report is being com-
pleted in the summer of 1958, more than 35 years have elapsed since the
investigation was undertaken, and more than one and one-half years
have passed since the death of Dr. Terman.
His imagination and vision, his fortitude and perseverance, his per-
suasiveness and charm all these enabled him to follow the careers of
this same group of subjects continuously for three and one-half decades
until his death. It was due, in large measure, to the human qualities
of Dr. Terman that his study of gifted children grew into a very close
personal relationship between him and the members of his group a
relationship that has been maintained throughout the years. Always
active in the research, he was able, after his retirement as head of the
Psychology Department in 1942, to give it his full attention. His affec-
tion for the group is shown in the warm and personal tone of the follow-
up letters, even the "form" letters, which bore the salutation To my
gifted "children" the quotation marks added in recognition of their
adult status. It happens that the gifted children turned out, in one way
or another, to be gifted adults, but if they had not, Dr. Terman's affec-
tion for them would have been no less. He repeatedly expressed, and
not infrequently was called on to prove, his deep personal interest in
each subject. As one of his letters accompanying a questionnaire put it,
"although the published reports will be largely statistical, I want you
to know that each of you is to me a real person and not just another
statistic."
This study is unique in a number of ways : the many years it has
continued, the vast amount of immensely valuable data collected, the
zeal with which the inviolability of the records has been safeguarded
and the confidences of the subjects respected, the enduring friendship
and loyalty of the group, and their unparalleled cooperation. The fact
that 95 percent of the group are still actively participating in the study,
a striking manifestation of the rapport between investigator and sub-
* Vol. II of the series by Catharine M. Cox was titled Early ^Mental Traits of
Three Hundred Geniuses 5 and is a collateral study dealing with Historical geniuses.
xii THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
jects, strengthens the validity of the findings. The debt of gratitude
owed the subjects and their parents can never be adequately expressed.
The research has yielded documentary evidence that the gifted
child is far more apt to become the intellectually superior, vocationally
successful, well-adjusted adult than will the average. These findings
have tremendous importance for education and it is a source of satis-
faction to know that this study has contributed to the present interest
in better educational provisions for gifted children everywhere. Dr.
Terman's work stands as a landmark in the identification of superior
mental ability and the factors that make for its effective utilization.
Another phenomenon of the study has been the constancy and devo-
tion of those who have collaborated as assistants and consultants
testimony to Dr. Terman's gift for friendship, his generosity of spirit,
loyalty and understanding. He has paid tribute in the previous volumes
of this series to those who assisted him in the various phases of the
study. The field study of 1950-52 was carried out by Nancy Bayley,
Helen Marshall, Alice Leahy Shea, Ellen Sullivan, and myself. Dr.
Marshall, who with Dr. Florence Goodenough conducted the original
search for subjects in 192122, has the distinction of having worked
in each follow-up investigation. Dr. Bayley and Dr. Sullivan had both
assisted in the follow-up of 1939-40 and Dr. Shea had assisted in the
field study of 1927-28. In an investigation in which success depends
so much on personal relationships, the role of the field worker is an
important one, and the study was fortunate that such experienced and
highly qualified persons as Dr. Bayley, Dr. Marshall, Dr. Sullivan, and
Dr. Shea were willing to take leaves of absence from their regular posi-
tions to assist in these follow-up studies.
Although I did not have the privilege of working on the initial in-
vestigation of 1921-22, 1 had known Dr. Terman even before that date
in my student days. When he engaged me as one of his assistants in
1927 to help with the first field follow-up of the gifted group, it was
the beginning of a long and close association. It is difficult to express
or interpret in words the many intangible effects of this association.
The inspiration, the intellectual stimulation, the new frontiers explored,
the wise counsel, the warm friendship all these were among the re-
wards of working with such a man.
Among those to whom the more recent phases of the study owe
much are Dr. Olga W. McNemar, who assisted in the data analysis and
preparation of reports between 1943 and 1949 and who was the chief
PREFACE Xlll
collaborator with Dr. Terman in a study of scientists and nonscientists
in the gifted group "which -was made in 195152. Dr. Quinn Me-
Nemar, who has been close to all of Dr. Terman's researches, has served
as consultant on the gifted study for many years and has contributed
constructive help on statistical problems growing out of the research.
Dr. Marian Ballin gave important statistical help in preparing" the
data for this volume.
Mrs. Babette Doyle, between the years 1947 and 1956, and Mrs.
Shiela Buckholtz, from 1952 to the present, have each rendered in-
valuable assistance in the dual capacity of secretary and research assist-
ant. In addition I am personally indebted to each for her help in the
preparation of this manuscript through careful reading, criticism, and
suggestions for improvement.
Finally, I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Robert Sears not only for
his critical reading of the manuscript but also for his encouragement
and faith -when, with the loss of Dr. Terman, the responsibility for
the completion of this volume fell to me. I have tried to make it as
nearly as possible the book that Dr. Terman himself would have written.
Lacking his grace and ease of expression as well as his wisdom and
experience, I could not hope to succeed entirely. To whatever extent
the goal has been achieved, special credit is due Mrs. Buckholtz, Mrs.
Doyle, and Dr. Sears.
MELITA H. ODEN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMAN STUDY OF GIFTED
CHILDREN 1
II. THE INTERMEDIATE YEARS 17
III. THE GROUP REACHES MID-LIFE 23
IV. MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT . 28
V. INTELLECTUAL STATUS AT MID-LIFE 52
VI. THE MATTER OF SCHOOLING 64
VII. THE MATTER OF CAREER 73
VIII. AVOCATIONAL AND OTHER INTERESTS 107
IX. SOME POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ATTITUDES .... 119
X. MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND OFFSPRING 132
XI. THE FULFILLMENT OF PROMISE 143
REFERENCES CITED 153
APPENDIX 157
INDEX 181
CHAPTER I
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMAN
STUDY OF GIFTED CHILDREN
Many philosophers and scientists from Plato and Aristotle to the
present day have recognized that a nation's resources of superior talent
are the most precious it can have. A number of factors, however, have
operated to postpone until recent years the inauguration of research in
this field. Among these are : ( 1 ) the influence of long-current beliefs
regarding the essential nature of the genius, long regarded as qualita-
tively set off from the rest of mankind and not to be explained by the
natural laws of human behavior ; (2) the widespread superstition that
intellectual precocity is pathological; and (3) the growth of pseudo-
democratic sentiments that have tended to encourage attitudes unfavor-
able to a just appreciation of individual differences in human endow-
ment.
The senior author's first exploration into the problems posed by
intellectual differences occurred over a half-century ago when, as a
graduate student, he made an experimental study of two small con-
trasting groups of bright and dull children. 34 * His interest was height-
ened a few years later when, in standardizing the 1916 Stanford-Binet
Intelligence Scale, he located and studied about a hundred children
whose IQ's were above 130. He then decided to launch, at the first
opportunity, a lag-scale m mYStig-q -h'nti Jaij^ie^h^
personality gaits ofjjarge g^^
by tallow-up studt^^ such children tend
tolSecome. It was obvious that no intelligent program for training the
gifted child could be laid down until the answers to these questions
had been found.
In 1921 a generous grant from the Commonwealth Fund of New
York City made possible the realization of this ambition. The project
as outlined called for the sifting of a school population of a quarter-
* Numerals refer to numbered and alphabetically arranged references on pages
153 ff.
2 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
million in order to locate a thousand or more of highest IQ. The sub-
jects thus selected were to be given a variety of psychological, physical,
and scholastic tests and were then to be followed as far as possible into
adult life. The investigation was expected to tell us (1) what intel-
lectually superior children are like as children ; (2) how well they turn
out; and (3) what are some of the factors that influence their later
achievement.
THE SELECTION OF SUBJECTS
The problem was to discover in the schools of California a thou-
sand or more subjects with IQ's that would place them well within the
highest one percent of the school population. For financial reasons it
was not possible to give mental tests to the entire school population.
Instead, the search was limited chiefly to the larger and medium-sized
urban areas. The following procedures were used to identify the chil-
dren of highest IQ in the areas surveyed.
In grades three to eight each classroom teacher filled out a blank
which called for the name of the brightest child in the room, the second
brightest, the third brightest, and the youngest. The children thus
nominated in a particular school building were then brought together
and given a group intelligence test (National Intelligence Test, Scale
B). Those who scored promisingly high on the group test were given
an individual examination on the Stanford-Binet test. In grades below
the third, only the Stanford-Binet test was given to those nominated
by the teacher, since no suitable group test was available at that time
for younger children. In high schools the selection of subjects was
based on the Terman Group Test scores of students nominated by the
teachers as being among the brightest in their respective classes.
Checks made on the method of selection indicated that the method
used was identifying close to 90 percent of all who could have qualified.
The proportion was high enough to insure that the group selected for
study constituted a reasonably unbiased sampling and that whatever
traits were typical of these children would be reasonably typical of gifted
children in any comparable school population. The original criterion
for inclusion for the Binet-tested subjects was an IQ of 140 or above,
but for various reasons sixty-five subjects were included in the IQ
range of 135 to 139. Most of those below 140 IQ were either siblings
of subjects already admitted to the group or were older subjects whose
scores were deemed to be spuriously low because of insufficient top in
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMAN STUDY 3
the 1916 Stanford-Binet. The standard set was purely arbitrary and
was intended to insure that the subjects included for study should be
in the highest 1 percent of the school population in general intelligence
as measured by the test used. Its choice was not based on any assump-
tion that children above this IQ level are potential geniuses. The stand-
ards for admission on the Terman Group Test and other group tests
also required the subject to score within the top 1 percent of the general
school population on which the norms were established.
The nature and results of the early stages of the investigation have
been fully described in an earlier publication 39 and will be summarized
in the following pages.
COMPOSITION OF THE GROUP
The gifted subjects whose careers we have followed number, in all,
1,528 (857 males and 671 females). This figure includes a few who
were selected before 1921, and 58 who were not selected until the field
study of 1927-28. These 58 were siblings of previously selected sub-
jects who were too young to test at the time of the main search for
subjects in 1921-22.
The Binet-tested group made up more than two-thirds of the total
and included 1,070 subjects (577 boys and 493 girls). Selected by the
Terman Group Test given in high schools were 428 subjects (265 boys
and 163 girls). The remaining 30 subjects were chosen on the basis
of scores on the National Intelligence Test or the Army Alpha Test.*
The average age of the total group at the time of selection was 1 1 years ;
the Binet-tested subjects averaged 9.7 years and those qualifying on
a group test, 15.2 years.
The mean IQ of subjects who were given the Stanford-Binet was
151 .5 for the boys, 150.4 for the girls, and 151 .0 for the sexes com-
bined. The IQ range was from 135 to 200 with 77 subjects scoring
at IQ 170 or higher. The mean IQ of high-school subjects tested by
the Terman Group Test was 142.6 and the range of IQ was from
135 to 169. These figures, however, were estimates based upon norms
which were inadequate and were perhaps 8 or 10 IQ points too low.
Later follow-up of the high-school subjects indicated that they were
as highly selected as the Binet-tested group.
* This group includes 24 pre-high-school pupils with National Intelligence Test
scores and 6 high-school students with Army Alpha Test scores who were not tested
in the formal search for subjects, but were brought to the attention of the study by
their schools and included because of their very high test scores.
4 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
The sex ratio among the Binet-tested subjects was approximately
116 boys to 100 girls. The much higher sex ratio for the high-school
subjects roughly 160 boys to 100 girls is probably due to the less
systematic procedures used in locating gifted subjects in the high
schools. A sex ratio of 116 males to 100 females may be fully accounted
for by the greater variability of males. McNemar and Terman, 27 in a
survey of sex differences on variability in -such tests as the Stanford-
Binet, the National Intelligence Tests, the Pressey Group Test, and
Thorndike's CAVD test, found that 29 of 33 sex comparisons based
on age groupings showed greater variability of boys. In Scotland, 874
of 875 children who were born on four particular days of the calendar
year 1926, and were still living in 1936, were given a Stanford-Binet
test at the age of ten years. The S.D. of the IQ distribution for this
perfect sample was IS .9 for boys and 15 .2 for girls a difference suf-
ficient to give a sex ratio of 134 boys to 100 girls scoring as high as
140 IQ.
KINDS OF INFORMATION OBTAINED
Besides the intelligence test scores on which the selection of sub-
jects was based, information of many different kinds was obtained.
The chief sources were as follows.
1. A twelve-page Home Information Blank was filled out by the
child's parents. This called for information on developmental case his-
tory, circumstances of birth, early feeding, ages of walking and talking,
illnesses, nervous symptoms, home training, indications of intelligence,
age of learning to read, reading habits, educational and occupational
achievement of parents, genealogical records, and ratings on twenty-
five traits.
2. An eight-page School Information Blank was filled out by the
child's teacher. The blank called for information on school health
records, quality of school work in each separate subject, evidence of
superior ability, amount and kinds of reading, nervous symptoms, social
adjustment, and ratings on the same twenty-five traits that were rated
by the parents. This information was also obtained for a control group
of 527 unselected school children.
3. A one-hour medical examination was given to 783 gifted sub-
jects^ The examination covered vision, hearing, nutrition, posture,
teeth, heart, lungs, genitals, glandular disorders, blood pressure and
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMAN STUDY 5
hemoglobin tests, pulse and respiration rates, urine tests, and neuro-
logical conditions.
4. Thirty-seven anthropometrical measurements were made of
nearly 600 gifted subjects.
5. A three-hour battery of achievement tests was given to 550 gifted
subjects in grades two to eight. The battery covered reading, arith-
metical computation, arithmetical reasoning, language usage, spelling,
science information, language and literature information, history and
civics information, and art information. The same tests were given to
a large control group of unselected subjects.
6. A four-page Interest Blank was filled out by all the gifted sub-
jects who were able to read and write and by a large control group of
unselected subjects. The blank called for information on occupational
preferences, reading interests, school-subject interests, relative diffi-
culty of school subjects, number and size of collections, and various
activities and accomplishments.
7. A record of all books read over a period of two months was
obtained from some 550 gifted subjects and from a control group of
808 unselected children. Each book read was rated by the child for
degree of interest.
8. A test of play interest, play practice, and play information was
given to all the gifted subjects above grade two, and to a control group
of nearly 500 unselected children. This test yielded scores on mascu-
linity, maturity, and sociability of interests, and a play information
quotient.
9. A battery of seven character tests was given to 550 gifted sub-
jects and 533 unselected children of a control group. These included
two tests of overstatement ; three tests of questionable interests, prefer-
ences, and attitudes; a test of trustworthiness under temptation to
cheat ; and a test of emotional stability.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
All racial elements in the areas covered were represented in the
group, including Orientals, Mexicans, and Negroes. They came from
all kinds of homes, from the poorest to the best, but the majority were
the offspring of intellectually superior parents. The tendency to supe-
riority in the social and cultural background of the subjects is shown
in many ways. Nearly a third of the fathers as of 1922 were iti pro-
6 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
f essionai occupations, and less than 7 percent in semiskilled or unskilled
work. The mean amount of schooling of both fathers and mothers was
approximately 12 grades, or about four grades more than the average
person of their generation in the United States. A third of the fathers
and 15.5 percent of the mothers had graduated from college. Twenty-
eight fathers and six mothers had taken a Ph.D. degree numbers
which were considerably increased later. By 1940 the number of par-
ents listed in Who's Who in America were 44 fathers and 3 mothers.
The number of books in the parents' homes, as estimated by the field
assistants, ranged from almost none to 6,000, with one home out of six
having 500 or more. The median family income during 1921 for a ran-
dom sample of 170 families in the group was $3,333 ; the average for
the sample was $4,705. Only 4 . 4 percent reported $1 ,500 or less, while
14 . 1 percent reported $8,500 or more, and 4 . 1 percent reported $12,500
or more. The field assistants rated a random sample of 574 homes on
the Whittier Scale for Grading Home Conditions. Rating superior to
very superior were 60.3 percent, as contrasted with 9.5 percent rating
inferior to very inferior.
Additional evidence of the superiority of family background is the
fact that 182 of the families contributed two or more subjects to the
group. Among these were 2 families of five children, all of whom quali-
fied for the gifted group, 10 families each of whom contributed four
children to the group, and 20 families who contributed three children
each to the group. There were also 28 families whose children, often
two or more in a family, are first cousins. Since not more than one
child in a hundred of the general school population could qualify for
the group, the likelihood that two such children would be found in one
family would be almost infinitesimal by the laws of pure chance. That
so many families contributed two or more children to the group means
that something besides chance was operating, such as common ancestry,
common environment, or, more probably, both of these influences.
PHYSIQUE AND HEALTH OF GIFTED CHILDREN
Anthropometric measurements were made of a random gifted group
of 312 boys and 282 girls, all but a few of whom were between the ages
of 7 and 14. The results showed that the gifted children as a group ex-
ceeded the best standards at that time for American-born children in
growth status as indicated by both height and weight, and that they
were also above the established norms for unselected children in Cali-
fornia.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMAN STUDY /
Information on physical history was obtained from parents and
teachers for nearly all the subjects, and information on health history
was also* obtained from the teachers for a control group of 527 unselected
children enrolled in the classes attended by members of the gifted group.
The mean birth weight reported by the mothers of the gifted was about
three-quarters of a pound above the norm according to the commonly
accepted standards of the time. About 17 percent of male births and 12
percent of female births involved instrumental deliveries ; these rather
high figures probably reflect the quality of obstetrical service obtained
by parents of superior intelligence and above-average income. The pro-
portion of breast feeding was considerably in excess of the figures re-
ported by Woodbury 44 for the general population. The reported ages
of learning to walk averaged about a month less, and the age of learning
to talk about three and one-half months less, than the mean ages re-
ported for unselected children. Among the older children, the onset of
puberty, as indicated by change of voice in boys and by first menstrua-
tion of girls was, on the average, earlier than for children of the gen-
eral population. About a third of the gifted subjects had suffered one
or more accidents, 8 percent having had bone fractures. The number
of surgical operations averaged one per child, over half of which were
for adenoids or tonsils.
The School Information Blank filled out by teachers of the gifted
subjects, and also for a control group attending the same classes, fur-
nished interesting comparative data. These reports indicate that "fre-
quent headaches" were only half as common among the gifted as among
the controls, "poor nutrition/* a third as common, "marked" or "ex-
treme" mouth-breathing two-thirds as common, and defective hearing
half as common. The two groups did not differ significantly with re-
spect to frequency of colds, "excessive timidity," or "tendency to
worry," but "nervousness" was reported for 20 percent fewer gifted
than controls.
The medical examination was given to 783 of the gifted subjects
who lived in or near Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay area. The
examinations were made by two experienced child specialists, both of
whom had had two years of postgraduate work in the department of
pediatrics at the University of California Medical School. All exami-
nations -were made in the physician's office, to which the child was
brought by a parent, usually the mother. The incidence of physical
defects and abnormal conditions of almost every kind was below that
usually reported by school physicians in the best medical surveys of
8 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
school populations In the United States. This is certainly true for de-
fects of hearing and vision, obstructed breathing, dental caries, mal-
nutrition, postural defects, abnormal conditions of the heart or kidneys,
enlargement of the bronchial glands, and tuberculosis. The sleep and
dietary regimes of the group as a whole were found to be definitely
superior. The incidence of nervous habits, tics, and stuttering was
about the same as for the generality of children of corresponding age.
The examining physicians, notwithstanding occasional disagreement in
their results, were in complete accord in the belief that, on the whole,
the gifted children of this group were physically superior to unselected
children.
The combined results of the medical examinations and the physical
measurements provide a striking contrast to the popular stereotype of
the child prodigy so commonly depicted as a pathetic creature, over-
serious and undersized, sickly, hollow-chested, stoop-shouldered,
clumsy, nervously tense, and bespectacled. There are gifted children
who bear some resemblance to this stereotype, but the truth is that
almost every element in the picture, except the last, is less characteristic
of the gifted child than of the mentally average.
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
The average age on entering school (above kindergarten) was six
and a quarter years. Low first grade was skipped by 21 percent of the
children, and the entire first grade by 10 percent. The average progress
quotient for the entire gifted group was 114, which means that the aver-
age child was accelerated to the extent of 14 percent of his age. Ac-
cording to the testimony of their teachers, the average gifted child
merited additional promotion beyond where he was by 1 .3 half -grades.
"Strong" liking for school was reported by parents for 54 percent of
boys and 70 percent of girls, as compared to only 5 percent of the sexes
combined for whom parents reported either "slight liking" or "posi-
tive dislike/*
Nearly half of the children learned to read before starting to school ;
20 percent did so before the age of five years and 6 percent before four
years. Other early indications of superior intelligence most often men-
tioned by parents were quick understanding, insatiable curiosity, ex-
tensive information, retentive memory, large vocabulary, and unusual
interest in number relations, atlases, and encyclopedias.
The Stanford Achievement Tests were given in the spring of 1922
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMAN STUDY 9
to a random group of 565 gifted children in grades below the ninth.
The tests provided separate scores for reading, computation, arithmet-
ical reasoning, language usage, spelling, and four different fields of
information. The average achievement quotient for the school subjects
combined was 144, and only one quotient in six was as low as 130, The
difference of 30 quotient points between the average achievement quo-
tient of 144 and the average progress quotient of 114 (noted above),
means that the average gifted child was retarded in grade placement by
30 percent of his age below the level of achievement which he had
already reached. More than half of those tested had mastered the school
curriculum to a point two full grades beyond the one in which they were
enrolled, and some of them as much as three or four grades beyond.
For the fields of subject matter covered by our tests, the superiority
of the gifted subjects over unselected children was greatest in reading,
arithmetical reasoning, and information ; it was least in computation and
spelling.
Another question answered by the achievement tests was whether
the gifted child tends to be more one-sided in his abilities than the aver-
age child, as so many people believe to be the case. Analysis of the
subject-matter achievement quotients of the gifted group as compared
to a group of unselected children shows that the amount of unevenness
in subject-matter profiles of the gifted does not differ significantly from
that shown by unselected children.
CHILDHOOD INTERESTS AND PREOCCUPATIONS
The four-page Interest Blank was filled out by all of the gifted who
were old enough to read, and also by a control group of unselected chil-
dren. In a long list of school subjects the children were asked to rate
on a five-point scale their liking for each of the school subjects they
had studied. We will consider here only the ratings given by children
of ages 11 to 13, inclusive. Analysis of the ratings showed that gifted
children were more interested than were unselected children in school
subjects which are most abstract, and somewhat less interested in
the "practical" subjects. Literature, debating, dramatics, and history
were rated much more interesting by the gifted, while penmanship,
manual training, drawing, and painting were rated somewhat higher by
the control group. When cross-sex comparisons were made, it was
found that in their scholastic interests gifted girls resembled gifted boys
far more closely than they resembled control girls.
10 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
In the same Interest Blank was a list of 125 occupations and the
child was told to place one cross before each occupation he might pos-
sibly wish to follow and two crosses before his one first choice. The data
were treated for ages 8 to 13 for both gifted and control groups. Analy-
sis of the data revealed that the gifted showed greater preference for
professional and semiprofessional occupations, and the control group
greater preference for mechanical and clerical occupations and for
athletics.
The test of interest in 90 plays, games, and other activities was de-
signed in such a way as to yield a preference score on each of the 90
items for each age and sex group of gifted and control subjects. Com-
parison of boys and girls in the control group with respect to kinds of
plays and games preferred made it possible to derive a masculinity-
femininity index for each child. Similarly, by comparison of prefer-
ences expressed at different ages in the control group, an index of inter-
est maturity was derived for each child. Finally, an index of sociabil-
ity was computed which was based on the extent of a child's preference
for plays and games that involve social participation and social organ-
ization. Comparison of the gifted and control (i.e., unselected) children
on these three indices yielded the following conclusions : ( 1 ) Gifted boys
tended to be somewhat more masculine in their play interests than con-
trol boys at all ages from 8 to 12 years, after which there was little dif-
ference. Gifted and control girls did not differ significantly at ages 8,
9, and 10, but at ages 11, 12, and 13 the gifted girls tended to be more
masculine. (2) Comparisons of maturity indices for gifted and control
subjects showed greater maturity of play interests for the gifted of both
sexes at all age levels ; i.e., they were ahead of their years in play inter-
ests. (3) Comparisons on sociability indices showed gifted subjects
of both sexes significantly below control subjects at all ages ; i.e., age for
age the control subjects had somewhat more interest than gifted sub-
jects in plays that involve social participation. Much of this difference
can be accounted for by the fact that the gifted child is more self-suffi-
cient and thus more able to amuse himself.
A test of play information (composed of 123 items that could be
scored objectively) was devised which yielded a play information quo-
tient based on age norms for unselected children. The average play
information quotient of the gifted was 137, and only 3 percent of the
group were below 100. The average gifted child of 9 years had acquired
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMAN STUDY 11
more factual information about plays and games than the average un-
selected child of 12 years.
Information on the amount and kind of reading done was obtained
by having 511 gifted children and 808 children of a control group keep
a record of each book read during a period of two months. The records
revealed that the average gifted child was reading about 10 books in
two months by age 7, and IS books by age 11, with little increase there-
after. Few of the control group read any books below 8 years, and after
8 years the average number read in two months was less than half that
of the gifted. Classification of the books read showed the gifted children
reading over a considerably wider range than the control children. The
gifted, much more often than the control group, preferred science, his-
tory, biography, travel, poetry, drama, and informational fiction.
CHARACTER TESTS
Do children of superior intelligence tend to be superior also in char-
acter traits ? An answer to this question was sought by giving a battery
of seven character tests to a random group of 532 gifted children aged
7 to 14 years and to a control group of 533 unselected children aged 10
to 14 years. The battery included two tests of the tendency to overstate
in reporting experience and knowledge ; three tests of the wholesome-
ness of preferences and attitudes (reading preferences, character pref-
erences, and social attitudes, respectively) ; a test of cheating under
circumstances that offered considerable temptation ; and a test of emo-
tional stability. The tests were so devised that they could be scored
objectively and could be given to the subjects in groups. The nature
of the several tests is described in an earlier report. 39
The tests of cheating and emotional stability were selected as among
the best of a battery of character tests used by Cady ; 4 the others were
all from a battery devised by Raubenheimer. 29 Both of these batteries
had been found to yield satisfactory reliability coefficients and to dis-
criminate rather effectively between boys of known delinquent tenden-
cies and boys of superior social and behavioral adjustment. Total
scores of the seven character tests have a reliability of .80 to .85
and a validity (based on discrimination between delinquent and well-
adjusted boys of ages 12 to 14) of approximately .60. Whether the
validity is equally high for girls is not known.
The results of the character tests were decisive ; the gifted group
12 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
scored "better" than the control group on every subtest at every age
from ten to fourteen. Below the age of ten no comparison was possible
because the control subjects below this age were not sufficiently liter-
ate to take the tests. Table 1 shows, for the sexes separately, the pro-
portion of gifted subjects who equaled or surpassed the mean of the
control group on each subtest and on the total score for ages ten to four-
teen combined.
TABLE 1
PROPORTION OF GIFTED SUBJECTS WHO EQUALED OR SURPASSED
THE MEAN OF CONTROL SUBJECTS IN EACH OF SEVEN
CHARACTER TESTS AND IN TOTAL SCORE
Boys Girls
Tests % %
1. Overstatement A 57 " 59
2. Overstatement B < 63 , 73
~ 3. Book preferences 74 76
4. Character preferences 77 . 81
5. Social attitudes -.-. 86 83
6. Cheating tests 68 61 , .
7. Emotional stability 67 75
Total SQore 86 84
The question may~be raised whether a part of the superiority is
spurious because of the possibility that bright subjects would be more
likely to* divine the purpose of the tests and so respond in the socially
approved way. This factor, if present at all, would be most likely to
influence scores on reading preferences^ character preferences, social
attitudes, and emotional instability. It is believed hardly to have entered
at all in the cheating test (disguised as a test of motor accuracy) or in
the two overstatement tests, all three of which gave highly reliable dif-
ferences between the gifted and control groups. In his study of delin-
cpient and well-adjusted boys, Raubenheimer 29 questioned his subjects
after they had completed the tests, to find out whether they had guessed
their purpose. Less than 5 percent of his subjects (all. thirteen years
old) guessed correctly.
TRAIT RATINGS
The plan of trait rating used with the gifted subjects was the result
of several years' experience in trying out various rating schemes with
children of average and superior ability. The traits finally selected for
rating numbered 25 and can be classified in the following categories :
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMA1ST STUDY 13
intellectual (4), volitional (4), moral (4), emotional (3), aesthetic (2),
physical (2), social; (5), and the single trait, mechanical ability. The
individual traits are listed by category in Table 2. However, in the
blanks in which the ratings were made, the traits were presented in a
mixed order.
A cross-on-line technique was used in getting the rating for each
trait and the ratings were scored in intervals of 1 to 13. Nearly all of
the gifted subjects were rated both by, a parent and by a teacher.
Teacher ratings were also obtained for 523 children of ages 8 to 14 in
a control group composed of unselected children enrolled in the same
classes as the gifted.
Parents and teachers agreed fairly well regarding the traits on which
the gifted children were most or least superior to average children. The
rank order of the traits from highest to lowest mean rating by parents
correlated .70 with the corresponding rank order based on teachers 5
ratings. However, the agreement was much less in their ratings on
individual children ; for most of the traits it was represented by a Pear-
sonian correlation of only about . 30. This figure should not be regarded
as a reliability coefficient in the true sense, for the reason that a child's
personality behavior in the school is often very different from that which
he exhibits in the home.
More important is the comparison of gifted and control subjects on
ratings given to both groups by the teachers. Table 2 giv&s the com-
parative data on both for the 25 individual traits and for groups of traits
as classified in various categories. The figures in Table 2 are for the
sexes combined and for all ages combined, since the mean ratings varied
only slightly either with age or with sex. The slight variation by age
and sex was- to be expected in view of the fact that raters were instructed
to rate each subject in comparison with the "average child of his age
and sex."
The superiority of the gifted over the control subjects as shown by
teachers' ratings agrees fairly well with the data from other sources.
This is especially true in regard to the kinds of traits in which the supe-
riority of the gifted is most or least marked. At the top of the list are the
four intellectual traits, with 89 percent of gifted rated at or above the
mean of control subjects. Especially high were the ratings of "general
intelligence" and "desire to know/' Next highest were the four voli-
tional traits, with percentages in the narrow range of 84 to 81. Third
highest are the three emotional traits, with "sense of humor" (74%) the
14 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 2
PERCENTAGES OF GIFTED SUBJECTS RATED BY TEACHERS
ABOVE THE MEAN OF THE CONTROL GROUP
Percent
1. Intellectual traits
General intelligence 97
Desire to know 90
Originality 85
Common sense 84
Average of intellectual traits 89
2. Volitional traits
Will power and perseverance 84
Desire to excel 84
Self-confidence 81
Prudence and forethought 81
Average of volitional traits 82.5
3. Emotional traits
Sense of humor 74
Cheerfulness and optimism 64
Permanence of moods 63
Average of emotional traits 67
4. Aesthetic traits
Musical appreciation 66
Appreciation of beauty 64
Average of aesthetic traits 65
5. Moral traits
Conscientiousness 72
Truthfulness 71
Sympathy and tenderness 58
Generosity and unselfishness 55
Average of moral traits 64
6^ Physical traits
Health 6Q
Physical energy 53
Average of physical traits 61
7. Social traits
Leadership 70
Sensitivity to approval j>. 57
Popularity 53
Freedom from vanity 52
Fondness for large groups 52
Average for social traits 57^4
8. Mechanical ingenuity , 47
EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERMAN STUDY IS
highest of the three. The two aesthetic traits rank fourth with percent-
ages of 64 and 66. Of the four moral traits, "conscientiousness" and
"truthfulness" are rated reliably higher than the other two ("sym-
pathy" and "generosity"). The two ratings on physical traits, which
rank next, agree fairly well with the physical data obtained from medical
examinations, health histories, and anthropometric measurements.
Ranking seventh are the five social traits ; of these, only "leadership"
(with 70% ) is rated very much above the mean of control children. The
ratings on "leadership" are consistent with the later follow-up studies
which have shown the high frequency with which gifted subjects have
been elected to class offices and honors despite their usual age disad-
vantage.
"Mechanical ingenuity" was the one trait in which teachers rated
the gifted below unselected children. It is certain that the teachers were
in error here, for test scores in mechanical ability have been consistently
found to yield positive, not negative, correlations with intelligence
scores. This is a trait which the average classroom teacher has little
opportunity to observe ; moreover, she is prone to overlook the fact that
the gifted child in her class is usually a year or two younger than the
others.
SUMMARY PORTRAIT OF THE TYPICAL GIFTED CHILD
Although there are many exceptions to the rule, the typical gifted
child is the product of superior parentage superior not only in cultural
and educational background, but apparently also in heredity. As a
result of the combined influence of heredity and environment, such
children are superior physically to the average child of the general
population.
Educationally, the typical gifted child is accelerated in grade place-
ment about 14 percent of his age ; but in mastery of the subject matter
taught, he is accelerated about 44 percent of his age. The net result is
that during the elementary-school period a majority of gifted children
are kept at school tasks two or three full grades below the level of
achievement they have already reached.
The interests of gifted children are many-sided and spontaneous.
The members of our group learned to read easily and read many more
and also better books than the average child. At the same time, they
engaged in a wide range of childhood activities and acquired far more
16 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
knowledge of plays and games than the average child of their years.
Their preferences among plays and games closely follow the normal sex
trends with regard to masculinity and femininity of interests, although
gifted girls tend to be somewhat more masculine in their play life than
the average girls. Both sexes show a degree of interest maturity two
or three years beyond the age norm.
A battery of seven character tests showed gifted children above
average on every one. On the total score of the character tests the typi-
cal gifted child at age 9 tests as high as the average child at age 12.
Ratings on 25 traits by parents and teachers confirm the evidence
from tests and case histories. The proportion of gifted subjects rated
superior to unselected children of corresponding age averaged 89 per-
cent for four intellectual traits, 82 percent for four volitional traits,
67 percent for three emotional traits, 65 percent for two aesthetic traits,
64 percent for four moral traits, 61 percent for two physical traits, and
57 percent for five social traits. Only on mechanical ingenuity were
they rated as low as unselected children, and this verdict is contradicted
by tests of mechanical aptitude.
Three facts stand out clearly in this composite portrait: (1) The
deviation of gifted children from the generality is in the upward direc-
tion for nearly all traits ; there is no law of compensation whereby the
intellectual superiority of the gifted is offset by inferiorities along non-
intellectual lines. (2) The amount of upward deviation of the gifted
is not the same for all traits. (3) This unevenness of abilities is no
greater for gifted than for average children, but it is different in direc-
tion; whereas the gifted are at their best in the "thought" subjects,
average children are at their best in subjects that make the least demands
upon the formation and manipulation of concepts.
Finally, the reader should bear in mind that there is a wide range
of variability within our gifted group on every trait we have investi-
gated. Descriptions of the gifted in terms of what is typical are useful
as a basis for generalization, but emphasis on central tendencies should
not blind us to the fact that gifted children, far from falling into a single
pattern, represent an almost infinite variety of patterns.
CHAPTER II
THE INTERMEDIATE YEARS
For several years after 1922 the progress of the group was followed by
means of information blanks sent annually to parents and teachers re-
questing certain physical, educational, and social data. In 192728 a
more thorough investigation by field workers was undertaken and
became the first of three field follow-ups at approximately 10- to 12-
year intervals. These field studies were supplemented by intervening
surveys by mail.
Six YEARS LATER : THE PROMISE OF YOUTH
The six-year interval between the original research and the follow-
up investigation of 1927-28 was in a number of respects favorable as
to length; it was great enough to make a comparison between earlier
and later findings significant and interesting, but not so long as to make
it impossible to use any of the kinds of tests employed in the original
study.
At the time of the follow-up (1927-28) the average age of the sub-
jects was between 16 and 17 years and the majority were in high school.
The data secured for the subjects included intelligence tests, school
achievement tests, personality tests, and interest tests. Other types of
data obtained were as follows : a Home Information Blank of four pages
was filled out by parents of subjects up to and including age nineteen.
A two-page Interest Blank was filled out by the subjects under twenty,
and a two-page Information Blank by those twenty or over. A School
Information Blank of two pages was filled out by the teachers of the
children who were still in elementary or high school. A Trait Rating
Blank provided ratings by parents and teachers on 12 traits selected
from the 25 on which ratings were secured in 1921-22. Finally, blanks
were provided for the field workers' reports on home visits and on con-
ferences with the children themselves and their teachers. It was not
possible, unfortunately, to repeat the medical examinations and physi-
cal measurements of the original study, but considerable information
17
18 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
on physical development and health history was secured from parents
and teachers.
Perhaps the most important outcome of the 1927-28 follow-up was
the fact that the composite portrait of the group had changed only in
minor respects in six years. As a whole, the group was still highly
superior intellectually, for the most part within the top 1 or 2 percent
of the generality. There was some evidence that the boys had dropped
slightly in IQ and that the girls had dropped somewhat more. This con-
clusion, however, needs .to be qualified in two respects : For one thing,
the intelligence tests used in the follow-up lacked sufficient top to yield
IQ's strictly comparable with those of 1921-22; for another, it should
be pointed out that some regression toward the mean is to be expected
from purely statistical considerations.
The showing in school achievement was in line with that for intelli-
gence. There was less skipping of school grades after the age of eleven
or twelve years, but the quality of work for the group in general re-
mained at an exceedingly high level. For example, nearly two-thirds
of the high-school grades of the girls and more than one-half of the high-
school grades of the boys were A's. The significance of this is accentu-
ated by the fact that the gifted group in the high-school period averaged
considerably younger than the generality of high-school students. In
evaluating school achievement at the high-school or college level, it is
also necessary to bear in mind that the higher the grade the more highly
selected is the school population with whom the gifted subjects are com-
pared.
The composite-portrait method is useful, just as concepts and gen-
eralizations are useful in the shorthand of thinking. Nevertheless, the
composite portrait, like any other kind of average, fails to convey any
sense of the uniqueness of the individual subjects who compose the
group. Although deviations below average intelligence were not found
in the 1927-28 follow-up, extreme deviations both from the group aver-
age and from the generality were found in almost every physical, mental,
and personality trait, including size, athletic ability, health, scientific
ability, literary ability, masculinity, social and activity interests, voca-
tional aptitude, social intelligence, leadership, ambition, and moral de-
pendability. It is true that on all of these traits the mean for the gifted
group tends to be higher than for unselected children of corresponding
age, but the range of variability in these and other traits was if anything
greater in mid-youth than it had been in mid-childhood. The results
of the 1927-28 follow-up and a collateral study of the literary juvenilia
THE INTERMEDIATE YEARS 19
of certain members of the group are described at length in Volume III
of this series. 3
EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER : THE GIFTED CHILD GROWS UP
For eight years after the follow-up described in the preceding section
there was no systematic attempt to contact all the members of the gifted
group. During that period, however, considerable correspondence was
carried on with the parents and occasionally with the individual subjects
of the group. Many wrote about their activities, or came to Stanford
University for personal interviews. From the majority of the group,
however, little information was secured during this period.
In 1936 plans were laid for an extensive field study to be made as
soon as funds should become available. First, however, it seemed de-
sirable to get in touch with as many as possible of the original group
by mail, and to secure certain information that would aid in planning
for the projected field study. Accordingly, a letter was sent out de-
tailing the study and its purposes, and asking for the address of the
subject, of his parents, and of a relative or friend through whom the sub-
ject might be located in later years. The letter was usually sent to the
parents, although occasionally it went to the subject himself at the most
recent address in our files. When the addresses had been received, a
four-page Information Blank was sent to each subject, and a four-page
Home Information Blank to the parents or, if both parents were de-
ceased, to a near relative. The blank was accompanied by a letter em-
phasizing our continued interest in the subject, and the value both to
science and to education of exact knowledge regarding the adult careers
of persons who had tested high in intelligence during childhood.
The subject's Information Blank called for detailed information
regarding educational history, occupations since leaving school, avoca-
tional interests and activities, general health, marital status, and deaths
among relatives since 1928. The Home Information Blank called for
information on the subject's physical and mental health, indications of
special abilities, personality and character traits, education and occupa-
tions of siblings, and the accomplishments and activities of the sub-
ject's parents. Both blanks gave ample space for "additional informa-
tion" not called for by specific questions and this brought, in many cases,
extremely valuable and detailed replies.
The blanks were sent out in the spring of 1936 and, though the great
majority of the reports had been received by midsummer, there was
considerable difficulty in locating some of the subjects. It was nearly
20 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
a year before blanks could be placed in the hands of all those who finally
' were located. This mail follow-up was more successful than had been
expected, for approximately 90 percent of the subjects were located and
from nearly all of them considerable information was obtained.
The information collected in 1936 brought the case history records
up to date and thus set the stage for the more searching investigation
of 1939-40. This follow-up was of special interest because it consti-
tuted the first person-to-person contact with the subjects since they
had become adults (the average age in 1940 was 29.5 years). At the
time of the original survey and again in the 1927-28 field follow-up,
except for the tests and personal interviews which were conducted
chiefly at the schools, most of our information had been obtained from
the parents and the teachers. This was intentional because it was our
purpose not to emphasize the study and its implications in the minds
of the children. The following quotation from the instructions to the
parents and teachers both in 1921-22 and in 1927-28 is self-explana-
tory :
In order to avoid the danger of causing undue self -consciousness, parents
are urged not to call the child's attention to the fact that he (or she) is be-
ing studied. Do not tell the child the exact result of the mental test, or say
anything about the special information which is sought in this blank. Pub-
licity of every kind should be avoided. Do nothing which could possibly
stimulate vanity or self -consciousness.
Although many perhaps most of the children did know by 1927-28
the nature of the experiment in which they were involved at least to the
extent of realizing they had been chosen as bright students by a pro-
fessor who was interested in such students, the knowledge seems not
to have been of much concern to most. This was brought out in the
Information Blank of 1936 which asked this question: What effects
(favorable, unfavorable, or both) has this knowledge (of being a sub-
ject in an investigation of gifted children) had upon you?
The responses classified separately for the sexes were as follows :
Men Women
% %
Favorable 12.9 18.7
Unfavorable 9.1 10.7
Both favorable and unfavorable 4.7 6.3
No effect 73.3 64.3
The second field follow-up began late in 1939 and continued into
1941 but the bulk of the data was collected in 1940. Four field workers
THE INTERMEDIATE YEARS 21
spent the year interviewing the subjects and, wherever possible, their
parents also. Intelligence tests were administered to the subjects, their
spouses, and their offspring and extensive questionnaire data were col-
lected from the subjects, the spouses, and the parents of the subjects. In
addition, the Strong Vocational Interest Blank 31 was filled out by the
men of the group. The study was highly successful with some informa-
tion secured either directly or indirectly for nearly 98 percent of the
living subjects, and fairly complete data were furnished by the 96
percent who co-operated actively.
So great was the amount of material on hand at the close of the field
study that the punched card technique was used to analyze and corre-
late the data more efficiently. Not only the 1940 information but also the
extensive case history data accumulated since the inception of this re-
search were coded and transferred to punched cards. This method of
handling the data made possible a very detailed study of the gifted child
grown up, which has been fully reported in the preceding volume of
this series. 36 This earlier volume includes also the results of a supple-
mentary survey conducted by means of a questionnaire mailed in 1945-
46, which brought up to date the records on the main events in the lives
of the subjects between 1940 and 1946 close to 25 years after they had
been selected for study.
In addition to the reports on mortality, general health and physique,
mental health and general adjustment, intellectual status, educational
histories, occupational status and income, vocational interest tests, avo-
cational interests, political and social attitudes, marriage and offspring,
and marital adjustment, Volume IV includes several special studies
based on an analysis of total case history. The studies included sub-
jects of IQ 170 and above, subjects of Jewish descent, factors in the
achievement of gifted men, and the effects of school acceleration. Among
the conclusions reached were the following :
That to near mid-life, such a group may be expected to show a nor-
mal or below-normal incidence of serious personality maladjustment,
insanity, delinquency, alcoholism, and homosexuality.
^ That, as a rule, those who as children tested above 170 IQ were
more often accelerated in school, got better grades, and^received more
schooling than lower-testing members of the group ; jtnat uiey are not
appreciably more prone to serious maladjustment; and that vocation-
ally they are more successful.
That gifted children who have been promoted more rapidly than is
22 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
customary are as a group equal or superior to gifted nonaccelerates in
health and general adjustment, do better school work, continue their
education further, and are more successful in their later careers.
j That the intellectual status of the average member of the group at
the mean age of thirty years was close to the 98th or 99th percentile of
the general adult population, and was far above the average level of
ability of graduates from superior colleges and universities.
SThat in vocational achievement the gifted group rates well above
the average of college graduates! aiKf^as compared with the general
population, is represented in the higher professions by eight or nine
times its proportionate share.
That the vocational success of subjects, all of whom as children
tested in the top 1 percent of the child population is, as one would ex-
pect, greatly influenced by motivational factors and personality adjust-
ment.
g| That the incidence of marriage in the group to 1945 is above that
for the generality of college graduates of comparable age in the United
States, and about equal to that in the general population.
That marital adjustment of the gifted, as measured by the marital
happiness test, is equal or superior to that found in groups less highly
selected for intelligence, and that the divorce rate is no higher than that
of the generality of comparable age.
^JThat the sexual adjustment of these subjects in marriage is in all
respects as normal as that found in a less gifted and less educated group
of 792 married couples.
That the test of marital aptitude predicts later marital success or
failure in this group a little better than the test of marital happiness,
much better than the index of sexual adjustment, and almost as well as
scholastic aptitude tests predict success or failure in college.
That offspring of gifted subjects show almost exactly the same de-
gree of filial regression as is predicated by Galton's Law.
I That the fertility of the group to 1945 is probably below that neces-
sary for the continuation of the stock from which the subjects come,
and that this stock is greatly superior to the generality.
\ That Jewish subjects in the group differ very little from the non-
Jewish in ability, character, and personality traits, as measured either
by tests or by ratings, but that they display somewhat stronger drive
to achieve, form more stable marriages, and are a little less conserva-
tive in their political and social attitudes.
CHAPTER III
THE GROUP REACHES MID-LIFE
The third field follow-up of the gifted subjects was made in 1950-52.
In order to pave the way for the field worker contacts, a General In-
formation Blank was mailed in the spring- of 1950, and had been re-
turned by the majority of the subjects by the fall of that year. The field
work got under way in late 1950 and was completed about mid-1952.
The preliminary blank called for some twenty kinds of information
that would furnish a profile of the gifted subjects at mid-life. Other
blanks and tests used in gathering follow-up data included the following :
a highly difficult test of intelligence (Concept Mastery test) comparable
to that used in 193940 but with certain improvements ; an abbreviated
form of the 1939-40 marital happiness test; a four-page questionnaire
calling for information on factors that had influenced rate of repro-
duction ; an eight-page questionnaire designed to throw light on factors
relating to childhood and family background that might have influenced
personality development, motivation, or life success ; a four-page blank
relating to the development, health history, and personality character-
istics of each child born to members of the group.
The field work program included personal interviews with as many
of the subjects as possible (and usually the spouses also) who were liv-
ing in California, the administration of the Concept Mastery test and
the various supplementary questionnaires to the subject and the spouse,
and the testing of offspring of appropriate age with the Stanford-Binet
test. In the case of those subjects living at a distance (about 18% of
the total), funds were not sufficient to provide for visits by field work-
ers. Except for the personal interview and the intelligence tests, how-
ever, the same data were collected by mail for these subjects as for the
in-state group seen personally.
The statistical treatment and analysis of the information collected
in the follow-up was such an enormous and time-consuming task that
it was decided in 1955 to bring the demographic information up to date
for inclusion in the published report of the status of the gifted group
23
24 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
at mid-life. Accordingly a two-page Information Blank was mailed to
the subjects in the spring of 1955, calling for the latest information on
the main items of basic data.
In addition to the data blanks* for the subjects and spouses listed
In Table 3, Stanford-Binet tests have been given to a total of 1,525 off-
spring of the gifted subjects. For a large proportion of these children
a record of developmental history (Information About Child) was filled
out by a parent, usually the mother, at the time of testing. The data
from this blank will be reported in a separate publication at a later date.
TABLE 3
DATA SECURED FOR SUBJECTS AND SPOUSES, 1950-1955
N
Subjects Spouses
I. 1950-52 Follow-up
General Information (for subjects) 1,268
Supplementary Biographical Data (for subjects and
spouses) 1,119
Data on Rate of Reproduction and Happiness of
Marriage (for subjects) 972
Happiness of Your Marriage (for spouses) 565
Concept Mastery Test (subjects and spouses) 1,004 690
II. 1955 Follow-up
Information Blank (for subjects) 1,288
STATUS OF THE GIFTED STUDY 1950-1955
When the follow-up data of 1950-52 were gathered, the subjects
had been under observation for approximately 30 years, and at the time
of the 1955 survey the time had extended to about 34 years. Of the
original group of 1,528 subjects, 91 had died by 1950 and an additional
13 deaths by 1955 brought the total number of deceased subjects to
104. During the course of study we have completely lost track of only
28 subjects (11 men and 17 women). In none of these cases has any
contact been effected since 1928 or earlier, either with the subjects, their
parents, or any members of their families. Although it is possible that
not all of the "lost" subjects are now living, there is no reason to believe
that our original loss of contact was in any case caused by the death of
the subject but rather by the removal of the family to a different area.
The eight-year interval between the field follow-up of 1927-28 and the
mail follow-up of 1936 made it difficult to trace the subjects who had
* These blanks are reproduced in the Appendix.
THE GROUP REACHES MID-LIFE 25
moved any distance, especially since the relationships with the parents,
and to an even greater extent with the subjects, had not been suffi-
ciently well established by 1928 to ensure their notifying the research
administration of changes in address. The greater loss in the case of
women can be accounted for by the greater difficulty in tracing them
because of name changes through marriage.
By 1955 death had reduced the number of subjects under study to
795 men and 629 women. The 11 men and 17 women classified as "lost"
bring the number for whom information on current status was sought
to 784 men and 612 women. In addition to the "lost" subjects there are
a few other persons for whom our information is fragmentary, often
secured indirectly through parent, sibling, or other informant. Further-
more, not everyone, including some of the most interested and co-
operative, completed all the blanks ; in a few cases, even, no blanks were
filled out, the subject preferring to give the information in an inter-
view or informally in a letter. Occasionally, too, a subject omitted one
or more items in filling out a questionnaire. For these reasons there will
be slight irregularities in the number of cases (N) for whom various
types of data are reported in succeeding chapters. In the case of the
Concept Mastery test the number of individuals is necessarily limited
to those to whom the test could be administered in person. All subjects
who were personally interviewed or for whom information was sup-
plied either in a questionnaire or through correspondence are considered
to have co-operated in the follow-ups.
The success of these two follow-ups is indicated by the almost in-
credible amount of co-operation that was secured. Of the 1,437 sub-
jects living at the time of the field study, 95 percent participated actively
and the addition of those for whom information was secured indirectly
brings the total contacted, either directly or indirectly, to 97 . 5 percent.
The results of the mail follow-up of 1955 are almost as impressive, with
co-operation from 93 percent of the 1,424 subjects then living.* The
follow-up contacts and co-operation for both the field study of 1950-52
and the mail follow-up of 1955 are shown in Table 4.
SCOPE OF THIS REPORT
In the follow-ups of 1950-55 reported here, as throughout the study,
the information obtained has not been limited to that secured by tests
* The 28 "lost" subjects are included in the totals of 1,437 and 1,424 since we
are continuing to look for them.
26 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 4
FOLLOW-UP CONTACTS AND CO-OPERATION, 1950-1955
%of Total
Group
I. Field Study of 1950-52
Subjects interviewed by field workers 1,142
Subj ects contacted by mail only 225
Total actively co-operating 1,367 95 . 1
No direct contact with subject but information
from other sources 34
Total in touch with directly or indirectly 1,401 97 . 5
No contact or information in 1950-52 but co-
operating 1940-1945 8
Lost : unable to trace and no information since
1928 or earlier 28
Total group 1,437*
II. Follow-up by Mail, 1955
Information blank filled out by subject 1,288 90.5
No direct contact with subject but information
from other sources 38
Total in touch with directly or indirectly 1,326 93 . 1
Co-operating in 1950-52 but no information
supplied in 1955 63
No contact or information in 1955 but co-
operating 1940-45 7
Lost : unable to trace and no information since
1928 or earlier 28
Total group 1,424*
* The difference in the total group N's is accounted for by 13 deaths between 1952 and 1955.
and questionnaires. The data furnished by the subjects have been illu-
minated by the field worker reports, and much additional interesting
and valuable information has come through informal personal corre-
spondence and visits of the subjects or members of their families with
the research staff at Stanford University. Such correspondence and
visits have been frequent over the years, regardless of whether a follow-
up was in progress.
This study is unique in many aspects, particularly in the length of
time almost 35 years that the same group of individuals has been
followed, and in the wealth of material collected about the subjects from
childhood or early youth to mid-life, thus furnishing a continuous record
of intellectual development and of educational, vocational, and marital
history as well as of physical and mental health. In addition to these
THE GROUP REACHES MID-LIFE 27
specific items there is a great deal of less easily statisticized data. These
include the explorations into the personality dynamics, interests, and
attitudes of the subject that complete the total picture of the gifted indi-
vidual. The case history material is further enhanced by collateral data
on the parents, the siblings, and the offspring. Finally, the unparalleled
co-operation of the subjects and their families lends additional impor-
tance and validity to the findings.
So vast is the amount of information collected in the 1950-55 fol-
low-ups that to discuss and evaluate it fully in this volume would delay*
publication until some of the items, particularly those related to vital
and social statistics, would be out of date. This report, therefore, will
be concerned chiefly with the data called for in the 1950 General Infor-
mation Blank and the 1955 Information Blank. As a rule, in the case
of those demographic items for which the information was secured at
both dates, only the figures for the more recent date (1955) are given.
Other findings to be covered in this volume include the results of the
testing of the subjects and their spouses with the Concept Mastery test
and of their offspring with the Stanford-Binet test. The tremendous
amount of valuable autobiographical material supplied in the Supple-
mentary Biographical Data blank as well as the data on factors affecting
fecundity in the group as found in the Rate of Reproduction blank and
on marital happiness as reported in The Happiness of Your Marriage
blank will be only touched on in this volume. The detailed analysis and
evaluation of the information from these questionnaires is reserved for
future publication.
CHAPTER IV
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL
ADJUSTMENT
In addition to our interest in how gifted children turn out from the
standpoint of educational, occupational, intellectual, and creative
achievements, we also want to know about their careers as people. In
this chapter we will consider the mortality record, physical health status,
and the mental health and general adjustment of the gifted subjects.
The latter topic includes, in addition to the ratings on general adjust-
ment, such specific aspects of malfunctioning as mental disease, alco-
holism, crime and delinquency, and problems related to sex.
MORTALITY
By 1955 the number of deaths among the gifted subjects was 104
(62 males and 42 females) ; this represents an incidence of 7.3 percent
for males, 6.3 percent for females, and 6.9 percent for the total group
of 1,500 subjects with whom we have been able to keep in touch.
Table 5 gives the mortality rate according to sex and age at death.
TABLE 5
MORTALITY TO 1955
ACCORDING TO SEX AND AGE AT DEATH
Males Females Both Sexes
(N = 846) (N = 654) (N = 1,500)
Age at Death N % N % ^ ^~
Under 15 years 3 0.4 2 0.3 5 0.3
15-24 years 22 2.6 14 2.1 36 2.4
25-34 years 19 2.2 14 2.1 33 2.2
35-44 years 17 2.0 12 1.8 29 1 9
45-49years 1 0.1 1 0.1
Aliases 62 7.3 42 6.3 104 6.9
Median age at death 29.5 years 27.6 years 28.4 years
In comparing the mortality record of the gifted group with the rate
for the generality the life table data supplied by Dublin and his asso-
28
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 29
dates for two different periods has been used. The first tables are based
on the mortality conditions of 1929-3 1 12 and the second on the mor-
tality conditions of 1939-41 . 13 The data for these two periods reflect
fairly well the conditions to which the gifted subjects have been ex-
posed since only 14 of the total group selected in 1921-22 had died
before 1929. The mortality rate for the generality in a particular
age span can be determined from the life table by finding the number
out of an arbitrarily large number (in this case 100,000) of live births
who are living at a given age and the proportion of that number who
die by a specified older age. Ages 11 and 44 were chosen as the initial
and upper age limits, respectively, on the life table because they ap-
proximate the average ages of our group when first selected for study
(1921-22), and at the time of latest report (1955). Under the condi-
tions of 1929-31, the life tables indicate that of the United States white
population who survive to 11 years of age, 12.7 percent of males, 10.8
percent of females, and 11.7 percent of the total cohort will have died
by age 44. Under the improved mortality conditions of 1939-41 we
find that in the general population 9 . 1 percent of males, 6 . 8 percent
of females, and 8.0 percent of the total white population alive at age 11
will have died by age 44. A comparison of these figures with those
given for the gifted subjects in Table 5 shows the mortality rate for
our total group as well as for the sexes separately to be lower than the
expectation based on conditions at either of the life table dates. This
difference may be attributable to the superior physique and health that
characterized the group in childhood as well as to their generally su-
perior intellectual and economic status and its concomitants. However,
as will be seen, accident-induced mortality has also been somewhat less
than for the generality.
Causes of death. The causes of death with the percentage incidence
are given in Table 6. Natural causes account for 62 of the 104 deaths.
Accidents follow with 21 deaths, and suicide ranks third with 15 deaths.
The five World War II casualties are listed separately. Three of these
men died in combat, one was killed in the crash of a transport plane
he was piloting on military duty, and a naval officer lost his life in a
storm at sea.
Among the natural causes the three leading diseases have been : the
cardiovascular-renal group with 17 deaths, cancer (including 3 cases
of leukemia) with 10 deaths, and tuberculosis with 9 deaths. All but
four of the 27 deaths from the first two causes occurred in the 15-year
30 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 6
CAUSES OF DEATH
Males
(N = 846)
Females
(N = 654)
N %
32 4.9
4 0.6
Both Sexes
(N = 1,500)
N
.. 30
3
2
1
r a
.5
.0
.6
.2
N
62
21
5
15
1
104
%
4.
1.
0.
1.
0.
6.
9
1
4
3
9
.. 17
World War II casualties , .
.. 5
.. 10
5
1
42
6
.7
.1
Death from all causes .
.. 62
7
I
period from 1939 through 1954. This agrees with the pattern in the
genera! population of an increase in the death rate from these diseases
with advance in age. On the other hand, with one exception, all the
deaths from tuberculosis occurred before 1939 and therefore among
younger subjects.
For gifted men, only the cardiovascular-renal diseases among the
natural causes have an incidence as high as the death rate from acci-
dents; each has caused the death of 17 men. Among gifted women
three diseases rank higher than accidents as a cause of death : tubercu-
losis and cancer have taken six lives each, and diseases of the heart
account for five deaths. In the general population, accidents rank first
(ahead of any single disease or defect) as a cause of death from birth
to 45 years for males and to 25 years for females, and are in fourth
place for the total population of all ages. Of the accidental deaths those
caused by motor vehicle accidents were the most frequent in this group,
just as they are in the general population. Eight of the 17 accidental
deaths among the males and all four of those among females resulted
from automobile accidents. Of the other 9 men, 4 were killed in air-
plane crashes and 2 died in industrial accidents. One death resulted
from each of the following : drowning, accidental gunshot, and a fall
while mountain climbing.
Suicide, the third most frequent cause of death in the group, arouses
particular interest because of the tragedy attached to these deaths and
the possibility that with help at the proper moment some of them at
least could have been avoided. Data for accurate comparison of the
incidence of suicide in the gifted group with that in the generality are
lacking. The vital statistics reports give only the incidence of suicide
at a given time in other words, a "snapshot" picture of the situation.
The prevalence rates mentioned in most of the research studies con-
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 31
cerned with the personality and motivations of the individual who com-
mits suicide are also cross-sectional, and are limited to a particular
date or period of time.
The most helpful information on the amount of suicide in the popu-
lation at large comes from Dublin and his associates, 13 who have com-
puted the chances per 1,000 at decennial ages of eventual death from
certain specified causes. These expectancies are based on the life table
and death data for the United States during 1939-41. Dublin 10 points
out that the over-all picture of suicide in the United States shows prac-
tically no change in rate during the past 50 years, though there have
been some minor fluctuations, with the highest rates occurring in 1932
at the bottom of the depression and the lowest rates during wartime.
Dublin's 1939-41 data can therefore be considered representative of
the trend of suicide during the lifetime of our group. According to the
Dublin data, the chances per 1,000 population, age 10 to 19 years, of
eventually dying by suicide are 17 . 5 for white males and 5 . 5 for white
females. In terms of percentages, the expected incidence of suicide
among the total population ia this age interval is approximately 1 . 8
percent for males and about 0.6 percent for females. As shown in
Table 6 the suicide rate in the gifted group to 1955 is 1 .2 percent for
men and 0.7 percent for women.
Comparison of the data for the gifted with that for the total popu-
lation should take several factors into account. First, the figures for a
life table population are derived statistically and, while they serve very-
well for generalizations, are less applicable to small groups than are
data based on an actual population. Especially in a group such as ours,
which is not only relatively small but also heterogeneous as regards
date of death and age at death, differences from the generality may well
be caused by chance. In considering the suicide rate, still other aspects
of the situation should be borne in mind. Among these is the well-
known and acknowledged fact that all quantitative analyses of suicide
in the generality are underestimates since many suicides are never so
reported. Not only may the person committing suicide succeed in
making his death appear natural or accidental, but also the relatives
and friends often take pains to conceal the fact that death was self-
inflicted. In the case of our gifted subjects we have what we believe
to be full information regarding the cause of death for all but one sub-
ject This was a woman who had at one time attempted suicide but
who was also in poor health for a number of years, and the report of
32 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
her death received from a former employer did not suggest suicide.
Other factors to be considered in appraising the amount of suicide in
the gifted group are the regional and socio-economic differences in sui-
cide rate found for the generality. Semelman 30 reports that suicide is
most frequent in the West, especially in California, with San Francisco
having one of the highest rates in the nation. Henry and Short, 18 basing
their conclusions not only on their own studies but also on a survey
of the work of other investigators, point out the positive relationship
of suicide to status, both social and economic. Dublin finds that suicide
is more common in urban than in rural populations and more frequent
among white than among colored people. On the basis of these findings,
it appears that the gifted subjects as a group possess the characteristics
that make for a higher suicide rate : Calif ornian in origin, with approxi-
mately four-fifths still residing in the state ; chiefly urban ; white ; and
of superior status from the standpoint of education, occupation, income,
and achievement.
Bearing these factors in mind, one hesitates to draw any clear-cut
conclusions from a comparison of the suicide rate in our group with
Dublin's expectancy rate. However, on the surface at least, the rate
for the gifted appears to be high, especially in the case of women who
have already exceeded the total expectancy given by Dublin: 0.7 per-
cent for gifted women as compared with 0.6 percent for all women.
The gifted men are still below the estimate of eventual suicide in a
10- to 19-year-old cohort : 1.2 percent for the gifted as compared with
1 . 8 percent for the generality of males. Before closing this discussion,
mention should be made of the discrepancy in sex differences in suicide
rate between the gifted group and the total population. All investiga-
tors report a much higher frequency of suicide among men, ranging
from 3 to 4 times the incidence among women. Among the gifted sub-
jects, however, less than twice as many men as women, proportion-
ately, have committed suicide. One cannot, of course, overlook the pos-
sibility of a chance difference here owing to the relatively small numbers
involved.
Subjects who have died. The average age at death for those who
have died was approximately 28 years with a range from 8 to 45 years
(see Table 5). Their IQ's ranged from 134 to 184 with an average
of 149. Ten of the deceased were in elementary or high school and 17
were undergraduate students in college at the time of death. Another
5 were graduate students. Among those who had completed their
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 33
schooling or were at the graduate student level, 50 percent of the men
and 38 percent of the women had taken a bachelor's degree and 35
percent of men and 18 percent of women had attended college for from
one to four years. The graduate degrees taken include 3 Ph.D/s,
3 M.D.'s, 3 LL.B.'s, and 5 master's. In addition, two of the graduate
students among the deceased men were candidates for a master's degree
and the third was working toward an engineering degree. Both women
graduate students were on the point of getting a Ph.D., one in astronomy
and one in psychology. Three of the men were physicians, 3 were law-
yers, and 2 were members of university faculties. Other occupations
represented among the deceased men were chemist, business executive,
musician, advertising and public relations work, mechanic, salesman,
etc. The majority of the women who died after completing their edu-
cation were married and occupied as housewives. However, one was
a college teacher, one a statistician, one a librarian, and one a high-
school teacher.
GENERAL HEALTH AND PHYSIQUE
Information on general health, based on interviews with the sub-
jects and often with the spouses as well, was supplied by the field
workers in the 1939-40 and the 1950-52 follow-ups. In addition, self-
ratings by the subjects on physical health were called for in the 1940,
1950-52, and 1955 information blanks. Table 7 gives the ratings on
TABLE 7
SELF-RATINGS ON PHYSICAL HEALTH
Men Women
1940 1950 1955 1940 1950 1955
(N = 700) (N = 750) (N = 714) (N = 563) (N = 601) (N = 567)
Self-rating % % % % % %
Very good 52.3 50.5 46.5 44.7 43.3 43.0
Good 38.6 41.6 44.8 39.0 43.4 45.5
Fair... 7.3 6.2 7.0 12.7 11.1 8.3
Poor or very poor 1.9 1.7 1.7 3.7 2.2 3.2
physical health for the three follow-up dates when the subjects were
at the approximate average ages of 29, 40, and 44, respectively. These
are substantially self -ratings, although in a few instances it was neces-
sary to interpret or modify a self-report in the light of the case history
evidence. However, such modifications were felt to be warranted in
less than one percent of the cases.
It will be noted that the ratings are consistent for each of the three
34 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
reports, with more than 90 percent of the men and from 84 to 88 per-
cent of the women rating their health as good or very good. The some-
what lower rating on general health for women is a characteristic sex
difference that has been found also for men and women in general 7
Statistics show that among females as a whole morbidity is higher, while
among males the mortality rate is higher. We have already seen in
Table 5 that the mortality rate for the gifted men is higher at each age
than that for the gifted women.
The questionnaires of 1950-52 and 1955 did not ask for informa-
tion on height and weight. However, the medical examinations and
anthropometric measurements that were made following the selection
of the subjects in the original survey showed the gifted children as a
group to be above the best standards for American-born children in
growth status as indicated by both height and weight. The records
showed that they were also above the established norms for unselected
California children. 39 According to the information supplied by the
subjects in 1940, the median height of the adult gifted men was 71.3
inches and of the adult gifted women, 65 . 2 inches. The average weight
of the men was 162 . 8 pounds and of the women, 126 . 6 pounds. After
making allowance for some overstatement in the self-report, it was
estimated that the gifted men average about one-half inch taller than
college men in general and about one and one-half inches taller than
the generality of men in the United States of their generation. Simi-
larly, gifted women average close to one-half inch taller than college
women in general and approximately one inch taller than women in the
total population. The relationship of weight to height appears to be
about the same in the gifted as in the total population. 36
Physical defects sufficient to handicap the individual seriously are
infrequent among our subjects. Nine men are crippled, but only one
case is sufficiently serious to be disabling ; for most, the impairment is
no more than a slight limp. In seven cases the crippling resulted from
poliomyelitis and in the other two cases it was due to a congenital defect.
Among the women there are seven cases of orthopedic handicap. For
two of these the difficulty is a congenital hip dislocation which resulted
in some crippling but not severe enough to prevent independent loco-
motion. Poliomyelitis has left three other women with slight muscular
impairment but not greatly handicapped. More seriously afflicted are
two women who are confined to wheel chairs, one since childhood be-
cause of crippling arthritis and one as a result of poliomyelitis contracted
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 35
at age 39. The former,, who holds a Ph.D., is a distinguished scholar,
writer, and university professor. The latter, a lawyer with a well-
established practice (and also a housewife and mother) when disabled,
resumed her career as soon as possible and is continuing her law prac-
tice besides managing her home from her wheel chair.
MENTAL HEALTH AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT
The gifted subjects have been rated on mental health and general
adjustment at various stages of follow-up. The most important sources
of information have been the personal conferences by the research staff
with the subjects, their parents, and their spouses; letters from the
subjects or members of their families, or other qualified informants;
and responses to questionnaires filled out by the subjects and, in the
earlier years, by their parents also. The information schedules in the
follow-up surveys of 1936, 1939-40, 1945, 1950-52, and 1955 all in-
cluded the question : "Has there been any tendency toward nervous-
ness, worry, special anxieties or nervous breakdown in recent years?
. . . nature of such difficulties . . . ." From 1940 on, this item was
supplemented by a question on how the difficulty, if any, was handled
and on the present condition of the subject. Each specific kind of in-
formation obtained was considered in the light of total case history.
With these accumulated data at hand the mental health and general
adjustment of each subject was assessed and the subjects classified
according to three categories as follows: 1, satisfactory adjustment,
2, some maladjustment, and 3, serious maladjustment. The third cate-
gory was divided into two sub-groups : 3a, serious problems in ad-
justment but not severe enough to require hospitalization, and 3^ a
history of hospitalization for mental illness. These categories corre-
spond to those used for the 1940 and 1945 ratings 36 and are defined
as follows :
1. Satisfactory. Subjects classified in this category were essentially
normal; i.e., their "desires, emotions, and interests were compatible
with the social standards and pressures" of their group. 23 Everyone,
of course, has adjustment problems of one kind or another. Satisfac-
tory adjustment as here defined does not mean perfect contentment
and complete absence of problems but, rather, the ability to cope ade-
quately with difficulties in the personal make-up or in the subject's
environment. Worry and anxiety when warranted by the circum-
stances, or a tendency to be somewhat high strung or nervous pro-
36 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
vided such a tendency did not constitute a definite personality problem
were allowed in this category.
2. Some maladjustment. Classified here were subjects with exces-
sive feelings of inadequacy or inferiority, nervous fatigue, mild anxiety
neurosis, and the like. The emotional conflicts, nervous tendencies, and
social maladjustments of these individuals, while they presented defi-
nite problems, were not beyond the ability of the individual to handle,
and there was no marked interference with social or personal life or
with achievement. Subjects whose behavior was noticeably odd or
freakish, but without evidence of serious neurotic tendencies, were also
classified in this category.
3. Serious maladjustment.
a) Classified as 3a were subjects who had shown marked symp-
toms of anxiety, mental depression, personality maladjustment, or psy-
chopathic personality. This classification also includes subjects who
had suffered a "nervous breakdown," provided there had not been a
mental disorder of sufficient severity to require hospitalization. Sub-
jects with a previous history of serious maladjustment or so-called
nervous breakdown were included here even though their adjustment
at the time of rating may have been entirely satisfactory.
ft) Classified as 3b were those subjects who at any time had
suffered a complete mental breakdown requiring hospitalization, what-
ever their condition at the time of rating. In the majority of cases the
subjects were restored to reasonably good mental health after a brief
period of hospital care.
[NOTE: Attention is called to the fact that ratings 3a and 3b are
historical in character; i.e., if a person has ever been seriously mal-
adjusted as defined above, the 3 rating (a or b, according to degree)
continues to be used even though he may now be greatly improved
or even free from difficulty.]
Results of ratings. In 1955 there was sufficient information on
hand to rate the mental health and general adjustment of approxi-
mately 98 percent of the 1,396 living subjects with whom contact had
been maintained.* For the remaining 21 men and 11 women some
* The 1955 ratings are a composite of the data collected in the 1950-52 field
follow-up and the 1955 follow-up by mail. Since the 1950-52 data are more extensive,
they formed the basis for the rating. In 1955 these ratings were brought up to date,
and any changes in status are shown in the ratings presented here. The 28 subjects
who had been "lost" since 1928 or earlier are not included in the total of 1,396 sub-
jects.
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 37
information was available but it was felt the data were not sufficiently
complete to permit a definitive rating. However, on the basis of what
was known about these subjects and their activities, there is no reason
to believe that any had been hospitalized for mental disorder. Part I
of Table 8 gives the ratings for the subjects who were living and for
whom data on mental health and general adjustment were adequate ;
in Part II of the table the remainder of the original group is ac-
counted for.
TABLE 8
RATINGS ON MENTAL HEALTH AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT
Men Women
N % N %
Part I. Rating
1. Satisfactory 525 68.8 396 65.9
2. Some maladjustment 170 22.3 151 25.1
3. Serious maladjustment
a) Without mental disease* 47 6.2 36 6.0
6) Hospitalization for mental illness,. 21 2.7 18 3.0
Total rated 763 601
Part II. Not Rated m 1955
A. Information not complete enough for
rating, but no record of hospitaliza-
tion for mental illness 21 11
B. Deceased before 1955 62 42
C. No contact since 1928 or earlier and no
information regarding status of sub-
ject 11 17
Total group, living and deceased 857 671
* Mental disease is defined as hospitalization for mental illness. (C. discussion on pp. 41-
42.)
Of the 763 men and 601 women rated for general adjustment, better
than two-thirds of the men and close to two-thirds of the women were
considered satisfactory in adjustment. Somewhat more than one-fifth
of the men and one-fourth of the women were rated in category 2 and
the 9 percent of each sex who had experienced serious difficulty were
classified in category 3. When this latter category is broken into sub-
groups, we find that 6 percent fall in the 3 a group, that is, a history of
serious maladjustment but without reaching the severity of a mental
breakdown. The approximate 3 percent classified as 3b all had a his-
tory of hospitalization for mental illness. The percentages in the 3&
category would be somewhat reduced if the 21 men and 11 women of
38 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Part II-A of Table 8 were included in the total number. Although not
enough was known about these additional cases to rate them on gen-
eral adjustment, there is no evidence that any has been hospitalized for
mental illness.
As indicated in the definitions, ratings of "some" or "serious" mal-
adjustment were given on the basis of total case history data and do
not necessarily represent the current status of the subject. This method
of rating was used to show the extent to which our group had suffered
from problems of personality or emotional adjustment regardless of
whether the difficulty had been overcome. It is important, therefore,
to view the ratings on adjustment in the light of the estimates of "pres-
ent condition" called for in the Information Blank as a supplement to
the question regarding nervous and emotional difficulties. Information
on present condition was available for 235 men and 202 women, or all
but 3 men and 3 women among those who were rated either 2 (some
maladjustment) or 3 (serious maladjustment). Although self-estimates
of this kind are subject to error, the replies were checked against the
field worker reports and other case history data for verification and only
occasionally was it necessary to modify the response of the subject. In
the few cases in which the subject omitted a reply to the query on present
condition, the information, if available from other sources, was sup-
plied. The estimates of present condition for subjects rated 2 or 3 were
distributed as follows :
Percentages
Present Condition Men Women
Free from difficulty 21 16
Improved 55 68
No change 20 12
Worse 4 4
It is especially interesting to find that of the 39 subjects living in
1955 who had undergone hospitalization for mental illness, 28 rate their
present condition as improved, and 2 report themselves as free from
difficulty. Another 4 of those rated 3b say there has been no change,
and 5 rate their condition as "worse."
So far our discussion of general adjustment has been limited to
subjects who were living in 1955 and who could, therefore, be rated
on general adjustment. However, to get the full picture of the gifted
group from the standpoint of mental health, account should be taken
of the subjects who have died. In view of the wide range in date of
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 39
death (1923 to 1954) and age at death (8 years to 48 years), it would
not be practical to attempt to classify the deceased according to the
mental adjustment categories ; however, those with a history of hos-
pitalization can be used in an extension of category 3b to include the
deceased. Of the 104 subjects who had died by 1955, five men and four
women had, at some time, been patients in a mental hospital. When
the 62 deceased men and 42 deceased women are added to the number
of each sex rated (Part I, Table 8), the results are as follows for the
825 men and 643 women, living and deceased, whose status could be
evaluated :
Men Women
N % N %
No record of hospitalization for mental illness 799 96.9 621 96.6
History of hospitalization 26 3.1 22 3.4
Subjects with a history of mental disorder. The figures of 3 . 1 per-
cent for men and 3.4 percent for women include all subjects, whether
presently living or deceased, who have ever been admitted to a hospital
or sanitarium for the care of the mentally ill regardless of the serious-
ness of the illness or the length of the hospitalization. In most cases
the illness was comparatively mild and the hospitalization brief, some
less than three months, few more than a year. However, there have been
7 cases of prolonged hospitalization. These included 2 epileptics, both
men, one of whom died in the hospital at the age of 30. He had suf-
fered from epilepsy most of his life but the illness did not become dis-
abling until he was about 20 years old. Before hospitalization became
necessary he had completed one and one-half years of college work.
In the case of the second man, the onset of epilepsy in recognizable
form took place after college graduation just as he was embarking on
a professional career. After a brief hospitalization he was able to take
a clerical job and worked for some years. Apparently recovered, he
returned to the university for a year of graduate work with the purpose
of re-entering his chosen profession. However, a recurrence of the
epilepsy sent him back to the hospital. The next few years saw him in
and out of hospitals and working at simple occupations when able.
Finally the illness became so severe that institutional care became neces-
sary and he has now been hospitalized for nearly ten years.
A third man, hospitalized for three and one-half years as a schizo-
phrenic, was recently released. While he has not fully recovered, it was
felt that his improvement was sufficient to permit home care.
40 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
The 4 women with prolonged illness include one now age 40 who
became ill when she was a university student and was sent to a private
sanitarium where she has been for the past twenty years. The diag-
nosis was dementia praecox and at last report the outlook for ultimate
recovery was poor. Another woman who had completed her education,
married, and had 2 children, was stricken with encephalitis at the age
of 31 with resulting brain damage so serious that she has been inca-
pacitated ever since her illness nearly fifteen years ago. The third of
the 4 women with prolonged illness presents a brighter picture. This
woman, who is unmarried, completed college with an excellent record.
Several years of successful employment followed until her first break-
down at age 29, After three mental breakdowns with brief hO'Spitaliza-
tions, her condition became so much more serious that she was com-
mitted to a state hospital with a diagnosis of dementia praecox, paranoid
type. During her twelve-year stay in the hospital she was able, with
the exception of occasional brief periods, to do secretarial and library
work with great efficiency. By 19S4 her mental health had so improved
that she was released from the hospital on a home-care basis. Her
ultimate discharge will depend on how full and permanent her recovery
proves to be.
The fourth woman requiring lengthy hospitalization went into a
state hospital after six weeks in a private sanitarium. She was then
32 years old, single, with two years of college education, and had been
employed as a secretary for a number of years. The diagnosis was
dementia praecox, mixed type. After nearly three years in the hospital
she was released only to have a recurrence three years later, which
again necessitated hospitalization. A year later she was discharged and,
so far as is known, has had no further relapses.
Except for alcoholism in the case of men, the manic-depressive states
have been the most frequent type of disorder. The frequencies of the
various kinds of mental illness classified according to primary diagnosis
where available were as follows :
Men Women
N N
Alcoholism 10 3
Epilepsy 2
Manic-depressive state 7 8
Psychoneurosis 5 4
Schizophrenia (dementia praecox) 2 6
Traumatic brain lesion 1
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 41
In all but one case (reported directly from the attending physician in a
personal communication) our information on the nature of the illness
has come from the subject or a close family member, and the diagnosis
often but not always confirmed by medical authorities. In the hospital-
ized cases reported simply as "nervous breakdown" or similarly, we are
especially uncertain of the nature of the illness and, lacking full informa-
tion for these cases, we have classified them under the heading of psy-
choneurosis. The total number of hospitalizations is so small that per-
centages have not been computed for the various mental disease classi-
fications, since they would not be comparable to the proportions in the
various mental illness categories for hospital admissions in general. A
comparison with the generality of admissions would also be distorted
by the age range of our group. As one would expect, we have no cases
of organic psychoses resulting from vascular disease characteristic of
later life.
The ages at hospitalization (first admission if more than one) for
the subjects, both living and deceased, with a history of mental illness
were distributed as follows :
Men Women.
Age in Years N N
10-19 2
20-29 6 6
30-39 15 8
40-49 5 6
The IQ's of these subjects ranged from 140 to 180 and their schooling
varied from high-school graduation to several years of university gradu-
ate work. All but 6 of the men had had some college work and 14 had
graduated from college. The latter included 3 men with an M.D. and
4 with an LL.B. degree. Eleven of the women were college graduates
and 3 had also taken a graduate degree. Another 8 women attended
college for from one to three years and 2 had only a high-school educa-
tion. In addition, there are 2 subjects (1 man and 1 woman) among
those hospitalized who died before completing their education. Both
had taken approximately two years of college work.
Comparison of mental disease among the gifted group with the rate
for the generality. The criterion most widely used in studies of the
frequency of mental disease in the United States is the number of ad-
missions to hospitals for the care of the mentally ill, since that is the
only objective yardstick available. The term "expectation of mental
42 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
disease" is used to describe the chances of being hospitalized (first time,
if more than once) in an institution, either public or private, for the
care of the mentally ill. In contrast to the prevalence measures which
give the proportion of a given population hospitalized at a specified
time, the expectancy measure gives the cumulative probability of admis-
sion to a mental hospital. This is the sort of information needed for
comparison with the rate of mental disease in the gifted group where
the data are also cumulative.
Different methods of calculating the expectancy of mental disease
yield somewhat different estimates, but careful investigations such as
those of Malzberg 26 and of Goldhamer and Marshall 15 indicate that 8
to 10 percent of the U.S. population will be admitted to a hospital for
the care of the mentally ill at some time during their lives.* Malzberg's
expectancy tables, which follow the principle of the life table, show that
of 1,000 population alive and sane at 10 years of age, 85.4 males and
85.9 females will develop a mental disease. Goldhamer and Marshall
suggest a different method of calculation, which gives first admission
expectancy for a member of a particular population group if he survives
to a specified later age. This "conditional expectancy" rate is in con-
trast to the Malzberg data which give a joint expectancy, i.e., the com-
bined probability of survival and of admission to a mental hospital.
Both methods serve a purpose and their relative merit cannot be evalu-
ated here. The Goldhamer-Marshall conditional expectancy rates,
however, are more appropriate to our data and so will be used in the
following comparisons of the gifted with the generality.
According to the conditional expectancy tables, of those who survive
to the age of 75, about 1 in 10 persons will be hospitalized. More perti-
nent to the current data for our gifted group than lifetime expectancies
of mental disease are the chances of hospitalization to mid-life. This
information also is available in the Goldhamer-Marshall tables which
give the conditional expectancy between specified initial and later ages.
For comparison with the data for the gifted, we have chosen the initial
age of 10,f which is near the average age of the subjects when selected
* Malzberg, and Goldhamer and Marshall have based their calculations of the
expectancy of mental disease on the 1940 first admission rates to state and licensed
institutions, public or private, in New York State. It is believed that these figures
would agree fairly closely with the expectancy rates in those areas where adequate
facilities are available for the care of the mentally ill. California, in which 80 percent
of our subjects reside, is one of these.
f Since the Goldhamer-Marshall data are reported for quinquennial ages, 10
years is the nearest to the average age (about 11 years) of our group when selected
for study.
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 43
for study and the terminal ages of 40, 45, and 50. These later ages
approximate the age distribution of the gifted subjects in 1955 when
the median age was about 44 years. Although the actual age range in
the gifted group was about 20 years, 84 percent were born between the
years 1905 and 1915, inclusive, and so were between the ages of 40 and
50 in 1955. According to the conditional expectancy table the chances
in 100 of admission to a mental hospital between age 10 and the speci-
fied later ages for the general population are as follows :
Percentage of General Population
Terminal age Male Female
40 2.8 2.4
45 3.4 3.0
50 4.2 3.7
The proportion of gifted subjects, including the deceased, who had
been hospitalized for mental illness up to an average age of about 44
years (1955) was 3 . 1 percent for men and 3.4 percent for women. A
comparison of these figures with the Goldhamer-Marshall data shows
the incidence among gifted men to be slightly below the expectancy for
the male population of comparable age, and among gifted women,
slightly above the expectancy. Probably neither sex differs greatly from
the generality in the frequency of mental disease. One should not over-
look the possibility that the rate of hospitalization among the gifted
may be related to some extent to their generally superior status ; not
only intellectual which may give them insight into their needs, but
also socio-economic which makes it possible for them to seek aid. The
majority of the hospitalizations have been voluntary and a large pro-
portion have been in private institutions. On the basis of Malzberg's
more than 8 percent expectancy of eventual mental disease and the
Goldhamer-Marshall approximate 10 percent expectancy to age 75, it
is questionable if the incidence of mental disease in the gifted group will
exceed the expectancy for the generality, particularly because of cer-
tain inverse relationships that have been found between educational-
social-economic status and mental disease rate in later maturity. 28 To
equal the expectancy, the present incidence of slightly over 3 percent in
our total group would have to be almost tripled. Whether the extent of
mental disorder reaches that proportion remains to be seen.
Suicide and mental disorder. As reported earlier in this chapter,
10 men and 5 women had committed suicide by 1955. Of these 15 sub-
jects, one man and two women had been hospitalized for mental ill-
44 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
ness, and only these three cases among the suicides are considered to
have a history of mental disease as we have defined it. There is no
doubt that death forestalled eventual hospitalization of additional per-
sons among the suicides. In other cases, however, although there had
been indications of maladjustment, the difficulties had not appeared to
be serious enough to constitute mental disease and in two cases, both
women, there had been no evidence of a serious adjustment problem.
Opinion is divided among psychiatric authorities as to whether it is
only the psychotic individual who takes his own life. Though many
leading psychiatrists hold this opinion, there are others who believe
that the "sane" individual also may commit suicide. Dublin and Bun-
zell, 11 whose study of suicide is one of the best in the field, feel that in
view of the conflicting psychiatric opinions it is extreme to assert that
all suicides are insane unless it is assumed a priori that self-destruc-
tion is in itself a definite indication of psychosis. These authors do not
concur in such an assumption, but believe, rather, that suicide does occur
among individuals who should be designated as sane, even though it
is a far greater hazard among sufferers from mental disease.
Whether or not suicide is considered a psychotic manifestation
per se does not affect our comparison of the incidence of mental disease
in the gifted group with that in the generality since, in both cases, mental
disease is defined as admission to a hospital for the treatment of the
mentally ill.
Use of liquor among the gifted subjects. Our records show that for
10 men and 3 women the precipitating cause of hospitalization in a
mental institution was alcoholism, regardless of whatever underlying
personality disorders there may have been. Furthermore, among those
hospitalized for functional psychoses, 2 men and 1 woman had a serious
alcohol problem as well, although this was not the primary reason for
hospitalization. In addition to the information on alcohol as a problem
among the subjects with a history of mental disease, considerable data
have also been obtained on the extent to which alcohol is used by the
group as a whole. The General Information Blanks of 1940 and 1950
included a specific question on this matter calling for the individual to
rate himself according to several categories on the use of liquor. In
1950 this item was presented in the following form:
Use of Liquor. (Check the statement below that most nearly describes you)
1 never take a drink, or only on rare occasions.
1 am a moderate drinker. I have seldom or never been intoxicated.
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 45
1 am a fairly heavy drinker; I drink to excess rather frequently
but do not feel that it has interfered seriously with my work or
relationships with others.
Alcohol is a serious problem. I am frequently drunk and attempts
to stop drinking have been unsuccessful.
A questionnaire never provides for all the exceptions and variations
found in the responses given by the individuals. From the comments
of the respondents to this item, it was possible to add a fifth category
to the four presented in the information blank. This category included
those with a history of excessive drinking who no longer drink at all
or who drink only moderately. The classification of the subjects ac-
cording to use of liquor was based on a composite of the self -ratings,
the field worker reports, and other pertinent case history information.
The results of the ratings on use of liquor (as of 1950-52) are given in
Table 9.
TABLE 9
RATINGS ON USE OF ALCOHOLIC DRINKS
Men Women
N % N %
A. Never, or only rarely, take a drink ..... 127 16.9 194 32.4
B. Moderate drinker 520 69.0 369 61.7
C. Fairly heavy drinker 87 11.6 29 4.9
D. Alcohol is a serious problem 10 1.3 3 0. 5
E. Formerly a serious problem, now under
control 9 1.2 3 0.5
It is interesting to find that about 17 percent of men and 32 percent
of women never, or only on rare occasions, use alcoholic drinks and that
another 69 percent of men and 62 percent of women describe themselves
as moderate drinkers. About 12 percent of men and slightly more than
5 percent of women are classified as heavy or problem drinkers. Per-
sons classified in categories D and E of Table 9 were considered to be,
or to have been, alcoholics in the sense of the World Health Organiza-
tion definition of alcoholism.* On the basis of this definition, 10 men
and 3 women were rated as alcoholics in 1950-52. Another 9 men and
3 women had been problem drinkers in the past but were now able to
* The definition adopted by the World Health Organization in 1951 is as follows :
"Alcoholics are those excessive drinkers whose dependence upon alcohol has attained
such a degree that it shows a noticeable mental disturbance, or an interference with
their bodily or mental health, their interpersonal relations, and their smooth social
and economic functioning ; or who show the prodromal signs of such developments."
46 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
control the difficulty. The E category of Table 9 includes 3 men who
had been hospitalized for alcoholism. While others in this category
received psychiatric or psychological aid, the majority attribute their
success in overcoming excessive drinking to Alcoholics Anonymous.
The data in Table 9 represent the status of the group at a particular
period of time in contrast to the mental health ratings which are his-
torical in nature. It is possible, therefore, to compare the current extent
of alcoholism in our group with figures for the generality. Jellinek and
Keller 20 report that in 1948 the rate of alcoholism in the United States,
as defined by the World Health Organization, was 3,952 per 100,000
adult population (roughly 4 percent). The United States rate was also
computed separately by sex and showed an alcoholism rate of about
7 percent for men and slightly more than 1 percent for women. The
highest rates, according to these investigators, are found in Nevada,
California, and New York. In California, where approximately four-
fifths of the gifted group reside, the 1948 alcoholism rate was 6,888
per 100,000 adult population (sexes combined). Separate figures ac-
cording to sex were not reported for the individual states, but on the
basis of these figures it is clear that the California rate for each sex is
considerably higher than the 7 percent of men and 1 percent of women
alcoholics reported for the total U.S. population. In contrast, only
about 1 percent of gifted men and one-half of 1 percent of gifted women
were classified as alcoholics.
Crime and delinquency. As shown in our earlier report, 36 the inci-
dence of crime and delinquency is very low. Three subjects (all boys)
had youthful records of delinquency that resulted in their being sent
to a juvenile reformatory. In addition, one man served a term of sev-
eral years in prison for forgery. All four of these are married, employed,
and fulfilling their duties as responsible citizens. Three other boys came
before the Juvenile Court for behavior difficulties but after brief deten-
tion were released to their parents. Among the gifted women only two
are known to have had encounters with the police. Both were arrested
for vagrancy and one served a jail sentence. Although each of these
women has a history of several marriages, both seem to have become
much more stable in recent years, and to have made normal behavioral
adjustments.
Problems of sex. Information on sex problems is available from
the various case history reports and information schedules supplied by
subjects, parents, and field workers over the years of follow-up. Espe-
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 47
daily pertinent were the questionnaires on personality and tempera-
ment (1940) and marital adjustment (1940 and 1950), and particularly
the Supplementary Biographical Data blank filled out in the 1950-52
follow-up. This blank included a direct question regarding sex prob-
lems, worded as follows : "Either in childhood or later have there been
any major problems or marked difficulties related to sex?"
Of those who filled out this blank, 78 percent of men and 77 per-
cent of women indicated the absence of any serious sex problems. The
problems mentioned by the remaining 22 or 23 percent of the group
covered a wide range over both the nature and the gravity of the diffi-
culty. The most frequent problem was that of sexual adjustment in
marriage, mentioned by 4. 6 percent of men and 6. 5 percent of women.
For approximately the same number of men (4.5%), the problem in-
volved shyness, awkwardness, fear of failure, or rebuff in relations with
the opposite sex, but less than 2 percent of women mentioned this prob-
lem. Aversion to- sex or feelings of guilt constituted a sex adjustment
problem for 4 percent of women and 1 percent of men. Masturbation
was mentioned as having been a source of difficulty (chiefly in child-
hood and adolescence) by 4 percent of men and 2 percent of women.
About 2 percent of both men and women reported concern about a high
degree of sex drive (considered it above average) while an equal num-
ber of men and somewhat more women (3.5%) felt that their problem
was a lack or decline of sex drive and interest. Other factors mentioned
as making adjustment difficult were lack of sex education (less than 1%
of men and slightly more than 1 % of women) and early sex experience
or sex shock in childhood or youth (0 . 3 % of men and 1 . 3 % of women) .
Except for homosexuality, the other problems listed were relatively
minor and none was cited by more than 1 percent of either sex.
The sex problems so far discussed, though presenting difficulty for
the individual, have not been of the dimensions to constitute an aber-
ration or an insuperable obstacle to adjustment for the individual.
Homosexuality, on the other hand, is a deviation of such serious pro-
portions involving both personal and social adjustment that its inci-
dence in the gifted group has been reserved for separate discussion.
Our concern here is with subjects who have had homosexual experi-
ences and for whom heterosexual adjustment has been difficult or im-
possible. Homosexuality, thus defined, has been reported for 17 men
(2%) and 11 women (1.7%). Undoubtedly, there are, in addition,
instances of latent homosexuality in which there has been no overt ex-
48 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
pression or even recognition of the tendency. Estimates of the preva-
lence of homosexuality in the general population vary, but all authori-
ties put the incidence well above that found in our study. The most
recent and best known investigation of sex behavior is that of Kinsey
and his associates 21 who report that 25 percent of the male population
between ages 16 and 55 have more than incidental experience and that
4 percent of white males are exclusively homosexual throughout their
lives. Kinsey finds homosexuality much less common among females
with an estimated frequency of from one-half to one-third of that re-
ported for males. The figures for both sexes in the general population
give an incidence many times that found for the gifted subjects. In
contrast to Kinsey's report, that homosexuality occurs among 25 per-
cent of males and 8 to 12 percent of females, only 2 percent of gifted
men and 1 . 7 percent of gifted women are known to be presently homo-
sexual or to have had homosexual experiences. It is possible that a
very few cases have escaped our notice ; however, our data are so com-
plete that these few, if there are any, would not increase the incidence
of homosexuality significantly.
Ten, or somewhat more than half, of the 17 gifted men classified as
homosexual are exclusively so. These include 9 who are overt homo-
sexuals, and except for one case, none of these men has ever married.
In the one case, the marriage was of short duration and ended in di-
vorce. Another man, well aware of his basic homosexuality, has ab-
stained from overt manifestation. He has found an outlet in a highly
successful career in the arts, and appears to have achieved an effective
sublimation of his homosexuality. Six of the 17 men with a homosexual
history have married and have made a reasonably satisfactory hetero-
sexual adjustment. The remaining man, though he had not married,
was reported to be making a successful transition to heterosexuality
when he was killed in an accident.
All but one of the 11 women in the gifted group who> have had
homosexual experiences have married, and six of the marriages are
apparently successful. In two cases the marriage broke up within a very
short time and the women resumed a homosexual pattern of life. An-
other woman has had three unsuccessful marriages and at last report
was living as a homosexual. One of the women who was married briefly
has long been a mental patient and is reported by the hospital as an
overt homosexual. The remaining woman has never married but has
had heterosexual as well as homosexual experiences.
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 49
There is no doubt that homosexuality has interfered with the per-
sonal and social adjustment of these persons. For four men and two
women, alcohol became a serious problem, resulting in hospitalization
for two of the men and both women. On the other hand, at least 5 of
the male homosexuals are rated among our vocationally most success-
ful men.
Relation of general adjustment to education and intelligence. Be-
cause only about one-half of those who have suffered from mental dis-
ease are college graduates in contrast to the nearly 70 percent of the
total group who completed college, a relationship between general ad-
justment and amount of education among the gifted might be suspected.
In the case of men, at least, this indication is not borne out by the com-
plete record. A comparison of the extent of schooling with general
adjustment rating shows practically no difference for men at three levels
of education. Actually, what difference there is favors the men who
did not go to college. The college graduates and the group who attended
college one or more years without graduating have almost precisely
the same proportion of satisfactory ratings. For the women, on the
other hand, there is evidence that the present status of those who did
not go to college or who entered but did not complete college is less
satisfactory with respect to general adjustment than that of the college
graduates. Table 10 compares the ratings on general adjustment ac-
cording to educational level.
TABLE 10
GENERAL ADJUSTMENT RATING ACCORDING TO AMOUNT OF EDUCATION
Men Women
College College 1 No College College 1 No
General Graduates to 4 years College Graduates to 4 years College
Adjustment (N = 536) (N = 127) (N = 100) (N = 401) (N = 99) (N = 101)
Rating %%%%%%
1. Satisfactory . 68.9 68.5 73.3 69.2 57.8 57.6
2. Some malad-
justment.. 22.8 20.7 22.1 24.1 26.7 30.6
3. Serious malad-
justment.. 8.3 10.8 4.6 6.7 15.5 11.8
In spite of the lack of relationship of schooling to general adjust-
ment for men and the tendency for the women with less education to
be less well adjusted, there is a significant positive relationship between
scores on our difficult test of intelligence (Concept Mastery test) and
general adjustment rating. This is true even though Concept Mastery
50 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
test scores tend to increase with amount of education (see Chapter V).
The difference in mean score between those rated satisfactory and those
with some or serious difficulty in adjustment is significant for both
sexes (P= .001 for men and .01 for women). Table 11 gives the
mean Concept Mastery score according to the three general adjustment
categories for the 551 men and 453 women who took this test in 1950-52.
TABLE 11
MEAN CONCEPT MASTERY TEST SCORE ACCORDING TO
GENERAL ADJUSTMENT RATING
_ , . ,. Men Women
General Adjustment
Rating N Mean Score S.D. N Mean Score S.D.
1. Satisfactory 391 136.4 26.2 303 130.8 27.7
2. Some maladjustment .... 120 145.6 26.1 117 138.1 26.4
3. Serious maladjustment .. 40 152.8 23.8 33 140.0 29.6
SUMMARY
When the data on general adjustment are reviewed, we find a small
but fairly consistent sex difference in the direction of more maladjust-
ment among gifted women than among the men of our group. These
sex differences must be interpreted with caution, especially where com-
parisons are made with the generality. The relatively small number of
gifted subjects involved magnifies the importance of each case in com-
paring the incidence of various problems in our group with that re-
ported for the total population. With these qualifications, a discussion
of the sex differences follows.
A slightly larger proportion of women than men have suffered a
mental disorder serious enough to require hospitalization (3.4% of
women and 3.1% of men). In the incidence of suicide, although the
pattern agrees with that for the total population in which more men
than women commit suicide, the sex difference in rate is considerably
less for the gifted than that found for the general population. In the
country as a whole, the suicide rate for males is three to four times that
for females; among the gifted, the rate, proportionately, is less than
twice as high for men as for women.
The problem of small numbers confronts us in comparing the sex
difference in excessive use of alcohol. The 10 men and 3 women who
could be considered alcoholics in 1950, according to the World Health
Organization definition, constitute 1.3 percent of men and 0.5 per-
MORTALITY, HEALTH, AND GENERAL ADJUSTMENT 51
cent of women. These figures indicate a frequency three times as great
for gifted men as that for gifted women. On the other hand, authori-
ties 20 report that in the total U.S. population alcoholism is found 6 to
7 times more frequently among men than among women. The same
difficulty with numbers occurs in evaluating the extent of homosexual-
ity, where 17 men (2.0%) and 11 women (1.7%) are known to be
or to have been homosexual. In contrast to this small difference, Kin-
sey 22 estimates for the generality that homosexuality is from one-half
to one-third less frequent among females than among males.
In crime and delinquency, on the other hand, the women have a con-
siderably better record than do the men. None has been in prison and
none in reform school, though two are known to have been arrested
for vagrancy.
In the broader areas of the relationship of general adjustment to
education and intelligence test scores, we find some additional sex dif-
ferences. Considerably more women than men who discontinued their
schooling below the college graduate level are rated as having either
some or serious difficulty in adjustment. There is no sex difference,
however, in the general adjustment ratings of college graduates. The
data on the relation of intelligence test scores to general adjustment
are not consistent. For the childhood Binet IQ, maladjustment among
women is more frequent at the highest level (IQ 170 and above) but
there is no difference in adjustment rating according to IQ level for
men. In Concept Mastery scores, on the other hand, the sex difference
is in the other direction. Although the less well-adjusted of both sexes
score higher on the average than do those rated satisfactory, the differ-
ences in score according to adjustment rating are greater for men.
CHAPTER V
INTELLECTUAL STATUS AT
MID-LIFE
The measure of adult intelligence has been regarded as an essential and
fundamental part of the follow-up program in our longitudinal study
of intellectually superior children. It is as important to know the rela-
tionship between adult intelligence and early mental status as it is to
compare the adult gifted subjects with both the general population and
selected populations in intellectual ability. The first adult testing was
undertaken in the 1939-40 follow-up when the subjects averaged 29.5
years of age. A test was needed that could be administered to a group
in a brief period, that was sufficiently difficult to differentiate at a very
high level, and that would yield a statistically reliable measure of in-
tellectual functions similar to those brought into play by the Stanford-
Binet Scale and other tests highly saturated with Spearman's "g"
(general intelligence) .
THE CONCEPT MASTERY TEST
Because there was no suitable test available, it was decided to con-
struct one that would meet our requirements. Before deciding upon the
content of the proposed test we made a survey of the results yielded by
the leading types of intelligence tests : their reliabilities, their validities
as measures of "intellect," and their relative efficiency per unit of time,
As a result of this survey two types of tests were chosen : the synonym-
antonym test and the analogies test. A large battery of items was given
to a group of 136 university students and an item analysis of the test
results yielded 190 items which discriminated reliably between the top
and bottom half on the basis of total score of the population tested. The
1939 test in its final form was divided into two parts, each arranged
according to order of difficulty. Part I Synonym-Antonym consisted
of 120 pairs of words to which the subject responds with "same" or
"opposite," and Part II Analogies was made up of 70 statements in
which the subject chooses the fourth term of the equation from a choice
52
INTELLECTUAL STATUS AT MID-LIFE S3
of three responses. There is no time limit ; however, those for whom
the test is applicable usually complete it in from thirty to forty min-
utes.
Both the synonym-antonym test and the analogies test are of the
type commonly designated as "verbal." They are not as exclusively
linguistic, however, as they appear to be. It is possible to devise verbal
tests that measure not only vocabulary but a wide variety of informa-
tion. In the selection of items, an effort was made to tap as many fields
as possible by the use of concepts related to physical and biological
science, mathematics, geography, history, logic, literature, art, religion,
music, sports, et cetera. The test has been named the Concept Mastery
test because it deals chiefly with abstract ideas. Abstractions are the
shorthand of the higher thought process, and a subject's ability to func-
tion at the upper intellectual levels is determined largely by the num-
ber and variety of concepts at his command and on his ability to see
relationships between them.
It should go without saying that neither this nor any other test of
intelligence measures native ability uninfluenced by schooling and other
environmental factors. Like other group intelligence tests of the ver-
bal type, its scores are probably more influenced by such factors than
are scores on the Stanford-Binet. Although no amount of educational
effort can furnish the naturally dull mind with a rich store of abstract
ideas, it is obvious that one's wealth of concepts must inevitably reflect
in some degree the extent of his formal education, the breadth of his
reading, and the cultural level of his environment. The surprising thing
is that despite such influences there are subjects in our gifted group
with only a high-school education who score as high on the Concept
Mastery test as others who have taken graduate degrees in superior
universities and are successful lawyers, doctors, and college teachers.
Another merit of the Concept Mastery test is that it measures power--
rather than speed. Several studies have shown that the speed of mental
processes declines more in middle and later maturity than does the level
of power. Chess champions, for example, may retain most of their
superb playing ability to an advanced age a type of ability that de-
mands a high degree of constructive imagination and abstract reason-
ing. Verbal abilities, even more notably, tend to survive the hazards-
of age. Sward's professors emeriti in the sixties and seventies scored
as high in a difficult vocabulary test as his matched group of young
university teachers ages twenty-five to thirty-five, 32 Specialized skills
54 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
often atrophy from disuse, but one's thinking" all life long involves the
manipulation of concepts. The ability to deal with concepts is there-
fore one of the fairest measures of intellectual power from middle age
onward, provided cultural opportunities have not been unduly limited.
This test has been described at length in Chapters XI and XII of The
Gifted Child Grows Up. 36
During the course of the 1939-40 follow-up the Concept Mastery
test was administered to 954 gifted subjects and to 527 of their spouses.
For comparative purposes the test was also given to six additional
groups comprising 466 subjects. Although there appeared to be some
drop in IQ, as estimated from the CMT scores, beyond the expected
statistical regression due to errors of measurement and failure of the
childhood and adult tests to measure the same functions, the gifted
group at a mean age of about 30 years was, on the average, still within
the 98th or 99th percentile of the generality. Furthermore, compari-
son of the CMT scores of the gifted subjects with those of other groups
tested showed the former to rank far above the average level of ability
of students in top-ranking universities.
For the retesting of the group in the 1950-52 follow-up, a second
form of the Concept Mastery test* was devised. Tests of reliability
and validity show the second form (Form T) to be as good as, and prob-
ably superior in many ways to, the 1939 test (later designated as
Form A). For the preliminary item selection, a battery of 435 new
items plus the 190 from Form A were given to 764 subjects at four
educational levels. These included 214 ninth-grade students, 222
twelfth-grade students, 219 college-undergraduate students, and 109
graduate students. As in Form A, items were selected on the basis of
the extent to which they discriminated between the upper and lower
half on the basis of total score of the populations tested. The tryout
batteries made it possible not only to select the items for Form T with
confidence in their validity and degree of difficulty, but also to match
Form T with Form A items for both difficulty and content. Form T
differs from Form A, however, in the addition of easier items extend-
ing the scale downward, and in the elimination of some of the excess
top in Form A. The surplus of top in Form A was limited to the syno-
nym-antonym section in which the 10 or 15 most difficult items were
^ revision was published in 1956 by The Psychological Corporation,
New York City, as the Concept Mastery Test- Form T and will be referred to as
Form T in this volume. In prior publications this form is referred to as Form B.
INTELLECTUAL STATUS AT MID-LIFE 55
so seldom answered that they contributed little to the test. Additional
items at the lower end of the scale in both sections were needed to
measure adequately the less highly selected groups with which it was
desired to compare the gifted, as well as to allow for possible regres-
sion with age of the gifted subjects themselves. Ten easier synonym-
antonyms and 5 easier analogies were added to Form T, and 15 of the
most difficult synonym-antonyms were eliminated. The final Form T
scale consists of 190 items, 115 synonym-antonyms, and 75 analogies.*
Evidence of the reliability of the Concept Mastery test was obtained
by correlating Form T with Form A. Test-retest data were available
for four groups who took both forms. Group 1 consisted of 108 Stan-
ford University undergraduates, and 40 graduate students and teach-
ing assistants at the University of California. Group 2 included 341
Air Force captains tested by the Institute of Personality Assessment
and Research of the University of California. The 768 gifted subjects
and the 334 spouses of the gifted who took both forms made up Groups
3 and 4. For the first two groups the interval between test and retest
was from one day to one week, with the order of presentation of the
two forms being alternated. In the case of the gifted subjects and their
spouses the reliability coefficients were obtained from a comparison of
the Form A scores of 1939-40 with the Form T scores of 1950-52 for
those individuals who took the CMT at both times. The time interval
between testings for the last two groups was from 11 to 12 years. As
shown in Table 12, the test-retest correlations for these various groups
ranged from .94 to .86. Since Form A was a slightly more difficult
test it may be assumed that the reliability coefficients are somewhat
TABLE 12
CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FORMS A AND T OF THE
CONCEPT MASTERY TEST
Form A Form T
Group N r Mean S.D. Mean S.D.
Undergraduate and Graduate
Students and Teaching
Assistants (Stanford and
University of California) 148 .94 74.6 36.5 95.6 39.4
Air Force Captains 341 .86 42.8 24.5 60.2 31 .3
Subj ects of Gifted Study ... 768 .87 96.9 29.8 136.7 28.5
Spouses of Gifted Subjects.. 334 .92 62.1 35.2 95.3 42.7
* As stated earlier, Form A also contained 190 items ; however, the synonym-
antonyms numbered 120 and the analogies 70.
56 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
lower than would be found in correlating two comparable forms of the
Concept Mastery test.
SCORES OF THE GIFTED SUBJECTS AND THEIR SPOUSES
During the 1950-52 follow-up the Concept Mastery test* was ad-
ministered by the field workers to a total of 1,004 gifted subjects and
690 spouses of the gifted. Table 13 gives the distributions of scores with
means and standard deviations separately for men and women of the
gifted and spouse groups.
TABLE 13
CONCEPT MASTERY, FORM T SCORES OF
GIFTED SUBJECTS AND THEIR SPOUSES
Gifted Subjects Spouses of Gifted Subjects
Score Interval Men Women Total Husbands Wives Total
180-189 16 4 20 314
170-179 60 31 91 48 12
160-169 76 46 122 18 13 31
150-159 84 62 146 20 18 38
140-149 68 71 139 17 20 37
130-139 73 60 133 25 25 50
120-129' 54 52 106 23 25 48
110-119 34 42 76 23 33 56
100-109 30 23 53 15 36 51
90-99 20 25 45 11 35 46
80-89 13 18 31 19 31 50
70-79 9 9 18 23 31 54
60-69 9 5 14 21 32 53
50-59 246 18 26 44
40-49 314 13 37 50
30-39 11 14 25
20-29 5 16 21
10-19 37 10
0-9 .. 6 6
-10to-l 134
N 551 453 1,004 273 417 690
Mean 139.4 133.4 136.7* 102.6 90.5 95.3*
SJ>... 28.8 27.7 28.5 42.4 42.2 42.7
* Coincidentally, in spite of the sizable difference in N's, the mean CMT scores for the
total gifted and spouse groups as given in this table, and the corresponding means given in
Table 12 for those among the total who took both forms of the test, are identical.
One-half of the gifted subjects made a score of 141 or better; the
median for men was 144 and for women, 138. About 2 percent of the
gifted (16 men and 4 women) had scores in the 180-189 interval (per-
* Unless otherwise indicated, the Concept Mastery scores referred to in the
following discussion are Form T scores.
INTELLECTUAL STATUS AT MID-LIFE 57
feet score equals 190), and 10 subjects, a scant one per cent, scored
below 60. The scores of the spouses ranged from minus 8* to 189 with
half of the husbands scoring above 108 and half of the wives about 92.
For both the subjects and their spouses the mean scores were slightly
lower than the medians, and the standard deviations were approxi-
mately 28 for the gifted and 43 for the spouses. The sex differences in
mean score for the gifted and spouse groups, though comparatively
small, are statistically significant, with critical ratios of 3.4 for the
gifted and 3 . 6 for the spouses. The spouse group, in spite of an aver-
age score about one standard deviation below that of the gifted sub-
jects, are themselves a superior group as is shown in a comparison of
the data in Tables 15, 16, and 17.
RELATIONSHIP OF CONCEPT MASTERY SCORES
TO EARLY TESTS
A comparison of the Concept Mastery scores earned by the gifted
subjects in 195CM52 with their childhood Binet IQ shows a progression
in Concept Mastery mean scores corresponding to increase in Binet IQ
level. Of the 1,004 gifted subjects who took the Concept Mastery, 703
had been selected in the original survey of 1921-22 by a Stanford-Binet
test. Table 14 gives the mean score and standard deviation on the Con-
cept Mastery for these subjects classified according to their childhood
Binet IQ. Despite the attenuating effects of age when first tested and
despite the additional attenuation due to the highly curtailed distribu-
tion of the childhood IQ's, there is nevertheless a positive correlation
of .29 between Binet scores in childhood and Concept Mastery scores*
30 years later. The differences in mean CMT scores at the various
Binet IQ levels are highly significant as determined by the F ratio
(p=<.ooi).
RELATIONSHIP OF CONCEPT MASTERY SCORES
TO EDUCATION
There is also a positive relationship between Concept Mastery score
and the level of education. An increase in score with increase in amount
of education is to be expected in a test of mental ability because of the
corresponding increase in degree of selection on the basis of intelli-
gence at the higher educational levels. It should be noted also that a
* Below zero scores result from too many wrong guesses (score equals rights
minus wrongs) and may be regarded as zero scores.
58 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 14
CONCEPT MASTERY SCORES ACCORDING TO
CHILDHOOD STANFORD-BINET IQ
Concept Mastery Test
BinetlQ N Mean S.D.
170 and above. 48 155.8 23.1
160-169 70 146.2 26.2
150-159 200 136.5 29.0
140-149 344 131.8 28.6
135-139 41 114.2 33.3
test of the type and level of difficulty of the Concept Mastery cannot be
entirely free from the influence of schooling. Table 15 gives the mean
scores and standard deviations for the CMT according to the amount
of education for both the gifted subjects and their spouses, and Table 16
gives the corresponding data for a group of 333 Air Force captains.*
TABLE 15
CONCEPT MASTERY SCORES ACCORDING TO EDUCATIONAL LEVEL
FOR GIFTED SUBJECTS AND THEIR SPOUSES
Spouses of Gifted
Gifted Subjects Subjects
Educational Level N Mean S.D. N Mean S.D.
Ph.D 51 159.0 19.3 12 148.7 27.8
M.D 35 143.6 23.2 18 123.9 27.8
LL.B 73 149.4 20.7 20 126.5 37.5
Master's or equivalent degree 151 144.3 25.4 47 130.8 32.5
Graduate study one or more
years without degree 122 143.0 26.9 50 119.7 33.8
Bachelor's degree only 263 135.7 26.6 192 105,0 38.0
All college graduates 695 140.9 26.0 339 114.6 37.8
College 1-4 years 163 128.7 29.7 164 84.6 36.9
No college 146 118.4 28.5 187 68.6 38.0
TABLE 16
CONCEPT MASTERY SCORES ACCORDING TO EDUCATIONAL LEVEL
FOR AIR FORCE CAPTAINS
Educational Level N Mean S.D.
College graduation 66 73.0 36.2
College 1-4 years 131 60.5 32.3
High-school graduation 121 56 . 7 26 . 8
Less than high-school graduation ... 15 34.5 19.7
* These men constitute Group 2 of Table 12 and Group 10 of Table 17 and are
described on page 59. Information on schooling was lacking for 11 of the total 344
officers tested.
INTELLECTUAL STATUS AT MID-LIFE 59
Although the educational attainments of the Air Force group are con-
siderably lower than those of the gifted subjects and their spouses, a
relationship is still apparent between CMT mean scores and extent of
education. For all three groups the differences in mean scores, accord-
ing to educational levels, are significant (P = <.001).
COMPARISON OF SCORES YIELDED BY THE
CONCEPT MASTERY TEST
In order to secure normative data, the Concept Mastery test was
given to a number of subjects outside the gifted study. Table 17 gives
the mean scores and standard deviations for all the various groups
tested including the gifted and their spouses. Brief descriptions of the
subjects in Groups 3 to 10 of Table 17 follow:
Group 3 Graduate Students (University of California Institute of
Personality Assessment and Research IPAR). This group was com-
posed of 80 senior medical school students and 81 advanced graduate stu-
dents, all of whom were within one year of completing their degrees, for
the most part the Ph.D., in the Graduate Division, University of California.
Group A Electronic Engineers and Scientists (Navy Electronics Lab-
oratory). These subjects were tested in a study of creativity made at a
Navy electronics laboratory. All were college graduates and about one-
third had taken some graduate work, including several Ph.D/s.
Group 5 Applicants for Ford Foundation Graduate Fellowships in
Behavioral Sciences. This group was composed of 83 college seniors from
34 colleges throughout the United States.
Group 6 Undergraduate Students (Stanford University and Univer-
sity of California) . About 41 percent were seniors and the remainder were
juniors and sophomores.
Group 7 Graduate Students (University of California) . The majority
of these students took the CMT in connection with the counseling services
at the University of California.
Group 8 College Graduates. This was a nonstudent group. All had at
least a bachelor's degree, and 9 of the total 75 held graduate degrees. They
were tested at the University of California Counseling Center where they
had sought vocational counsel.
Group 9 Applicants for Admission to the Public Health Education Cur-
riculum (University of California). This group of college graduates from
various institutions was seeking admission to the Public Health Education
curriculum, a graduate department.
Group 10 Air Force Captains (IPAR). An evaluation study for the
Air Force of captains who were up for promotion, included the CMT. The
median age of these men was 33 years. The extent of education in the group
is reported in Table 16.
60 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 17
MEDIANS, MEANS, AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF CONCEPT MASTERY SCORES
FOR VARIOUS GROUPS TESTED
Concept Mastery, Form T
Group N Median Mean S.D.
1. Subjects of Gifted Study 1,004 141 137 28
2. Spouses of Gifted Subjects 690 96 95 43
3. Graduate Students (IPAR) 161 120 118 33
4. Electronic Engineers and Scientists 95 92 94 37
5. Applicants for Ford Foundation Fellowships .. 83 116 118 35
6. Undergraduate Students 309 92 94 33
7. Graduate Students 125 121 119 33
8. College Graduates 75 111 112 32
9. Applicants to Public Health Education Curricu-
lum 54 101 97 29
10. Air Force Captains 344 55 60 32
A comparison of the figures in Table 17 shows that the gifted sub-
jects, regardless of the amount of schooling, far outdistance all the
other groups in mean score. This is true even though in general there
is an increase in CMT score with increase in educational level. As
shown in Table IS, the mean CMT score for the gifted subjects who
have taken a Ph.D. degree is 159. In contrast, Group 3 of Table 17,
which is made up of advanced graduate students at the University of
California, had a mean score of 118. Of the 161 men in Group 3, one-
half were in the final year of medical school and the other half with
only a few exceptions were within one year of completing work for a
Ph.D. Separately, the mean CMT score for the 80 medical students
was 114 and for the 81 Ph.D. students the mean was 122. It is even
more interesting to* find from a comparison of Table 17 with Table 15
that the 146 gifted subjects who did not go to college at all have exactly
the same mean CMT score, i.e., 118, as the advanced graduate students
in Group 3 of Table 17.
The lowest scoring among the various groups of subjects reported
in Table 17 are the Air Force captains but this group, too, is selected
on the basis of intellectual competence though less highly so than the
other groups studied. In addition to their current military rank and
the fact that all were candidates for promotion, further evidence of their
superiority to the generality is found in their educational record. One-
fifth of this group are college graduates and close to two-fifths attended
college for one to three years. Considering their generally superior
educational and vocational status, it can be assumed that the mean Con-
INTELLECTUAL STATUS AT MID-LIFE 61
cept Mastery score for these men would be considerably above that
found for a random sampling of the general population. The differ-
ence of 77 points between the mean score of the Air Force men and
that of the gifted subjects, of whom only 1 percent score as low as the
mean of the Air Force group, warrants the assumption that the gifted
subjects would excel by an even greater margin the so-far-undetermined
mean for the generality.
Unfortunately, we have no direct way of measuring the degree to
which the gifted subjects have maintained their superiority to the gen-
eral population. We lack a random sampling for the CMT as well as
data for comparing Form T scores with Stanford-Binet or similar
scores, other than the data for the gifted subjects themselves. The 1939
version of the CMT, Form A, however, was given to a group of college
students who were also given the 1937 Stanford-Binet and the Wechs-
ler tests. 1 By statistical inference based on a comparison of the CMT
scores of this college sample with their standing on the Stanford-Binet
and the Wechsler tests, it was estimated that the 1939-40 Concept
Mastery scores of the gifted subjects were, on the average, 2.5 S.D/s
above the mean of the general population.
THE MAINTENANCE OF INTELLECTUAL ABILITY*
Although we are not able to determine accurately the amount of
change, if any, in the intellectual status of the gifted subjects since their
selection in childhood solely on the basis of ability to score within the
top one percent of the generality on a standardized intelligence test,
we are able to compare the status of the gifted group and of their
spouses as well at two different testings with the Concept Mastery
Test : Form A in 1939-40 and Form T in 1950-52.
In order to secure equivalent scores for Forms A and T, both forms
were given, either in immediate succession or at one-week intervals,
to 148 subjects. Form A was given first to half of the subjects and
Form T first to the other half. This sample was composed of 108
Stanford undergraduates and 40 graduate students and faculty mem-
bers at the University of California. After correction for practice ef-
fects, the transformation by "line of equivalents" was made and a
conversion table set up by which Form T scores could be converted
* The data to be discussed liere are from a detailed study of the changes in
intellectual status with age among the gifted subjects and their spouses. This study,
made by Nancy Bayley and Melita Oden, is reported in "The Maintenance of Intel-
lectual Ability in Gifted Adults," in the Journal of Gerontology.*
62 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
into Form A equivalents. These equated scores will be referred to as
T(e) scores. For this sample of 148 the correlation between the two
forms is . 94.
In the follow-up of 1939-40 the Concept Mastery, Form A had
been given to 954 gifted subjects and 527 spouses of the gifted and in
the 1950-52 follow-up Form T was given to 1,004 gifted and 690
spouses. There were 768 gifted subjects (422 men and 346 women)
and 335 spouses (144 husbands and 191 wives) who took both Form A
and Form T. The elapsed time between the two testings was from 11
to 12 years. The average age of the subjects at the earlier testing was
29.5 years and at the later testing it was approximately 41.5 years.
The average age of the spouses was about the same 41,2 years at
the 1950-52 follow-up. The test-retest correlations for the 11- to 12-
year interval are all high. For both gifted men and gifted women the
Form A scores correlated .88 with the Form T(e) scores. In the case
of the spouses, both husbands and wives, the correlation between A
and T(e) scores was .92. Such difference as there is between the cor-
relations for the gifted and the spouses can be accounted for by the
greater variability in scores of the less highly selected spouse group.
Table 18 gives the Form A and Form T(e) mean scores and stand-
ard deviations separately by sex for those gifted subjects and spouses
of the gifted who took both forms of the Concept Mastery. The data
show that the scores of both the gifted and the spouse groups were con-
sistently higher at the second testing when the subjects were approxi-
mately 12 years older. The increases in score for each of the subgroups
were highly significant statistically, the level of significance being bet-
ter than .001 in every instance. Table 18 includes also the mean score
and S.D. for the gifted men and women who were tested once only on
the CMT (either Form A or Form T). A comparison of the CMT
scores of the twice-tested subjects with the scores of those tested only
once indicates that the twice-tested are typical of the total. The in-
creases in mean score from Form A to Form T(e) range from 11.4
points for the wives of gifted men to 16.3 points for the gifted men.
The gifted women improved their score by 15.5 points and their hus-
bands increased 14.9 points on the average. In interpreting these
increases the reader is cautioned that a line of equivalents based on
148 cases is bound to have some sampling errors and these estimates
of change have to be regarded as approximations.
Although the general trend was toward an increase in score on re-
test, not all of the gifted showed a gain from A to T(e) scores. A few
INTELLECTUAL STATUS AT MID-LIFE 63
TABLE 18
COMPARISON OF TEST-RETEST SCORES ON THE CONCEPT MASTERY TEST
Form A Form T(e) ^^f"
Twice-tested N Mean S.D. N Mean S.D. A^TCe)
Gifted men 422 98.6 30.8 422 114.9 26.2 16.3
Gifted women 346 94.9 28.5 346 11Q.4 25.3 15.5
Husbands 143 65.3 34.5 143 80.2 39.0 14.9
Wives 191 59.8 35.1 191 71.2 39.2 11.4
Tested Once Only
Gifted men 95* 98.2 33.8 129 117.0 30.0 18.8
Gifted women 73* 90.0 27.6 107 105.4 26.7 15.4
* 10 men and 8 women not included had died in the interval between 1940 and 1951.
subjects, about 6 percent, lost more than 5 points, but except for two
cases none of the losses was greater than 20 points. The man with the
greatest drop (26 points) on the retest had scored within the top one
percent for gifted men on Form A and in about the top 18 percent on
Form T and, thus, was still well above the average of the gifted group.
Since this man held a Ph.D. degree and was a college instructor, it
seems reasonable to suppose that the lower score on Form T was due
to some accidental circumstance at the time of testing rather than to a
true change in intellectual ability. The woman with the greatest loss
from Form A to Form T(e) had scored 20 points (nearly two-thirds
of an S.D.) below the mean for the gifted on Form A and was more
than 2 S.D.'s below the mean on Form T. She had one year of college
work and a brief business course. Married and the mother of two chil-
dren, she has been employed for many years in clerical work. She has
few interests outside her home and job and reports that she does very-
little reading other than the newspaper ("usually") and popular maga-
zines. There was little evidence of cultural interests in the home, and
the subject, though cooperative in the gifted study, says she feels that
she does not really belong in the group.
An investigation of the relationship between gains or losses in score
and such factors as age, initial score, education, and occupation indi-
cated that improvement occurs to about the same extent at all ages, at
all levels of ability tested, and in all educational and occupational levels
represented. The data from the retests of the gifted group and of their
spouses (also intellectually superior on the average though less highly
selected than the gifted) give strong evidence that intelligence of the
type tested by the Concept Mastery test continues to increase at least
through SO years of age.
CHAPTER VI
THE MATTER OF SCHOOLING
The educational histories of the gifted subjects were reported at length
in the preceding volume 36 of this series, which covered the record to
1945. Since all but a small number had completed their schooling at
that time, the data presented here will (1) bring up to date the amount
of schooling, (2) summarize the academic records and major fields of
study which were reported in detail in the earlier volume, and (3) dis-
cuss some of the reflections on their education made by subjects them-
selves in the Supplementary Biographical Data blank of 1951-52.
AMOUNT OF SCHOOLING*
The educational record of the subjects is a remarkable one : 87 per-
cent of the men and 83 percent of the women entered college and 70
percent of men and 67 percent of women graduated. Of those who did
not go to college, more than one-third of the men and one-fourth of the
women had supplemented their high-school education with courses at
trade, business, technical, art, or other specialized schools. On the other
hand, approximately 8 percent of men and 12 percent of women did not
go beyond high school and a small number of these (2 men and 9
women) did not complete the full high-school course or its equivalent.
However, in these latter cases, the failure to complete high school was
chiefly a formality. The two men left high school at the end of the third
year, one to study music and one to enter trade school. Three of the
9 women who did not graduate from high school were child perform-
ers on the stage or in motion pictures and discontinued their schooling
to study dramatics or dancing. Another three took a business school
course after three years of high school. Table 19 gives the extent of
schooling to college graduation, by sex, for the total group of subjects.
* Ttie figures on amount of schooling, both undergraduate and graduate, given in
the text and in Tables 19 and 20 are for the total group of subjects for whom the
information was available. The data are given not only for those living but also for
the deceased subjects who had completed their education before death. The other
comparisons In this chapter and elsewhere between amount of schooling and other
variables are limited to subjects living at the time the particular data under discussion
were collected.
64
THE MATTER OF SCHOOLING 65
There has been a slight increase in the number of both bachelor's and
graduate degrees in the 10-year period between 1945 and 1955, ac-
counted for chiefly by the completion of their studies by those who were
students at the earlier date. There were, however, a few instances in
which a subject who had dropped out of college returned later to take
a degree. The proportion of both sexes with no formal schooling beyond
high school has remained about the same since 1940, although a few
individuals in this category have continued their studies. Of particular
interest is the case of one man who got his high-school diploma at the
age of 45. He had left high school in 1931 while in his second year be-
cause of lack of interest and financial need. He eventually worked into
a very good civil-service position for which he was able to qualify on
promotional examinations even though he lacked the requisite high-
school diploma. In 1955 he was awarded a high-school diploma, earned
through attendance at evening classes in the adult education program,
and he is now planning university extension courses to qualify himself
for a position in a more technical or scientific field.
The record of nearly 70 percent college graduation in our group is
especially outstanding when we consider that this was achieved chiefly
in the decade 1930-40 when less than 8 percent of the generality of
comparable age were graduating from college. Even in these later years
when the number of college graduates has increased so markedly, the
record set by the gifted subjects is far above the 12 percent of the pres-
ent-day youth who complete college. 43 Especially noteworthy is the
number of gifted women who are college graduates. As shown in
Table 19, the proportion of women graduates is almost as great as the
proportion of men graduates, namely, 67 percent of women as com-
pared with 70 percent of men. Among the generality of college gradu-
ates, according to Wolfle's estimate (1953), the sex ratio is 60 men to
40 women.
The educational record of the gifted subjects is even more impres-
sive when we consider the number who have continued for graduate
study. Table 20 shows the extent of graduate training completed and
the degrees taken. Two-thirds of the men and almost three-fifths of the
women who completed college entered graduate school, and 56 percent
of the men and 33 percent of the women took one or more advanced
degrees. It should be noted that more have taken master's and pro-
fessional degrees than show in Table 20, since each person appears
only at his highest degree. The highest degree was most often the
66 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 19
AMOUNT OF UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLING
Men Women
N % N %
College graduation 579 70.0 429 66.7
From 1 to 4 years of college (no degree) ... 139 16.8 105 16.3
High school plus special training 38 4.6 28 4.4
High school graduation 69 8.4 72 11.2
High school not completed 2 0.2 9 1.4
Total 827 643
Deceased and education not completed at
time of death 19 11
Subjects "lost" and information lacking 11 17
Total number of subjects in study .... 857 671
LL.B. 3 taken by 90 men; next in order of frequency was the master's
(87), followed by the Ph.D. (80). The M.D. degree was taken by 49
men, and other professional degrees or diplomas by 17 men. In the case
of women the master's degree held by 90 is the most frequent graduate
degree. A Ph.D. degree has been taken by 17 women, the M.D. by six,
and the LLJB. by two. Other graduate degrees or diplomas are held by
28 women. Slightly more than one-tenth of the men and one-fourth of
the women who entered graduate school did not take a graduate degree.
In some cases the advanced study was begun with the idea of getting a
master's or Ph.D. degree but the students were deterred from comple-
tion by such circumstances as change of interests, lack of finances or,
more fortuitously, an attractive job opening. Often, especially among
the women, the graduate work was taken to qualify for a professional
credential, usually in teaching, rather than for a degree.
Interesting comparative data on graduate study and graduate de-
grees for the college population in general are furnished by Wolfle 43
who reports a steady increase since 1900 in the number of United States
college graduates who enter graduate school. By 1953, approximately
one-fourth of those who received bachelor's degrees proceeded to gradu-
ate study. Of these, about 17 percent took a master's degree and about
two percent a Ph.D. or comparable doctorate. On the other hand, in
the gifted group, nearly all of whom had completed their undergraduate
study by 1940, two-thirds of men and about three-fifths of women with
a bachelor's degree entered graduate school and, as the 1955 record
THE MATTER OF SCHOOLING 67
TABLE 20
PROPORTION OF COLLEGE GRADUATES WHO PROCEED TO GRADUATE STUDY
AND DEGREES TAKEN
Men Women
"N %~" N %
Ph.D. or other doctorate 80 13.8 17 4.0
M.D., M.Sc.D 49 8.5 6 1.4
LL.B., LL.M 90 15.5 2 .5
Master's plus 1 or more years of study 26 4.5 20 4.7
Master's degree 61 10.5 70 16.3
Other graduate degrees or diplomas 17 2.9 28 6.5
Graduate study for one or more years and no
degreetaken 63 10.9 107 24.9
One or more years of graduate work 386 66.7 250 58.3
Bachelor's degree only 193 33.3 179 41.7
Total college graduates 579 429
shows, 56 percent of the men and 33 percent of the women have
taken one or more graduate degrees. The most striking contrast is
seen in the number of doctorates : 14 percent of gifted men and 4 per-
cent of gifted women (10% for the sexes combined) as compared with
the current 2 percent of the generality of college graduates (men and
women) who get a doctor's degree.
Nor did education end for the gifted when they left school. No
mention has been made in either Table 19 or Table 20 of the large num-
ber who have participated in adult education or workshop programs
or who are otherwise engaged in special study on a noncredit basis. In
addition, postgraduate certificates, licenses, and diplomas have been
received by a number of subjects who qualified by examination for such
special designations as Fellow, American Board of Surgery; Diploma,
American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology; Fellow,
American Institute of Architects; Certified Public Accountant; and
similar certifications. Also special study in arts, crafts, foreign lan-
guages, literature, etc., are frequently mentioned among the avocational
interests of our subjects.
COLLEGE RECORDS AND MAJOR FIELDS OF STUDY
In general, the academic record for the college graduates was supe-
rior, with 78 percent of men and 83 percent of women having an average
grade of B or better in college. One or more honors (graduation cum
laude, Phi Beta Kappa, or Sigma Xi) were won by 40 percent of men
68 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
and 33 percent of women graduates. On the other hand, 53 men and
10 women flunked out of college. Of these, 24 men re-entered and
graduated and IS continued for advanced degrees, including 4 Ph.D.'s,
3 law degrees, 2 medical degrees, and 1 engineering degree. Only one
woman of the 10 who failed later completed college, and she graduated
cum laude. No clear pattern of causes for college failure emerges ; how-
ever, the most common explanation given by the subjects was that in
high school they had found it so easy to make high marks that they
underestimated the amount of study necessary in college. A few felt
that they had missed the fun and social life of high school, and on enter-
ing college devoted too much time to extracurricular student body or
social activities. There were also a good many instances in which the
poor record could be attributed to lack of proper guidance in the selec-
tion of a major field.
For men the five leading major fields were as follows in order of
frequency: Social Sciences, 42 percent; Physical Sciences, 17 percent;
Engineering, IS percent; Biological Sciences, 10 percent; and Letters,
9 percent. In the case of women, although the Social Sciences led with
37 percent, it was by a slim margin. Letters was in second place with
36 percent. Next in order for the women were Education, 9 percent ;
Biological Sciences, 6 percent ; and Physical Sciences, 5 percent. No
more than 2 percent of either sex majored in any of the other fields of
study reported.
The most frequent major among men who took graduate work was
Law, with 25 percent of the total. Physical Sciences (13%) and Engi-
neering (8%) combined were in second place with 21 percent. Next
in order of choice were Social Sciences, 18 percent, followed by Bio-
logical Sciences, with 17 percent. Education and Letters each claimed
6 percent. There were no more than 3 percent in any other graduate
major field. For women graduate students the five leading major fields
were the same as in the undergraduate years but the order changed.
The graduate majors and the percentage in each are as follows : Social
Sciences, 32 percent ; Letters, 28 percent ; Education, 19 percent ; Bio-
logical Sciences, 9 percent ; and Physical Sciences, 5 percent.
EDUCATION IN RETROSPECT
The Supplementary Biographical Data blanks which the gifted men
and women filled out in 195152 offer some interesting sidelights on
the educational history of our group. In reviewing their education at
THE MATTER OF SCHOOLING 69
mid-life, the great majority reported themselves as satisfied with their
schooling. When asked to identify in a list of 10 the factors that had
contributed to their life accomplishment, adequate education was the.
factor most frequently checked by both sexes (83% of men and 79%
of women). In reply to the question : "Did you have as much schooling
as you wanted ? If not, explain" 71 percent of men and 62 percent of
women gave an unqualified "Yes" and an additional 6 percent of men
and 10 percent of women replied with a qualified "Yes" such as "Yes,
at the time, but not now," or "Yes, but the wrong kind." A small num-
ber (1.8% of men and 0.6% of women) stated only that their school-
ing was of the "wrong kind." The inability to finance further school-
ing was the most frequent explanation of a "No" response (13% of
men and 16% of women). Some 7 percent of both men and women cut
short their schooling because of the war, marriage, lack of interest, or
lack of encouragement. Finally, reasons of health were given by a small
minority (2.3% of men and 3.5% of women).
When we compare the replies to this question with the actual amount
of schooling, we find, as would be expected, that the great majority of
college graduates (84% of men and 88% of women) had as much edu-
cation as they wanted. Some interesting sex differences appear among
those who did not attend college at all. Almost half of the men who did
not enter college felt that they had had as much education as they
wanted, while only 32 percent of women with no college attendance
were satisfied with their education. Table 21 gives the distribution of
replies for three levels of education.
TABLE 21
SUBJECT'S FEELING ABOUT AMOUNT OF SCHOOLING
ACCORDING TO EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
One to
College 4 Years No
Graduate College College
(N = 325) (N = 77) (N = 78)
80.6 29.9 16.6
7.1 19.5 15.4
0.6 .... 1.3
5.5 33.8 44.9
1.5 1.3 11.5
4.7 15.6 10.3
MEN
One to
College 4 Years
Did you have as much Graduate College
schooling as you (N = 456) (N = 80)
wanted? % %
Yes (unqualified) ... 80.7 45.0
Yes (qualified) 3.7 5.0
Wrong kind 1.8 3.8
No
College
(N = 64)
28.1
18.8
No, lack of finances. . 6.6 26.2
No, lack of encourage-
ment or motivation 2.2 5.0
No, miscellaneous
reasons 5.0 15.0
39.1
9.4
4.6
70 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
According to the retrospective opinions of the subjects in the bio-
graphical data blank, the attitudes of their parents had been favorable
to educational achievement. The subjects were asked to report on their
parents' attitude toward (a) school progress, (6) school work, (c) col-
lege attendance. Their replies are given in Table 22. In only a few cases
did the parents fail to give encouragement or to show interest in the
school work of these children. That the parents of 88 percent of men
and 85 percent of women should have encouraged college attendance
for their sons and daughters in the 1920's and 1930's, when so small
a proportion of their classmates were continuing beyond high school, is
truly remarkable. The fact that more than twice as large a proportion
of women as of men say that they were not encouraged to go to college
because of financial difficulties can be explained on the ground that girls
could not be expected to find ways to earn their expenses as readily as
boys, and because of the parental view that money for a college educa-
tion was not as well spent for girls as for boys. On the other hand, more
than three times as many men as women said that their parents were
indifferent, or left the decision to the subject, or that college attendance
was not considered in the family. More than half of the men who re-
ported this passive attitude on the part of their parents, however, did
TABLE 22
PARENTS* ATTITUDE TOWARD SCHOOLING OF THE GIFTED SUBJECTS
Men Women
Attitude of Parents (N ^ 601) (N 1 483)
(a) Toward school progress
1. Encouraged to forge ahead 51 .0 46.2
2. Allowed to go own pace 47.7 52.4
3. Heldback 1.3 1.4
(6) Toward school work
1. Demanded high marks 12.1 13.8
2. Encouraged or expected high marks 84.6 81 .7
3. Little concern or Interest 3.3 4.5
(c) Toward college attendance
1. Encouraged college 87.7 85.3
2. Indifferent ; decision left to subject 3.7 1.0
3. College not encouraged because of subject's
youth, health, considered waste of money,
etc 1.2 1.7
4. College not encouraged because of limited
finances 4.3 9.7
5. College not encouraged subject did not ex-
plain 3.2 2.3
THE MATTER OF SCHOOLING 71
graduate from college, and almost one-fourth continued for graduate
study.
As one might expect, the great majority of those who say that they
were encouraged to go to college by their parents did so : 84 percent
of the men and 78 percent of the women in this category took a bache-
lor's degree, and 56 percent of the men and 44 percent of the women
continued for graduate work. Among the subjects whose parents did
not encourage college, we find that 10 percent of men and 14 percent
of women were graduated. Table 23 gives the amount of education
according to the parents' attitude toward college attendance.
TABLE 23
AMOUNT OF EDUCATION ACCORDING TO PARENTS' ATTITUDE
TOWARD COLLEGE ATTENDANCE
Encouraged Indifferent Not Encouraged
Men Women Men Women Men Women
(N = 527) (N = 412) (N = 22) (N = 5) (N = 52) (N = 66)
% % % % %
College graduation 83.5 77.6 50.0 (3 cases) 9.6 13.6
College 1 to 4 years 11.6 15.6 27.3 23.1 18.2
No College 4.9 6.8 22.7 (2 cases) 67.3 68.2
It must be remembered that the feelings and opinions expressed in
the biographical data blanks are memory reports. There is no way of
knowing the part that rationalization may have played or the extent to
which these opinions may have been colored by later experiences.
Another favorable circumstance that no doubt contributed to the
high rate of college attendance in our group was the superior educa-
tional attainments of the parents themselves. Approximately 35 per-
cent of fathers and 16 percent of the mothers held a bachelor's degree
or better, while 11 percent of fathers and 15 percent of mothers had
attended college for from one to three years, often receiving a certifi-
cate or professional degree. Since 88 percent of our subjects were born
before 1915 and 38 percent before 1910, the schooling of the majority
of the parents took place in the 1890's and early 1900's. In contrast,
Wolfle reports that in 1900 in the country as a whole only 1 . 7 per-
cent of persons of college age graduated from college.
CONCLUSION
From the foregoing it is evident that the educational attainments
of the gifted subjects are not only far above those of their contempo-
72 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
raries but also well ahead of the present-day rates in terms of college
degrees, both undergraduate and graduate. But, good as these educa-
tional records were, they could have been better. The figures given are
more significant when they are read in reverse. All of these subjects
were potentially superior college material yet more than 10 percent of
the men and more than 15 percent of the women did not enter college,
and 30 percent of the group did not graduate. Inability to finance col-
lege and lack of parental encouragement were frequent causes of fail-
ure to attend college, but more often the real cause was the failure of
the high school to recognize the gifted students' potentialities and to
give the needed encouragement and stimulation. 37 This research has
not yielded a great deal of information on methods and techniques for
the education of the gifted since the investigation was not undertaken
as a study in the pedagogy of gifted children, but rather as a search for
the basic facts necessary to a full understanding of the gifted individual
and his potentialities. Not until the physical and mental characteristics
and the developmental tendencies of intellectually superior children
have been definitely established is it possible to plan intelligently for
their education. Only a very few of the children in this group had en-
joyed any special educational opportunities in the elementary or sec-
ondary schools beyond the opportunity to skip an occasional grade. As
a result of this skipping the group as a whole was somewhat acceler-
ated, with about one-half of the boys and three-fifths of the girls gradu-
ating from high school before the age of 17. In fact, nearly one-fourth
of the group completed high school by age sixteen and one-half years.
A careful study of acceleration in the group was made in a search for
factors that might be associated with rate of school progress. Specifi-
cally, the accelerated (defined as high-school graduation before age
sixteen and one-half) were compared with the nonaccelerates on a num-
ber of variables both in childhood and in later life. These results were
discussed in full in Volume IV of this series. 36 In general, the findings
favored the rapidly promoted children. It was concluded that children
of IQ 135 or higher should be promoted sufficiently to permit college
entrance by the age of seventeen at latest, and that a majority in this
group would be better off to enter at sixteen. Acceleration to this ex-
tent is especially desirable for those who plan to complete two or more
years of graduate study in preparation for a professional career.
CHAPTER VII
THE MATTER OF CAREER
The extent to which the gifted subjects in their adult careers have ful-
filled the promise of their superior intellectual endowments and educa-
tional attainments is one of the most significant aspects of this study.
Now, at mid-life, at an average age of 44, the subjects can be considered,
to be pretty well established in their life work. While promotions and
advances in both position and income may be expected for some years,
there is not likely to be much change in field of work. This is true at
least for the men. The occupational future of the women is less pre-
dictable. Some women now employed may decide that they would
prefer more home and family life while some housewives may decide
on taking jobs as their children grow older. Because the career patterns
and the types of occupations of men and women in the gifted group are
so different, as are those of men and women in general, their vocational
careers will be discussed separately.
OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF MEN
The occupations of the employed men were classified according to the
Minnesota Occupational Scale, 16 the same scale as that used in classify-
ing the occupations of the gifted men in 1940 and 1950. This scale con-
tains a list of about 350 occupations which are grouped into seven cate-
gories ranging from the professions to unskilled labor. We are con-
cerned here with Groups I to V only since no gifted men fall in either
Group VI (slightly skilled) or Group VII (unskilled). Group I is
limited to the professions, strictly defined to include only vocations call-
ing for a high degree of specialized knowledge, training, or creativity.
Group IV includes all agricultural and related occupations regardless
of the scale of operations. The remaining three occupation groups
II, III, and V cover occupations related to business, finance, and in-
dustry as well as the arts and entertainment, and the semiprofessional,
protective service, and other nonprofessional and nonf arming occupa-
tions.
73
74 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Group II is made up of the managerial ranks in business and indus-
try, the officials in public or private administration, and the semipro-
fessional occupations. Also in Group II are the men classified as "busi-
ness professional." These are men trained in the professions such as
engineers, statisticians, accountants, and the like, who are working in
the field of business or industry. Group III includes the owners and
managers of smaller businesses, clerical and sales workers, skilled work-
ers, both craftsmen and foremen, as well as certain service workers.
From Group III we move downward to Group V which comprises the
minor clerical or minor business occupations and the semiskilled trades.
Table 24 gives the occupational status of the men as reported in 1955.
TABLE 24
OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF GIFTED MEN
A. Classification according to Minnesota Occupational Scale
N % of Classi-
fied
Group I Professional
345
45 6
Group II Managerial, official, and semiprofessional
Group III Retail business, clerical, skilled trades, and
kindred ......
308
83
40.7
10 9
Group IV Agriculture and related occupations
12
1 6
Group V Semiskilled occupations
9
1 2
All Groups * .
757
B.
Not employed, or less than full-time employment
1. Incapacitated by reasons of health
N
9
% o Total
1 1
2. Independent means, or retired
9
1 1
3. Temporarily not employed
2
3
C.
1955 occupation not ascertained
(includes 11 men lost since 1928 or earlier)
18
2 3
Total
795
More than 86 percent of the employed men are in the professions
of Group I and the higher business and semiprofessional occupations
of Group II, and only 11 percent are in Group III. Groups IV and V
are very much in the minority with 1.6 and 1 .2 percent, respectively.
Table 25 gives the breakdown of the occupational groups and indicates
the percentage of employed men in each subgroup.
- The most frequent profession is law, with 10 percent of all gifted
men either practicing law or in judicial positions. An additional 9 men
with the LL.B. degree were admitted to law practice but have since
THE MATTER OF CAREER 75
gone into other occupations. Next most frequent among the professions
are members of university faculties and these are closely followed by
engineers. Although the proportion of practicing physicians in Table 25
is 5 percent, it should be noted that an additional 6 men with the M.D.
degree are full-time members of university faculties and are classified
in that category. The number of clergymen also is not fully repre-
sented in the 0.9 percent reported in Table 25 since two former minis-
ters have joined college faculties, one at a theological college and one at
a secular university. Although these men may occasionally serve as
ministers they are primarily teachers. The 1 1 men in the "other profes-
sions" include three clinical psychologists, two dentists, two landscape
architects, two foresters, one biologist, and one librarian.
The largest among the subgroups by a slight margin (1 man) are the
executives in business and industry of Group II, with 79 men as com-
pared to the 78 practicing lawyers in Group I. The addition of the bank-
ing, finance, and insurance executives brings the business executive
representation to better than 16 percent of the employed. These two
leading Group II occupations are composed of men having executive
and administrative responsibilities in broad areas of management and
on policy-making levels. With the exception of the two higher business
occupations and the top four professions, no other subgroup includes
as many as 5 percent of the employed. As shown in the list of occupa-
tions in Table 25, the vocational interests of the gifted men have led
them into many fields and many kinds of work.
TABLE 25
BREAKDOWN OF OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS
N %
I. Professional occupations
1. Lawyers (include judges) 78 10.3
2. Members of college or university faculties 57 7.5
3. Engineers 55 7.3
4. Physicians (practicing) 40 5.3
5. School administrator or teacher
(high school or junior college) 32 4.2
6. Chemists and physicists 27 3.6
7. Authors or journalists 17 2.3
8. Architects 8 1.1
9. Geologists and kindred 7 .9
10. Clergymen 7 .9
11. Economists 6 .8
12. Other professions 11 1.5
76 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 25 (Continued)
N %
II. Managerial, official and semiprofessional
1. Higher business
Executives and managers in business and in industry 79 10.4
Executives in banking, finance, and insurance 44 5.8
Accounting, statistics, market research, et cetera 35 4.6
Sales (sales managers, technical, or engineering sales) 24 3.2
Advertising, publicity, public relations 19 2.5
Personnel, labor relations, vocational placement, and
kindred 10 1.3
Building and construction (owners or officials) 9 1.2
Office manager, department head, et cetera 12 1.5
2. Arts and entertainment
Radio, television, or motion pictures: producer, di-
rector, writer 21 2.8
Musician or actor 6 .8
Applied arts (illustrator, commercial art, decorator,
and kindred) 6 .8
3. Semiprofessions
Draftsman, surveyor, and kindred 9 1.2
Nonacademic teaching (trade school, technical, avo-
cational, et cetera) 4 .5
Other 3 .4
4. Army and Navy officers 15 2.0
5. Officials in administration (public or private)
Includes government officials 12 1.6
III. Retail business (small), clerical and sales, skilled crafts,
protective services (supervisory ranks) and kindred
1. Clerical and sales 29 3.8
2. Skilled crafts (craftsmen and foremen) 29 3.8
3. Retail business (small) owners and managers. 10 1.3
4. Technicians (laboratory assistants, dental technicians,
etcetera 5 .7
5. Protective service occupations* 10 1.3
IV. Agriculture and related occupations
1. Farm owners and operators 11 1.5
2. Nurseryman 1 .1
V. Minor business and semiskilled occupations
1. Clerical and business 7 .9
2. Semiskilled trades 2 .3
Total 757
* Includes 1 Inspector and 1 Captain of Police; 3 Police Sergeants; 1 Sheriff; 2 Battalion
CMefs (fire department) ; 1 CMef Warrant Officer, U.S. Army; and 1 Master Sergeant, U.S.
Army.
THE MATTER OF CAREER 77
The following case notes will illustrate some of the occupations that
are classified in the various groups. The descriptions do not cover all
occupations represented in these groups but we have attempted to show
something of the variety in both the nature and the level of occupation.
Group I
(1) A director of engine research for one of the largest companies
manufacturing heavy equipment. His story is especially interesting be-
cause he arrived at his present high-level engineering job without the usual
training. He graduated from high school with honors at age 17 and imme-
diately went to work as an office boy for the firm with which he is still asso-
ciated. He was made an apprentice mechanic within a few months and
thereafter rose rapidly through the various engineering levels to his present
post.
(2) A newspaper reporter and columnist who has also written a num-
ber of books on sports for children,
(3) A physician and specialist in cancer research who heads the depart-
ment of internal medicine in a leading university.
(4) A pastor of a church in a medium-sized city who has taken a doc-
torate in theology. He is engaged in pastoral work and heads the district
council of churches.
(5) A man with a B.S. in physics who is employed as a physicist in the
research and development division of a large oil company.
(6) A university professor of astronomy engaged in teaching and re-
search. Under various grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has
carried out research projects in Africa as well as at several observatories
in this country and has published a number of research papers.
(7) Two writers of interest because of different backgrounds and
parallel careers* One trained in engineering (B.S. and M.S.) is one of the
country's leading science fiction and fantasy writers who has produced some
60 short stories and novelettes as well as 15 volumes of fiction and non-
fiction. He is also the author of a number of magazine articles, critiques
and book reviews dealing chiefly with science or science fiction.
The other, with a background in the liberal arts (A.B. and M.A.), is
both prolific and versatile. By age 40 he had produced 7 mystery novels,
25 or more short stories, and 10 or 12 articles. A reviewer of note, he writes
a regular column of book reviews for a nationally circulated metropolitan
newspaper. He has won the Edgar Allen Poe award four times for the best
mystery story reviewing in the United States. He is the editor of three
magazines of mystery or science fiction and has also published five an-
thologies of mystery stories. In addition, he has taught a class in creative
writing for the past seven years.
(8) A former high-school teacher who is now supervisor of measure-
ment and evaluation in a large city school department.
78 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
(9) A member of the editorial staff of a leading journal who was for-
merly a professor of fine arts and more recently associate director of an
Institute of Fine Arts.
Group II
(1) A man who took a Ph.D. in physics with high scholastic honors
and then found himself more interested in economic theory and political
science. After several years experience in statistical economics with private
firms, he was in government service during World War II in charge of
industrial control programs. After the war he joined a world-wide ship-
ping company where he has now become controller and vice-president.
(2) A motion picture director who has made some of the most outstand-
ing pictures of the past ten years. His pictures made in England and on
the Continent as well as those made in the United States have won him an
international reputation. He has received a number of citations and awards
including a special award at the International Film Festival. Other honors
include several "Oscar" awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences won either by his pictures or by actors under his direction.
(3) A graduate in chemistry (B.S.) who joined the sales division of
a large chemical company. After several years in the field of technical
sales work, he received a year of additional training in economics from
the company and is now in charge of a sales division.
(4) A graduate in engineering (A.B. and M.E.) who went into the con-
struction business. He has been highly successful in the field of residential
property development.
(5) A former high-school teacher of mathematics and science who is
now a land surveyor.
(6) A city manager of a small California city. This man majored in
political science and did graduate work in personnel administration. He
formerly worked in the field of merchandising.
(7) A public relations official with one of the branches of the state
government who is a writer by avocation and whose first novel was a recent
Book-of-the-Month selection.
(8) The director of the textbook division for a large publishing firm.
(9) The chief of police of a small city. He has developed a co-ordinated
communications system, which is considered a model. A special interest in
the prevention of juvenile delinquency has brought him frequent invitations
to lecture on this and other aspects of his work.
Group III
(1) A university graduate and former botanist who operates a small,
independent pest-control business.
(2) An art-school graduate who paints m both water colors and oils
and whose work has received considerable praise in exhibits, is employed
THE MATTER OF CAREER 79
as a house painter and decorator while hoping some day to win recognition
as an artist
(3) A man with a B.S. in chemistry who is a photographic technician.
(4) A high -school graduate who is a supervising clerk in a public utili-
ties office.
(5) A high-school graduate who is a pattern-maker and instructor of
apprentices.
(6) A high-school graduate who is a battalion chief in a large city fire
department
(7) A noncommissioned officer in military service who is also a short
story writer specializing in science fiction. Eight of his stories have been
published to date.
Group IV
The 12 men in this category with the exception of one employed as a
nurseryman are all owners or operators of farms or randies. Six are
orchardists, three are cattle ranchers, one is a poultry farmer, and one a
rice- and grain-grower. Eight of these men are college graduates, two
attended college for two years, and two are high-school graduates.
Group V
(1) A university graduate who also had two years of graduate work,
who is now a mail carrier. Because of poor health this man is not able to
work at his profession.
(2) Two high-school graduates, both of whom are bartenders and man-
agers.
(3) Two men with college educations who are in minor clerical work.
In both cases lack of stability and excessive drinking have prevented greater
vocational achievement.
(4) Two men who did not complete high school, one of whom is a truck
driver and one a warehouseman.
(5) A high-school graduate who operates a small sandwich shop.
(6) The ninth man in Group V is described on page 82.
COMPARISON WITH OCCUPATIONS OF MEN COLLEGE
GRADUATES IN GENERAL
There is no question but that the gifted men have many times the
representation in the professional and higher business occupations than
would be found for a random group of men of like age. That this group
also surpasses in occupational status unselected college graduates is
shown by a comparison with the data furnished by Havemann and
80 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
West. 17 The authors have grouped "professionals of all types" into a
single category, which presumably includes semiprofessionals and busi-
ness professionals as well as the more strictly defined professions of the
Minnesota Scale. Since this is too broad a grouping to be comparable
to the Group I in which professional gifted men are classified, we have
combined the two Havemann and West categories, "professionals of
all types" and "proprietors, managers, and executives," for comparison
with the combined Groups I and II of the gifted men as classified on
the Minnesota Scale. Table 26 gives the percentage distribution of occu-
pations for three groups of men: the U.S. college graduates in general,
the gifted college graduates and, in addition, all gifted men regardless
of education.
TABLE 26
COMPARISON OF OCCUPATIONS OF GIFTED MEN
AND U.S. COLLEGE GRADUATES
All U.S. Gifted All
College College Gifted
Graduates Graduates Men
Occupational Classification % % %
A. Professionals of all types ; proprietors,
managers, executives 84 93.7 86.3
B. Clerical, sales, and kindred workers 10 4.3 10.9
C. Skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled workers 5 0.5 1.2
D. Farmers and farm workers 1 1.5 1.6
A comparison of the figures in Table 26 shows the superiority in
job status of the gifted graduate to college men in general. This is evi-
dent in the higher proportion of the gifted in the important and high-
level occupations (94% of gifted versus 84% of all college men) and in
the very much smaller proportion of gifted graduates among both the
clerical and sales workers and the skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled
group. Not only do the college graduates among the gifted surpass the
generality of college graduates in occupational status, but the total group
of gifted men, including the 30 percent who did not graduate from col-
lege, also compare favorably with Havemann and West's college gradu-
ate population. As shown in the third column of Table 26, the gifted
men, regardless of education, have a slightly larger representation in the
higher occupations of category A and a markedly smaller proportion of
workers at the "skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled" level of category C
where 5 percent of unselected college graduates fall as compared with
THE MATTER OF CAREER 81
one-half of one percent of gifted college men and 1 . 2 percent of all
gifted men. The proportion in farm occupations shows little difference
in the three groups of men.
OCCUPATIONAL CHANGES AMONG GIFTED MEN
BETWEEN 1940 AND 1955
A comparison of the occupational status of the gifted men at differ-
ent stages illustrates their upward progress. The fact that the Min-
nesota Occupational Scale was used in classifying the occupations of
1940, 1950, and 1955 makes it possible to compare the status of the men
at these three dates.* These comparisons are given in Table 27.
TABLE 27
COMPARISON OF OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS
OF 1940, 1950, AND 1955 (MEN)
Percent of Employed Menf
1940 1950 1955
Occupational Group (N = 724) (N = 762) (N = 757)
I. Professional 45.4 45.6 45.6
II. Managerial, official and semiprofesslonal 25.7 39.4 40.7
III. Retail business, clerical, skilled crafts
and kindred 2Q.7 12.0 10.9
IV. Agriculture and related occupations .... 1.2 1.8 1.6
V. Semiskilled occupations 6.2 1.2 1 .2
VI. Slightly skilled trades 0.7
t The slight variations in the number employed at each period are caused, in part, by the
student status of some subjects at the earlier dates; In part, by deaths during the 15 -year span;
and in a very few instances by incapacitation due to poor health, at one time or another.
Omitting Group IV (farming and related occupations), the rank
order of Groups I, II, III, and V in Table 27 remains unchanged
throughout the 15-year period. There are, however, marked changes
in the proportionate representation in all groups except the professions
with most of the change taking place between 1940 and 1950. Although
the proportion in Group I is about 45 percent at all three dates, there
have been some shifts into and out of the professions, which are not
apparent in the percentages. The majority of those who were graduate
students in 1940 subsequently entered the professions, and a few men
formerly in other occupational classifications took additional training
following World War II to qualify for one of the professions. On the
* The classification made of the 1944 occupations as given in the 1945 Informa-
tion Blank is omitted from these comparisons because of the occupational dislocations
caused by the war.
82 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
other hand, about an equal number of men who were in Group I in 1940
have left the active practice of their profession. All but a few of these
men have become staff or operational executives in business or industry.
They are classified according to the current occupation, chiefly Group
II, although their work may be related to the former profession and
require an application of their professional training. There are, how-
ever, five men who were in professional work in 1940 who are cur-
rently in Group III. These include an artist and writer who has turned
to carpentry to earn a livelihood ; two school teachers, one of whom,
because of special skill with tools, became a machinist, and one who is
manager of a small business; an engineer who operates a small radio
and television repair service ; and a lawyer who, for health reasons, is
doing clerical work.
In the 15-year interval from 1940 to 1955, the Group II representa-
tion increased from 26 percent to 41 percent ; Group III dropped from
21 percent to 11 percent; Group V decreased from about 6 percent to
approximately 1 percent, and Group VI disappeared entirely. Only
nine men are currently in Group V and the number in this category is
not likely to be reduced greatly since, in all probability, there will
always be a few individuals who, for personal reasons, choose more
simple and routine work. In spite of the marked increase in Group II
between 1940 and 1955, four men formerly in Group II have moved to
a lower classification. Three of these are now in Group III, all in
smaller retail business enterprises. The fourth man shifted to Group V
and his story is especially interesting.
A university graduate, D. H. for some 15 years worked for a large
corporation in which he rose to a managerial position. His growing
interest in the labor movement and in bettering the social order made
the atmosphere of "big business" in which he worked increasingly un-
congenial. Finally, after World War II he left his position to go to
work as a laborer and has continued in this work for the past 10 years.
He is very much interested in history, economics, and politics espe-
cially as applied to the labor union and the working man, and reads
extensively in these areas. D H. takes an active part in union affairs
and appears to have found great personal satisfaction in what he is doing.
His score on the Terman Group Test at age 15 was equivalent to an
IQ of approximately 150 and this high intellectual level has been main-
tained. On the Concept Mastery tests taken in 1940 and 1952 he scored
at both dates well above the average of the gifted men.
THE MATTER OF CAREER 83
It is interesting to see what happened to the men who in 1940 were
classified in Groups III, V, and VI and this information is given in
Table 28. Of the total 200 men in these three occupational groups in
1940, 10 had died by 1955, and information on 1955 occupation was
not obtained for 4 men. There were no drops in the occupational level,
among the remainder of the men in the 15-year period ; instead, for all
but a minority there was marked improvement. Almost four-fifths of
the men classified in either Groups III, V, or VI in 1940 moved upward
and one-fifth remained in the same classification between 1940 and
1955. About two-thirds of those in Group III at the earlier date had
advanced to the higher business and professional occupations (Groups
I and II) and one-third of the 1940 Group V men were classified in
Groups I and II in 1955.
TABLE 28
1955 OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF MEN WHO WERE CLASSIFIED
IN GROUPS III, V, AND VI IN 1940
1940 Occupational Classification
1955 Occupational Status Group III Group V Group VI
N N N
Group I 14 5
Group II 84 10 1
Group III 37 26 2
Group V 1 2
Not employed; independent means. 1
Incapacitated by reasons of health 3
Information on status lacking 4
Deceased 7 3
Total in group as of 1940 150 45 5
It is not surprising, of course, that the gifted men who have had the
advantage of college training, often at the graduate level, should be in
positions of importance and prestige in the professions and the business
world. It is, however, of special interest when those without such edu-
cational advantages rise to positions of importance in competition with
college-trained men. One such example follows.
C. J., whose formal schooling was limited to high school and 6 units
of college mathematics taken in extension courses, moved from Group
III to Group I between 1940 and 1955. He was one of a family of two
children (brother and sister), both of whom were selected for the gifted
study. For various reasons the boy, although he had had a strong in-
84 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
terest in science and engineering since childhood, did not go to college.
The fact that he completed high school at a time of economic stress (the
early 1930's) may have been one determining factor behind his failure
to enter college. His parents, although they had hoped he would con-
tinue his education, were not able to help him financially. More impor-
tant, however, were his poor school grades, which made it necessary
that he take "make-up" courses to qualify for college, and at that time
he could see no reason for spending time on subjects in which he was
not interested. Probably the most crucial factor in his dropping out
of school was the failure of the school itself to recognize his unusual
ability or to offer any real guidance during his high-school years. His
reluctance to conform to a school routine and his lack of application to
his studies even though, according to the report from the high school,
he showed "occasional flashes of brilliance" apparently obscured his
great gifts. Left entirely on his own with little sympathetic stimula-
tion and no guidance, he went to work on leaving high school, with the
Intention of saving money for college study and a degree in engineering.
It was an unfavorable time for financial progress, but C. J. remained
employed all through the depression. He began at a fairly unskilled
level but after a few years found work in the field of machine design
where he made excellent progress. During this period he studied in-
formally and still clung to his ambition of taking an engineering degree
and as he came to hope a graduate degree in physics. When his
income became sufficiently secure that he might have gone to college,
war threatened and he turned instead to war work. During World
War II he was on the research staff of a highly secret and important
laboratory, working side by side with graduate physicists, often on his
own projects, an honor usually accorded only Ph.D/s. When this re-
search laboratory was discontinued at the end of the war, he was ap-
pointed to the engineering staff at a military ordnance laboratory.
Because of his fine work as a project engineer on important military
developments, he received a promotional appointment to the GS-12
level under a "meritorious exception." This was a distinct honor since,
under Civil Service regulations, an individual without a college degree
is ineligible for advancement beyond the grade of GS-7.
However, greater honors were in store for C. J. He was recently
fully qualified as a mechanical engineer, GS-12, thus removing the
"meritorious exception" qualification. This action made further pro-
THE MATTER OF CAREER 85
motion possible and he now heads a branch of the optical engineering
division in a military research and development center. His work, on
a high professional level, is concerned with guided missile instrumenta-
tion.
C. J. is now in his early forties, married, and the father of three
children. He is active in school and community affairs and his hobbies
include music, photography, and reading. Among the magazines read
regularly are the Atlantic Monthly and Scientific American, and books
he has recently read include Modern Arms and Free Men ( Vannevar
Bush), Language in Action (Hayakawa), and Human Destiny (Le-
comte du Noiiy). His Binet IQ at age 10 was 154 and his Terman
Group Test score in 1928 at age 17 was within a few points of a per-
fect score. And it was then that the school complained of his argu-
mentativeness and failure to respond to discipline, and noted his fail-
ure in various school subjects, despite the A he received in chemistry!
On the Concept Mastery tests taken in 1940 and 1951 he scored far
higher than the average college graduate and placed nearly 20 points
above the average of the gifted men. In view of his continued high in-
telligence rating and his remarkable scientific ability especially in
physics and engineering one wonders how much farther he might
have gone and how much greater might have been his contribution to
knowledge had his talents been recognized early and adequate guidance
and motivation been provided.
OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN
According to the 1955 reports, one-half of the gifted women were
housewives with no outside employment, 42 percent held full-time jobs,
and about 8 percent were working part-time. The occupational picture
changes, however, when viewed according to marital status. Only 29
percent of the married women were working wives on a full-time basis
and 10 percent had part-time employment. The three single women
not holding regular jobs are financially independent and engage in vol-
unteer welfare work and various creative activities, such as painting,
dress design, and writing. One of the women in this category has pub-
lished several books for children; another, for several years was a
designer for an exclusive dress shop. Four-fifths of the divorced and
widowed were employed full-time and 1 percent part-time. Table 29
gives the occupational status according to marital status.
86 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 29
OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN ACCORDING TO
MARITAL STATUS (1955)
Marital Status
Single Married Widowed or Total
divorced
N % N % N % N %
Housewife, not employed 290 61.2 13 18.1 303 49.7
Employed full-time 59 92.2 138 29.1 56 77.8 253 41.5
Employed part-time 46 9.7 1 1.4 47 7.7
Independent means, not
employed 3 4.7 3 .5
Incapacitated by health
reasons 2 3.1 .. .. 2 2.7 4 .6
N 64 474 72 610
Status not ascertained (includes 17 women lost since 1928 or earlier) . . 19
Total 629
Occupational status is associated to some extent with the amount
of education as shown in Table 30. The women who have taken ad-
vanced degrees are much more likely to be employed than are those
with only a bachelor's degree or those who had from one to four years
of college work. All but two of the 25 women with a Ph.D., M.D., or
LL.B. were following careers either on college faculties or in profes-
sional practice. One woman with an M.D. and one with an LL.B,, both
of whom previously engaged in professional practice, are now house-
wives. For the total college graduate group the proportion employed
is 43 percent as compared with 37 percent of the nongradiiates. It might
be noted here that although only 29 percent of the currently married
women are employed, 79 percent of them are college graduates.
TABLE 30
OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF WOMEN ACCORDING TO EDUCATION
Percentages in Educational Categories
Graduate study
Gradtt- 1 or more years,
Bachelor's
1 to 4 years
No
a
(
.te degree no degree
N = 137) (N=104)
degree
<N = 175)
of college
(N = 100)
college
(N = 94)
Housewife, not employed
36.5 40.4
61.7
57.0
48.9
Employed full-time .
59.1 43.3
30.8
32.0
43.6
Employed part-time
4.4 15.4
6.3
7.0
7.5
Single, not employed. . . *
0.9
0.6
1.0
Incapacitated
0.6
3.0
THE MATTER OF CAREER 87
The employed women represent a wide range of occupations that
do not fit into a formal classification such as the Minnesota Occupa-
tional Scale used for the gifted men. Their occupations have been
grouped instead into three broad categories : (1) professional and semi-
professional ; (II) business occupations; and (III) a small group of
miscellaneous occupations not covered in either Group I or Group II.
Table 31 lists the 1955 occupations and gives the percentage of employed
women in each. The 17 women on college faculties include, in addi-
tion to 1 1 who are in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, four
biologists, one zoologist, and one biochemist. Five are full professors
and 3 of these five also hold administrative positions : one as Dean of the
Faculty and Provost, one as Dean of Women, and one as chairman of
her department. Another 5 women hold associate professor rank and
4 are assistant professors; the remaining 3 faculty members are re-
search scientists, all in the biological sciences. Grouped together as the
"higher professions" are those vocations which require specialized
training and graduate degrees. These include six physicians, three
clinical psychologists, two lawyers, and a research metallurgist. The
category "other professions" in Group I includes two pharmacists, two
laboratory technicians, a missionary, an aerodynamist, and a court re-
porter. Group III is composed of occupations that do not fit into either
of the other groups. These include telephone operator, sales clerk, and
industrial worker.
Schoolteaching, including elementary and secondary administrative
and supervisory positions, is the most frequent occupation, accounting
for almost one-fourth of the employed women. In second place are the
secretaries, stenographers, and similar office workers with about one-
fifth of the total. The women on college faculties or in the higher pro-
fessions rank third with 11 percent. The remainder are distributed
over a number of occupation, all with less than 10 percent representa-
tion.
TABLE 31
OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN WITH FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT
I. Professional N %
Members of college or university faculties 17 6.7
Higher professions 12 4.7
Administrators and supervisors, elementary or high school 7 2.8
School teachers or counselers 53 20.9
Social workers 20 7.9
THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 31 (Continued)
Authors or journalists 17 6.7
Librarians 14 5.5
Arts and music 7 2.8
Nurses 6 2.4
Economists, statisticians, and kindred 5 2.0
Other professions 7 2.8
II. Business
Secretary, stenographer, bookkeeper, or other office
workers 50 19.8
Executive and managerial 20 7.9
Public relations, advertising, promotion 6 2.4
Real estate and investments 5 2.0
III. Miscellaneous 7 2.8
Total employed 253
Although fewer than one-half of the women were engaged in careers
outside the home in 1955, and the jobs they chose have often been of a
less demanding type in order not to interfere too greatly with home-
making, there have nevertheless been some remarkable vocational ac-
complishments. A few examples of outstanding careers follow.
Several scientists have made important contributions to research to
the extent that 7 women are listed in American Men of Science. 5 Five
of these are in the field of the biological sciences and two in the social
sciences. Among the distinguished biological scientists is one who
played an important part in the development of the vaccine for polio-
myelitis and who is continuing to work in virus research. The social
and behavioral sciences include several women who are outstanding in
the fields of psychology, education, and social welfare. Two of the
women psychologists are among those listed in American Men of
Science.
Only one woman is working as a high-level physical scientist. Her
undergraduate major was engineering and her graduate work was
taken in a related physical science. Since taking her Doctor of Science
degree, she has worked in private industry where she has successfully
competed with men for advancement and is now one of the most highly
paid women in our group. In addition to research and the publication of
many technical papers, she has taken out three patents. This woman
is also a gifted linguist and has translated several of her own more im-
portant works into French and German.
THE MATTER OF CAREER. 89
But not all the conspicuous achievements have been in the sci-
ences. Several outstanding records have been made in the humanities
and arts as well as in the business world. One of our most distinguished
women is a gifted poet whose work has received wide recognition and
who is rated among the outstanding poets of our day. Her writing has
appeared in a number of literary magazines as well as in several antholo-
gies. She has published four volumes of poetry and various essays,
critiques, and monographs in the field of literature and philosophy.
Others among the women writers are a feature article writer who con-
tributes to leading magazines, two novelists, a member of the editorial
staff and an executive editor of a nationally circulated magazine, and
still another is the editor of a small literary magazine. Other writers
include the author of a successful Broadway play (also produced as a
motion picture), several journalists including a reporter and feature
writer for a metropolitan daily paper, and several technical writers.
One of our women is a gifted painter whose work has appeared by invi-
tation in many exhibits and who has won considerable recognition.
Several women have been phenomenally successful in business ; two of
these are in the real estate business, another is an executive buyer In
a large department store, and still another, herself a pharmacist, is the
owner and operator of a prosperous pharmacy.
One of the most interesting, versatile, and successful of the women
has had three careers in addition to that of housewife and mother. This
subject, F. B., was first tested for the gifted group at the age of 7 years
10 months and was found to have an IQ of 188. At that early age she
was already showing remarkable literary ability. She had begun mak-
ing up stories and rhymes at the age of three but few of these early
compositions were preserved. At six years she was given a typewriter
and began recording her own work. From the age of 6 to 11 she fre-
quently illustrated her stories and poems by crayon or water-color
drawings. Her childhood poetry was compared most favorably by a
board of judges with literary juvenilia by Tennyson, Blake, Longfellow,
Wordsworth, Shelley, and others. Until the age of 11 she read and
studied at home under her mother's direction. She then entered the
ninth grade of a private girls* school and completed high school at 14J4
years. High-school graduation was followed by entrance at a coedu-
cational university where she was graduated three years later at the
age of 17. During her high-school and college years her interests turned
to clay modeling and painting, both oil and water color. However,
90 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
writing continued to be her main interest and her first novel (not pub-
lished) was completed before her eighteenth birthday.
After college F. B.'s interests were directed more and more to art,
particularly sculpture, although she did take time to write a short novel,
which was published in 1938. In the mid-1930's she went abroad and
spent several years studying sculpture with an outstanding master.
During this period she produced several pieces of sculpture which have
received high praise. She was only 27 years old when the threat of
World War II forced her to return to the United States, where she con-
tinued her work in the arts, not only in sculpture but also in design and
decoration. F, B. was married during the war and accompanied her
husband to the military posts at which he was stationed. After her son
was born and the family was again settled, she became interested in
real estate investments. She began buying, remodeling and redecorat-
ing older houses and then selling to advantage. She developed this
interest into a highly successful financial venture, which she continued
for some years. Lately, she has given more time to her artistic work
and recently completed, as a volunteer service, a mural in sculpture for
an interracial youth center. This work has received much attention
and praise not only for its artistic merit, but also for its originality in
the use of novel materials and techniques, hitherto untried.
The many interests of this woman her literary career, her later
business career, and her continuous work in the arts have not inter-
fered with her fourth career as a housewife. She has maintained a
home, directed her son's development, and shared in her husband's
interests, all successfully.
There have been many others among the women whose achieve-
ments, though important, have not received the public recognition of
the examples given above. Among these are two missionaries, both of
whom have visited us and given first-hand accounts of their work in
foreign lands. Each determined at an early age to become a missionary
and planned her education accordingly. S. B. was the valedictorian of
her high-school graduating class and was also voted the best all-round
girl in the school on the basis of the following characteristics : the most
intellectual, the wittiest, the friendliest, and the best natured. After
college graduation she taught school for a few years before being sent
to China as a missionary. Her first years in this work were spent in a
country village and from there she joined the staff of a teachers col-
lege. In all, S. B. spent 10 years in China, the last two and a half under
THE MATTER OF CAREER 91
the Communist regime. When eventually the mission was withdrawn
owing to the unfavorable political situation, she returned to the United
States. After a year of graduate work at the university she was ap-
pointed to a teaching position with the Institute of International Edu-
cation in Indonesia, but it is still her hope to return some day to China.
W. H., after receiving a teacher's certificate, joined the Sudan In-
terior Mission and was sent to Nigeria where she has worked for the
past 20 years except for occasional furloughs. After some years teach-
ing in village schools, she organized a teacher-training school for na-
tives. Her most recent post has been supervisor of schools in northern
Nigeria. These are, for the most part, one-teacher schools in widely
scattered bush areas. Hers has been a life of tremendous work and many
hardships, but a rich and rewarding one. One of her first undertakings
was to learn the native language and she has translated many religious
works and written several books in this language. Her writings include
in addition to a number of religious tracts and devotional booklets, a
translation of the story of Dr. Carver, a book on the life of St. Paul, and
a book on the history of the missions.
The distinguished records and notable accomplishments, however,
have not been limited to the so-called "career" women. We should not
overlook the women whose careers have been limited to the role of wife
and mother or to community welfare and civic betterment on a volun-
teer basis. Among the former is H. M., one of our most highly intelli-
gent women. Her childhood IQ of 192 was one of the highest in the
entire group and later tests also placed her at or near the top of the
group. This subject, especially talented in mathematics, took her A.B.
in astronomy with honors at the age of 20 and continued her studies
for a master's degree in the same field. This was followed by marriage
to a fellow scientist at the age of 22. She taught science in a junior
college for two years after her marriage until the birth of her first set
of twins. In a period of 11 years she and her husband became the
parents of eight children, including three sets of twins. This has left
little time for any kind of professional career or even community ac-
tivity, although she has maintained her interest in science and reads
widely in both scientific and more general areas of literature. With
two children still in the toddler stage, her only activity outside the
home has been P.T.A. In view of this subject's extraordinarily high
IQ in childhood, her Concept Mastery scores are of especial interest.
Because this family has lived in the east since 1940, it was not possible
92 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
to give Form A until 1948 and Form T was given in 1950, both
during visits to Stanford University. At both testings H. M. made
scores close to the highest of any made by the gifted subjects, and
her husband, who took only Form A, made an almost equally high
score.
A number of housewives, less occupied with children than the
woman just described, have found time to contribute to community and
civic activities, many as leaders, holding various positions of responsi-
bility. Among these is J. M. who, by the age of 37, not only had been
elected president of the national alumnae association of her college, but
also had been elected to the college Board of Trustees.
This subject was married at the age of 23 to another member of the
gifted group who has become one of the most successful lawyers in our
group. For the first few years after her marriage, J. M. worked as a
private secretary but for the past ten years her time has been given to
volunteer work with such organizations as the American Cancer So-
ciety, the Girl Scouts, and the Crippled Children's Society. Since she
has no children, she has been able to give considerable time to service
activities as well as to such organizations as the World Affairs Council
and the League of Women Voters. She has been especially active in the
American Cancer Society, holding important executive office and board
memberships at both state and local levels.
She has also published a book (a historical biography) and has
served as editor of organization bulletins and as publicity writer for
the groups with which she works.
The foregoing examples are not typical of the gifted women ; few,
if any, are so versatile in talent as F. B. ; no one else, scientist or not,
has eight children, and while there may be others as active in service
and community work as J. M., none has combined this with such honors
as election to a college Board of Trustees and the publication of a book.
However, most of the women in our group, both housewives and career
women, have engaged in many activities and have followed a variety
of interests outside their homes and jobs, which are described at greater
length elsewhere.
INCOME OF THE GIFTED SUBJECTS
Although money is certainly not the only or final criterion of suc-
cess, it cannot be denied that financial reward is our best objective
THE MATTER OF CAREER 93
measure of progress on the vocational ladder. The information sched-
ules at each follow-up investigation since 1936 have asked for a report
of earned income of both the subject and the spouse, and in recent years
the amount of income from sources other than earnings has also been
called for. The income data were requested not only for the calendar
year immediately preceding the time of inquiry but also for the years
that had elapsed since the last follow-up, thus giving us a continuous
record. The significance of any given income is determined by the
economic climate in which it is received ,* this is especially true during
periods of mounting inflation such as have prevailed during the last
decade. By current standards incomes that stood high in relation to
the average a few years ago may now seem mediocre or even low. For
this reason our discussion of income, both earned and total family in-
come, will be limited in this chapter to the most recent figures available ;
that is, the 1954 annual income as reported in the 1955 questionnaire.
EARNED INCOME OF MEN
Adequate information on earned income was supplied by 673 of the
men, and Table 32 gives the median and percentage distribution of
earnings both for the total group and for subgroupings according to
age. Four-fifths of the group were 40 to 49 years old with more than
half (57% ) under 45 years of age and 10 percent under age 40. By age,
the highest median income ($10,283) was reported by the 45- to 49-
year-old men, and, as was to be expected, the lowest income was that of
the 30- to 39-year age group. For the total group, ages combined, the
1954 median earned income was $9,640 and the income ranged from
around $4,000 to $400,000 per year. As shown in Table 32, 10 percent
of men (all ages) earned $25,000 or more in 1954. The incomes of the
67 men who constituted the top 10 percent were distributed cumu-
latively as follows by income level :
Earnings N % Earnings N %
$100,000 or more 5 0.7 $50,000 or more 13 1 .9
$ 75,000 or more 6 0.9 $25,000 or more 67 10.0
One of the men in the $75,000 to $100,000 bracket whose 1954 in-
come was $95,000 had, in each of the three preceding years, exceeded
$100,000 ; in fact, the six persons with highest incomes, ranging from
94 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
$400,000 to $95,000, had each averaged $100,000 or more per year for
the three-year period 1952-54.
TABLE 32
1954 EARNED INCOME BY AGE (MEN)
^ ,. Percent at each age who earn specified amounts
Percent of ~
Total 30-39 years* 40-44 years 45-49 years 5 0-5 4 years
Earned Income (N = 673) (N = 71) (N = 313) (N= 228) (N = 61)
$25,000 and over 10.0 7.0 9.9 11.8 6.6
15,000-24,999 17.5 14.1 18.8 16.2 19.7
10,000-14,999 20.2 16.9 19.5 23.3 16.4
9,000-9,999 6.4 4.2 8.0 4.8 6.6
8,000-8,999 8.0 4.2 7.7 9.7 8.2
7,000-7,999 9.7 15.5 9.6 8.8 6.6
6,000-6,999 11.9 11.3 12.8 10.1 14.7
5,000-5,999 7,9 14.1 6.7 7.4 8.2
Less than $5,000.... 8.5 12.7 7.0 7.9 13.1
Median earned income $9,640 $7,773 $9,780 $10,283 $8,900
* Includes 5 men age 30-34 and 66 men age 35-39.
The relationship of earnings to educational attainment is shown in
Table 33. The number of M.D. and LL.B. degrees will not agree with
the number of men in those professions in 1954 since some of the physi-
cians are full-time members of medical-school faculties and some of the
lawyers have left the practice of law for other fields. For the same
reasons, the median incomes by degree for these two professions will not
agree with the median reported for men actually practicing these pro-
fessions in 1954. In considering the role of education in income it is
interesting to find that those who did not go beyond high school have
the same median income as those college graduates who had one or
more years of graduate study beyond the bachelor's but did not take
a graduate degree. Furthermore, those men who had 3 to 4 years of
college work but who did not graduate, exceeded both groups just men-
tioned. In fact, only one of the six men ranking highest in income was
a college graduate. The top man ($400,000) did not attend college at
all, another had 1 year of college, and three had between 2 and 3 years
of college work. But these are very exceptional cases. The median
income for all college graduates is 37 percent greater than that of those
who did not complete college ; namely, $10,725 for the college graduates
as compared with $7,812 for the nongraduates.
THE MATTER OF CAREER
95
TABLE 33
1954 EARNED INCOME BY AMOUNT OF EDUCATION (MEN)
Percent earning specified amounts
N
Median
$15,000
or more
$10,000-
14,999
$7,000-
9,999
$5,000-
6,999
Less than
$5,000
PhD.
74
$ 8,917
21.6
18.9
37.8
14.9
6.8
M.D
42
22,000
76.2
11.9
9.5
2.4
LLB
74
15,250
51.4
24.3
12.2
9.5
2.7
MBA
18
11,430
22.2
38.9
16.7
16.7
5.6
Master's or
other pro-
fessional
degree
75
8,572
18.9
18.9
32.4
17.6
12.2
Graduate study
without
graduate
degree
45
8,167
17.8
22.2
24.4
22.2
13.3
Bachelor's
degree .... 162 9,850 27.0 22.0 24.5
20.1
Total college
graduates 490
3-4 years
college .... 67
1-2 years
college .... 34
High-school
and special
training ... 30
High-school
graduation or
equivalent. . 52
6.3
10,725 31.8 21.2 24.4 15.8 6.8
8,333 15.1 18.2 31.8 27.3 7.6
7,500 17.6 17.6 17.6 29.4 17.6
6,750 6.7 16.7 23.3 33.3 20.0
8,167 20.8 16.7 22.9 29.2 10.4
Table 34 lists In rank order according to median income the occu-
pations in which 5 or more men are engaged. The figures illustrate the
considerable variation in the amount to be earned in particular occu-
pations even among men as highly selected both in mental ability and
in education as our group. For example, among the university faculty
group, which ranks 17th in income with a median of $8,167, the top
man with earnings of $25,000 is only slightly above the average for
the physician group. The physicians in professional practice (full-time
medical school faculty not included) rank first with a median annual net
96 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
income* in 1954 of $23,500, followed by executives in major business
or industry with $17,680, and the producers, directors, and writers in
the entertainment field are next with $17,500. Lawyers with $15,970
and architects with $15,000 are in fourth and fifth places, respectively.
At the bottom of the list are the clergymen with a median annual
income of $4,500. Although practicing physicians rank first in median
income, the highest individual incomes are to be found in several other
fields. The 6 men in approximately the top one percent of the total
group whose 1954 earnings ranged from just under $100,000 to
$400,000 include two men who were in the field of land development
and home building, including insurance and financing; a motion pic-
ture director, a television writer and producer, a playwright, and a
business executive engaged in manufacturing and the development of
oil properties.
TABLE 34
RANK ORDER OF OCCUPATIONS ACCORDING TO 1954
EARNED INCOME (MEN)
(Includes only fields in which 5 or more men were engaged)
Occupation N Median
1. Physicians (practicing) 36 $23,500
2. Executives in major business or industry 73 17,680
3. Radio, TV, or motion picture arts :
producer, director, engineer, writer,
etcetera 19 17,500
4. Lawyers 65 15,970
5. Architects 8 15,000
6. Economists 5 13,750
7. Executives in banking, real estate,
finance, insurance 41 12,500
8. Owners and executives in building and
construction trades 9 11,500
9. Chemists and physicists 26 10,835
10. Musicians and actors (Le., performers) . . 5 10,830
11. Geologists and related 7 9,750
12. Personnel, labor relations, vocational
placement officials 9 9,500
13. Advertising, publicity, public relations. . 17 9,250
14. Engineers 45 9,100
15. Sales managers, technical or engineering
salesmen 22 9,000
16. Army or Navy officers 14 9,000
17. College or university faculty 52 8,167
* Net income of the self-employed includes earnings after deductions for busi-
ness expenses but before income taxes.
THE MATTER OF CAREER 97
TABLE 34~-(Contmued)
Occupation N Median
18. Authors or journalists 14 8,000
19. Accountants, statisticians, and kindred
occupations 26 7,600
20. Office managers, purchasing agents,
traffic managers, et cetera 10 7,500
21. School teachers or administrators 29 6,792
22. Draftsmen, surveyors, specification
writers, et cetera 7 6,250
23. Owners and managers, retail business. . . 11 6,125
24. Protective service occupations* 11 5,900
25. Agricultural occupations 9 5,850
26. Skilled trades, craftsmen, and foremen. . 25 5,700
27. Clerical and retail sales occupations 25 5,125
28. Clergymen 5 4,500
* Members of police and fire departments with, rank of sergeant and above and noncom-
missioned officers in military services.
We do not have adequate comparative data on income. What is
needed is a breakdown of earned income of the male population in
general by age, education, and occupation, for 1954. Although we lack
the information for a precise comparison, the figures available indicate
that the gifted men are doing well financially. The Statistical Abstract
of the United States** gives the 1954 median income for occupational
categories grouped according to the occupation of the head of the spend-
ing unit. The figures are as follows :
a. Professional and semiprofessional .$6,020
b. Managerial 5,800
c. Self-employed 5,710
d. Clerical and sales 3,980
e. Skilled and semiskilled 4,390
Categories a, b, and r, although perhaps more inclusive, can be con-
sidered roughly comparable to the gifted occupational groups I and II
where the median 1954 earned income was $10,556. In contrast to the
medians of around $4,000 for categories d and e, the gifted men in
corresponding occupations (Groups III and V of the Minnesota Occu-
pational Scale) had a 1954 median earned income of $5,750. Although
the gifted men have not reached the age of peak earnings in the pro-
fessional and business occupations, in the above comparisons they are
at an advantage since their group does not include the younger or older
workers. It must be remembered that these figures are only approxi-
mations, but the margin of difference is wide enough to permit the con-
98 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
elusion that the gifted men are above average in earnings, compared
with the generality of men in like fields.
EARNED INCOME OF WOMEN
Information on 1954 earned income was received from 184 of the
253 fully employed women. Table 35 gives the median income and the
percent distribution according to income level. The average income of
the employed women was $4,875. Earnings of $10,000 or more were
reported by 6 percent of the women and an income of $5,000 or more
was reported by almost half (47%) of the group.
TABLE 35
1954 EARNED INCOME BY INCOME LEVEL FOR FULLY EMPLOYED WOMEN
Earnings N %
$10,000 or more 11 6.0
7,000 or more 31 16.8
6,000 or more 50 27.2
5,000 or more 86 46.7
4,000 or more 134 72.8
3,000 or more 162 88.0
Less than 3,000 22 12.0
Median earned income $4,875
A comparison of income by amount of education shows that the
median for college graduates is $5,217 as compared with $3,666 for
those with one to four years of college and $4,250 for those who didn't
go to college at all. It is interesting also to find that the women who took
only a bachelor's degree (no graduate work) were earning slightly less
in 1954 than the high-school graduate group, namely, $4,056 as com-
pared with $4,250. Higher degrees, however, are accompanied by
higher incomes and the total college graduate group earns substantially
more than either of the nongraduate groups. Annual incomes (1954) of
$6,000 or more were reported by more than two-thirds of those with a
Ph.D., M.D., or LL.B. and by about 38 percent of the women with a
master's or similar degree, and by a third of all college graduates. Earn-
ings of the gifted women according to amount of education are given
in Table 36. Education appears to be a less important factor in earn-
ings In the case of the gifted women than among women in general.
Havemann and West 17 report that women college graduates earn more
than two and one-half times as much as the average working woman.
In the case of the gifted, however, those women with a college degree
THE MATTER OF CAREER 99
earned only about one-fourth more than did the gifted women who did
not go beyond high school.
TABLE 36
1954 EARNED INCOME BY AMOUNT OF EDUCATION (WOMEN)
Med" Proportion Earning Specified Amounts
N Earned $6,000 or more Less than $4,000
Income N % N %
PhD., M.D., LL.B.. 19 $7,500 13 68.4 ....
Master's or professional
degree 48 5,455 18 37.5 5 10.4
One or more years graduate
study without graduate de-
gree (may include teaching
credential or similar certifi-
Bachelor's degree only. . . .
.. 39
4,056
5 12.8
19 48.7
All college graduates 138 5,217 46 33.3 28 20.3
1 to 4 years college (not
graduated) 18 3,666 1 5.6 12 66.7
Nocollege 28 4,250 3 10.7 12 42.9
The relationship of income to occupation is shown in Table 37.
The women on college faculties and those in the higher professions
(law, medicine, and so on) averaging $6,833 have the highest income.
For the 15 faculty women in this group the median is $5,700. Teachers
(below college) and school administrators are in second place with a
median of $5,400, followed by miscellaneous professions with $4,710
and, ranking last, the business occupations with a median of $3,719.
The highest individual income ($24,000) is that of a physician. Others
earning $15,000 or more are: another physician, a research scientist
(industry), a pharmacist (owner), a lawyer, and a hospital adminis-
trator.
TABLE 37
1954 EARNED INCOME BY OCCUPATION (WOMEN)
(Includes only fields in which 15 or more women were engaged)
N Median
College faculties and higher professions. . 25 $6,833
School teachers or administrators 48 5,400
Other professions 51 4,710
Business occupations 60 3,719
100 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TOTAL FAMILY INCOME
In addition to data on the earned income of the subjects, the 1955
Information Blank also called for the earned income of the spouse and
for the approximate amount of family income from sources other than
earnings (investments, trust funds, et cetera). The three sources of
income, i.e., earnings of subject, earnings of spouse, and income from
other sources, were combined to arrive at the total family income. Total
family income includes not only the earnings of the fully employed but
also those of part-time workers. Single persons are not included in
the presentation of data on family income.
Table 38 gives the median income and the percent distribution by
income levels of the 1954 family incomes. Median total family incomes
of $11,582 and $9,740 were reported by the men and women, respec-
tively. For all families, i.e., gifted men and women combined, the
median was $10,866. Nearly one-third had incomes of $15,000 or more
and 12 percent were in the $25,000-and-over bracket.
TABLE 38
1954 TOTAL FAMILY INCOME
Gifted Men Gifted Women All Gifted Subjects
and Spouses and Spouses and Spouses
(N = 644) (N = 454) (N = 1,098)
% % %
$25,000 or more 13.1 9.6 11.7
15,000 or more 34.1 23.7 29.8
10,000 or more 61.1 48.3 55.8
7,000 or more 84.3 73.7 80.0
5,000 or more 96.0 90.2 93.6
Less than 5,000 4.0 9.7 6.4
Median family
income $11,582 $9,740 $10,866
Just as the individual earned income of the gifted subjects compares
favorably with that for the generality, so also does total family income.
We have compared the family incomes of the gifted subjects with the
incomes of the U.S. urban white families who resemble the gifted group
more closely in socio-economic status than does the total population.
According to census figures, 40 the median total money income in 1955
for the economically favored urban white families was $5,069. One
percent had incomes of $15,000 or higher and 63 percent of families
had incomes below $5,000. As shown in Table 38, the 1954 median
THE MATTER OF CAREER 101
family Income for the gifted subjects was more than twice that of the
white urban group ($10,866 versus $5,069). Furthermore, incomes of
$15,000 or more were reported for 30 percent of the gifted families and
only 6 percent of the gifted fell below $5,000 in family income. Again,
it should be pointed out that age is not controlled in these comparisons.
MORE ABOUT LIFE WORK
To supplement the information already presented about the occupa-
tions of the gifted men and women and their vocational achievements
and success as measured by honors, recognition, and financial reward,
further information about vocations in terms of personal satisfactions
has been provided in the Supplementary Biographical Data Blank. This
blank, filled out during the 1950-52 follow-up, included the following
question : Which of the following best describes your feeling about your
present vocation? (Check) Deep satisfaction and interest ; Fairly
content ; No serious discontent, but do not find it particularly in-
teresting or satisfying ; Discontented but will probably stick it
out ; Strongly dislike and hope to change Additional space
was provided for comments or elaborations of response.
Approximately half of the men expressed deep satisfaction and in-
terest in their work and another 37 percent stated they were fairly
content. Only a small minority (6%) reported themselves seriously
discontented. Even more women than men were content with their
vocational choice ; over 55 percent found deep satisfaction in their voca-
tions and only 3 percent reported serious discontent. Table 39 gives
the distribution of responses to this question separately for 600 men
and 428 women.
When the opinions on vocational satisfaction are examined accord-
TABLE 39
SUBJECT'S FEELING ABOUT VOCATION
Percentages
Men Women
Feeling about Vocation (N = 600) (N = 428)
1. Deep satisfaction and interest 49.2 55.4
2. Fairly content 37.2 35.2
3. No serious discontent but not particu-
larly satisfying 7.6 5.9
4. Discontented but will probably stick
it out 5.0 2.6
5. Strongly dislike and hope to change 1.0 0.9
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THE MATTER OF CAREER 103
ing to particular occupations, some interesting differences appear. The
comparisons for men have been limited to those occupations in which
replies were received from 15 or more persons. Table 40 gives the
percentage distribution of vocational satisfaction according to occupa-
tion for men, and Table 41 shows the relationship of vocational satis-
faction to occupational status for women.
As shown in Table 40, those men who are in such Group III occu-
pations as the skilled crafts, or clerical and sales work have the smallest
proportion (28% and 27%, respectively) who report deep satisfaction
and interest in their work. An additional 41 percent of men in each of
these occupations, however, said they were fairly content and none ex-
pressed strong dislike or desire to change. Of all occupations, the
physicians had the highest percentage (84%) in category 1 (deep satis-
faction), and only 5 percent of physicians expressed vocational dis-
content. On the other hand, all of the men in the banking and finance
occupations, all those in the advertising and public relations group, and
all the chemists and physicists, fell in categories 1 or 2.
The women in the professional and semiprofessional occupations are
the most satisfied group vocationally, with almost 95 percent reporting
themselves at least content, and two-thirds expressing deep satisfaction
in their work. Somewhat more than one-half of full-time housewives
reported satisfaction in their work and 37 percent said they were fairly
content. Least satisfied among the women were the part-time workers,
nearly all of whom are also housewives ; however, the number of per-
sons in the part-time category is too small for the figures to be very
meaningful. It should be noted that of the 74 women who omitted this
item in the questionnaire, 67 were housewives.
TABLE 41
RELATIONSHIP OF VOCATIONAL SATISFACTION TO OCCUPATION (WOMEN)
Full-time Employment
^Profes- Business
Housewife, ^ sional and and
no outside Part-time semipro- miscel-
employment employment fessional laneous
(N = 215) (N = 23} (N = 129) (N = 61)
Feeling about Vocation % % % %
1. Deep satisfaction and interest 53.1 43.5 65.9 44.2
2. Fairly content 36,6 39.1 28.7 42.6
3. No serious discontent but not
particularly satisfying 6.6 13.0 3.9 6.6
4. Discontented but will probably
stick it out 2.8 4.4 1.5 3.3
5. Strongly dislike and hope to change 0.9 ... ... 3.3
104 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Since only a small minority of men and women express discontent
with their vocation, comparisons of vocational satisfaction with other
variables are not very reliable. However, we have compared vocational
satisfaction with earned income for men. (The relatively small number
of women with earnings coupled with the concentration at categories
1 and 2 for vocational satisfaction do not warrant such a comparison
for women.) For men we find the expected trend of decline in voca-
tional satisfaction with decline in earned income. The figures are as
follows :
Gifted Men
Feeling about Vocation N 1949 Median Earned Income*
Deep satisfaction and interest 271 $7,741
Fairly content 208 6,718
No serious discontent 38 6,000
Discontented or strongly dislike. ... 34 5,500
* The reader is reminded that the income used here is that for the year 1949 as
given in the 1950 General Information Blank. The 1949 income for the gifted, just
as for the generality, is considerably less than that for 1954 reported elsewhere in
this chapter. Because data on vocational satisfaction were obtained in 1950-52, the
1949 income is more pertinent to these comparisons.
There is a much more marked relationship between earned income
of men and the subject's opinion on how well he has lived up to his in-
tellectual abilities. The biographical data blank asked the subjects to
check in a list of six the answer that best described the extent to which
they felt they had, on the whole, not just vocationally or economically,
lived up to their intellectual abilities. The six response choices ranged
from "Fully" to "A total failure" ; however, no one among the gifted
men checked the last response. The median 1949 earned incomes ac-
cording to opinion on this variable are as follows :
Intellectual abilities lived up to: N 1949 Median Earned Income
Fully 23 $11,875
Reasonably well 335 7,355
Considerably short 165 6,339
Far short or largely a failure 46 4,917
A comparison of the occupational status of women with their opinion
on how well they have lived up to their intellectual abilities brings out
some interesting differences. The figures given in Table 42 show that
more than two-thirds of the women in the professional and sernipro-
fessional occupations thought that they had made use of their intel-
lectual abilities either "Reasonably weir (63%) or "Fully'' (6%).
Slightly more than half of the housewives and slightly less than half
THE MATTER OF CAREER 105
of the women in business and related occupations considered that they
have lived up to their intellectual abilities. At the other extreme, 9 per-
cent of the housewives and 10 percent of the business women replied
that they have fallen far short or were total failures. There were also
38 women (29%) among the professional and semiprofessional group
who felt that they were considerably short of living up to their intel-
lectual abilities and three women at this occupational level thought that
they had fallen far short of realizing their potentialities. The number
of part-time workers is too small to be conclusive; however, they re-
sembled the housewives in their replies to this item.
TABLE 42
OPINION ON How WELL INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES LIVED UP TO
BY OCCUPATION (WOMEN)
Full-time Employment
Professional Business and
Part-time and semipro miscellaneous
Extent abilities lived Housewife employment fessional occupations Total
up to N % N % N % N % N %
1. Fully 7 2.7 1 3.7 8 6.1 1 1.6 17 3.5
2. Reasonably
well 131 49.6 14 51.9 82 62.6 29 46.0 256 52.8
3. Considerably
short ..... 102 38.6 9 33.3 38 29.0 27 42.8 176 36.3
4. Far short ... 19 7.2 2 7.4 3 2.3 3 4.8 27 5.6
5. Consider life
largely a
failure.... 41 1] 1} 6]
h 1.9 [ 3.7 I 4.8 [ 1.8
6. A total failure l] J 2J 3J
Total ....... 264 27 131 63 485
Another item in the biographical data blank asked the subjects to
check in a list of ten those aspects of life from which the greatest satis-
faction was derived. "Your work itself" was in first place for men with
mention by close to four-fifths (78%) of those replying. Income, on
the other hand, ranked sixth as an important source of satisfaction, with
38 percent of men checking this item.
Neither "your work itself" nor "your Income" ranked very high
with women as a source of satisfaction. The former, checked by 47 per-
cent of women, was in fifth place as a source of satisfaction, ranking
after marriage, children, social contacts, and avocational interests. In-
come, mentioned by only 15 percent of women, was at the bottom of the
list.
106 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
There is no composite portrait to be made of the vocational careers
of the gifted men and women for it is in this area that their many tal-
ents and great versatility are most evident. The men range in occupa-
tion from semiskilled labor to top-ranking university administrators,
famed scientists, literary figures, high level officers and executives in
business. The group is pretty well concentrated on the upper rungs of
the vocational ladder with none at the bottom and only a few on the
lower steps. But there is no evidence that the men with fewer voca-
tional achievements are any less able intellectually than those who have
reached high places. In some instances, the choice of vocation was de-
termined by educational or occupational opportunities, in others by
health, and in still others it was a matter of deliberate choice of a simple,
less competitive way of life.
As for the gifted women, fewer than one-half are employed outside
the home. Although, for most, a career is not of primary importance,
a number of women have reached high levels of achievement. As a
group, however, the accomplishments of the gifted women do not com-
pare with those of the men. This is not surprising since it follows the
cultural pattern to which most of the gifted women as well as women
in general have succumbed. Not only may job success interfere with
marriage success, but women who do seek a career outside the home
have to break through many more barriers and overcome many more
obstacles than do men on the road to success. Although the gifted
women equaled or excelled the men in school achievement from the first
grade through college, after school days were over the great majority
ceased to compete with men in the world's work. This characteristic
appears to be due to lack of motivation and opportunity rather than to
lack of ability. Furthermore, an evaluation of achievement in terms of
vocational accomplishment excludes the cultural contributions which
the great majority of these women have made in many indirect and in-
tangible ways and which perhaps are never properly evaluated.
In the following chapter we will describe some of the avocational
interests of both men and women and discuss their participation in
community life and their contributions to civic betterment.
CHAPTER VIII
AVOCATIONAL AND OTHER
INTERESTS
Among the characteristics that distinguished this group of subjects in
childhood and youth was the breadth and versatility of their interests. 89
It is therefore interesting to investigate the extent to which the adult
gifted subjects have continued to cultivate interests and activities not
directly connected with their vocations. In order to obtain information
of this kind the 1950 General Information Blank asked the subjects to
list their avocational interests and hobbies and called also for informa-
tion on memberships in clubs and organizations, and for a record of
service activities including participation in community and civic affairs.
In addition, the subjects were asked to report their publications, if any,
as well as to describe any other creative work accomplished. The 1955
Information Blank, though it did not cover as many areas as the 1950
report, did bring up to date the information on publications and crea-
tive work of all kinds.
AVOCATIONAL INTERESTS
A wide variety of avocational interests and hobbies were mentioned
by the 679 men and 510 women who supplied information on this item
in the 1950 questionnaire. The average number of avocations or hob-
bies mentioned was 2.8 for men and 3.0 for women. About 5 percent
of men and 3 percent of women reported no hobbies while 14 percent
of men and about 17 percent of women reported as many as five or
more avocational interests. These figures represent an increase over
those of 1940 when 11 percent of men and 15 percent of women men-
tioned no hobbies or avocations. In the same period the proportion with
four or more hobbies increased from 15 to 29 percent for men and from
21 to 34 percent for women. Age itself is no doubt a factor contributing
to the greater interest in hobbies and avocations in the late thirties and
early forties than had been shown ten or twelve years earlier when the
subjects, at an average age of 29 were just getting launched on their
107
108 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
careers. Some also were still unmarried in 1940 and more preoccu-
pied with the opposite sex than with hobbies, while others, recently
married, were busy with new homes and small children. The greater
vocational and financial security of 1950 in the case of men and the
freedom from the care of young children for many women made possible
the devotion of more time to avocational pursuits. The percentage of
men and women listing various numbers of hobbies in 1950 is shown
in Table 43.
TABLE 43
NUMBER OF HOBBIES (1950)
Percentages
None
Men
(N = 679)
4.9
Women
(N = 510)
3.3
One
15.6
12.2
Two
. . 27.4
23 1
Three ..... . ..
22.8
27 3
Four
.. . 15.3
17 3
Five or more
14.0
16.8
Although, as would be expected, there is considerable sex difference
in the particular avocational interests and hobbies mentioned, it is inter-
esting to find that the three leading avocations are the same for men
and women though their rank order among the top three differs. The
category of sports, which includes all active and participating sports
and athletics as well as the spectator variety, was far ahead of all other
interests for men with mention by 57 percent. In second place for men
was music, followed closely by gardening. Among women, music
ranked first as an avocation, reported by 45 percent; gardening was in
second place, and sports ranked third. Workshop, in fourth place
for men, is the expected counterpart of the domestic arts and handwork
which ranks fourth among women. Only about 4 percent of women
were interested in photography as a hobby as compared with 17 percent
of men. On the other hand, the category "Art," which included the
creative arts and art appreciation and also applied arts such as interior
decoration, furniture design, house plans, et cetera, ranked fifth for
women with 26 percent, and was mentioned as well by 11 percent of
men. Table 44 lists those hobbies reported by as many as 10 percent
of either men or women.
AVOCATIONAL AND OTHER INTERESTS 109
TABLE 44
LEADING HOBBIES (1950)
Percentages
Men Women
(N = 679) (N = 510)
Sports 57.4 29.2
Music 33.1 44.9
Gardening 30.8 41.9
Home workshop activities 23 . 1 6.1
Photography 16.9 4.3
Art (creative and applied arts and art
appreciation) 11.0 26.3
Creative writing 9.9 15.0
Social dancing (includes folk dancing,
et cetera) 5.0 12.5
Domestic arts and handwork 2.3 28.5
READING AND STUDY
The information on hobbies tells only part of the story concerning
the uses of leisure and means of relaxation. Of particular interest in
a study of a group selected for intellectual superiority would be a de-
tailed inquiry into the amount and kind of reading. Unfortunately our
questions in this area were too general to yield information that can be
quantified. No inquiry was made regarding amount of reading, and
the phrasing of the question on reading preferences ("What kind of
reading do you prefer?") makes it difficult to determine the favorite
type of reading, since a large proportion of subjects listed more than
one preference. However, the replies indicated that fiction, mentioned
by more than two-thirds of the group, is by far the most popular kind
of reading (and detective fiction ranks high as a favorite in this cate-
gory) . Biography, history, and travel are also favored but by a smaller
proportion (35 to 40 percent). Nonfiction dealing with such topics as
religion, philosophy, sociology, political affairs, or history, is the pre-
ferred reading of about 15 percent of the group and a preference for
technical and scientific reading is mentioned by another 15 percent.
Although the amount of reading was not called for, practically all sub-
jects indicated a reading interest of some kind,
A number of subjects have continued to study informally. One-
fifth of the men and one-fourth of the women reported study in a variety
of fields either through independent reading or in groups such as the
Great Books classes. In addition to literature, study in such fields as
science, philosophy, and foreign languages was frequently mentioned.
110 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
SPECIAL ABILITIES AS RELATED TO VOCATIONS
AND AVOCATIONS
Many o the subjects have displayed special abilities of various
kinds. Talent along such lines as music, drama, art, mechanics, and
writing were frequently reported by their parents and teachers. Often
the special ability, if sufficiently marked, has determined the choice of
vocation, but for a large number of subjects such talents have found their
expression in avocational activities and hobbies.
Outstanding among the special talents noted is that of writing. In
addition to the work of the career writers and journalists, a vast amount
of material relating to their work has been published by men and women
in scientific, technical, and other professional fields, but such profes-
sional output, even though the primary vocation is not writing, does
not come under the heading of avocational writing. There are, how-
ever, between 125 and 150 subjects who write as a hobby or leisure-
time activity. Of these, some 50 men and 40 women have had their
work published. Although such writings are most often articles cov-
ering a variety of topics, they also include a number of short stories,
poems, and plays as well as 15 nonfiction books and 8 or 10 novels, all
the work of avocational writers. Especially noteworthy among these
are the public relations executive, previously mentioned, whose first
novel was a Book-of-the-Month selection, a banker who has published
more than 25 short stories, the secretary who wrote a successful "west-
ern" novel, the army sergeant who writes science-fiction stories, and
the housewife who has sold three short stories and is now revising a
promising novel.
Much of the avocational writing has not been published, often done
rather for enjoyment and self-expression and, of course, a great deal
is not of the quality to merit publication. We can, however, look for
more published material as the group grows older and as leisure time
increases.
A number of other subjects have pursued their specialized gifts only
as avocations. Among these are several gifted musicians. Musical
talent, more often than any other gift, has been turned to use as a means
of livelihood while preparing for another vocation. One man, for ex-
ample, who has become a research scientist, gave evidence at an early
age of marked musical ability and for some years he was undecided
AVOCATIONAL AND OTHER INTERESTS 111
between music and science as a life work. He began concert work at
the age of 14 and later became a conductor of a civic orchestra. His
musical talent enabled him to finance several years of graduate study
and now provides a satisfying avocational outlet.
A good many of those with dramatic ability are participating in
such activities as the "Little Theater" or "Children's Theater" or other
community dramatics. Some are actors while others have engaged in
stage production or direction in amateur productions.
Eight or ten members of the group have displayed above-average
ability in art. Among these are four schoolteachers whose paintings
have appeared in various exhibits and have been highly praised by
critics. There are also several amateur photographers whose fine
camera work has won awards in competitive shows.
Many other examples of unusual talent along specialized lines
could be given, but the following two illustrations, while not typical,
will serve to give some idea of the versatility to be found in the group.
A woman who by the age of 40 has had several careers. Her first suc-
cess was in acting. As a child she appeared in motion pictures, then was for
several years a professional actress in major theatrical productions both in
London and in New York. She was also a professional dancer and an ama-
teur championship ice skater. After giving up her professional acting
career she continued her work in dramatics as an avocation, working chiefly
with children's theatrical groups. She also possessed unusual talent in draw-
ing and was commissioned to do the illustrations for two textbooks, one in
anatomy and one in physiology. She later entered the field of business
where she has an executive position. She has written several plays that have
been produced by amateur groups and has also written two novels. Though
neither of the novels has been published, both have received favorable com-
ment and one is being considered for publication.
A man who is a lawyer maintains a limited and highly specialized law
practice in order to have time for his special interests. Among these are
research in stereoscopic optics which grew out of his work in photography.
His research in this field of science is believed so important and valuable
that the government is very much interested in the results of his project.
He is also gifted in languages and is proficient in both German and French.
He does considerable translating, mostly of scientific, technical, and legal
articles for French and particularly German publications, and has also
written several original articles and poems published in German periodicals.
More recently, he has specialized in the Arabic language. He not only
reads extensively but has also taught courses in Arabic. Military affairs
are still another avocation, and he is especially active in the National Guard.
112 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
In addition to being a officer in the National Guard, he has prepared in-
structional material of various kinds, including the development of audio-
visual training aids. He also contributes articles from time to time to mili-
tary journals.
MEMBERSHIPS
An indication of the social inclinations and group interests of the
gifted adult is to be found in the number and kinds of memberships
reported in 1950. Since a number of the affiliations were with business
or professional and service groups, it is not surprising that a larger
proportion of men than women belonged to one or more clubs or organ-
izations. Less than 15 percent of men listed no club or organization
memberships but 31 percent of women had no organized group affilia-
tions. The figures on the number of memberships in clubs or organiza-
tions are as follows for the 680 men and 521 women who replied to this
item :
Memberships Men Women
% %
None 14.7 31.5
One 20.0 27.3
Two 19.8 19.4
Three 14.6 11.7
Four 14.3 4.4
Five or more 16.6 5.7
Four or more memberships were reported by 31 percent of men
and 10 percent of women. The organizations were classified according
to type of activity or interest. The "kinds" of memberships are loose
groupings with considerable overlap in function. Social overtones are
found in all the groups and, certainly, service activities are not limited
to the so-called service organizations. Many of the essentially social
groups adopt a cause and doubtless many men and women join a serv-
ice club for social or business reasons. The classification of church-
related organizations does not include church membership, which will
be discussed later in this chapter. Rather, it refers to groups made up
of adherents of particular faiths, e.g., the Women's Society for Christian
Service, B'nai B'rith, Knights of Columbus, and other groups that com-
bine religious activity and service functions as well as promoting social
relationships. The foregoing are examples of the overlapping to be found
in most of our membership groups with the exception of the military
organizations. The political and government category is also perhaps
AVOCATIONAL AND OTHER INTERESTS 113
a more discrete grouping than some of the other categories. It includes
organizations such as the League of Women Voters, Good Government
League, American Civil Liberties Union, World Affairs Council, the
NAACP, the Zionist Organization of America, United World Federal-
ists, Council for Civic Unity, Americans for Democratic Action, and
so on. Table 45 gives the proportion of men and women affiliated with
each type of organization.
TABLE 45
MEMBERSHIPS IN CLUBS OR ORGANIZATIONS (1950)
Percentages*
Men Women
Type o Organization (N = 680) (N = 521)
Business, professional and kindred 67.2 23.6
Social and fraternal 39.2 39.9
Recreational and hobby 15 .4 10.8
Service (Kiwanis, Rotary, Soroptomist,
et cetera) 11.6 4.8
Study and cultural 8.4 9.6
Politics and government 5.9 8.8
Church-related 4.9 9.8
Military (Reserve Officer, National
Guard, et cetera) 4.7 0.4
* The percentages will not add to 100, since (1) the same individual may appear in more
than one category, and (2) 15% of men and 31% o women were not members o any organized
group.
The business, professional, and other job-related affiliations were
by far the most frequent type, of membership for men. Two-thirds of
the men belonged to at least one organization related to their occupa-
tion. This category included such professional and business groups
as the American Medical Society, the Bar Association, the Pasteur
Society, the Underwriters' Club, National Association o Cost Account-
ants, Western Society of Naturalists, American Rocket Society, the
Industrial Relations Research Association, and the Chamber of Com-
merce and similar business groups, to mention only a few of the many
such organizations. The category also included membership in trade
unions or guilds to which at least 65 men and 15 or 20 women belonged.
Among the most frequently mentioned labor organizations were the
guilds and unions connected with entertainment media such as radio,
television, motion pictures, and the theater. These included the Musi-
cians Union, Radio Writers Guild, Dramatists Guild, Radio and Tele-
vision Directors Guild, Cameraman's Union, and so on. Other organ-
114 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
izations represented by five or more members were the newspaperman's
guild and various office worker unions. Membership in several other
guilds and trade unions was reported but there were no more than two
or three in any one of these.
Several subjects have been active in the labor movement and have
held official positions in their unions or in the AF of L or CIO. Promi-
nent among these is a man with a Ph.D. in economics who holds the
position of Economic Counsel, directing research and negotiations for
a trade union. He is a member of the American Economic Association
and the American Statistical Association as well as of the Labor Council
of the city in which he works. Two men have been members of a local
CIO Council, another has been editor of the union paper, and still others
have held office or done committee work in their organizations.
Groups organized primarily for social purposes are the second most
frequent type of membership reported by gifted men, while social groups
rank first with the women. Approximately two-fifths of both men and
women belong to one or more clubs, lodges, or other social group.
Recreational and hobby clubs ranked third in popularity with both men
and women, though a larger proportion of men than women mentioned
such groups. The following are examples of some of the groups in this
category : Garden Club, Little Theater Group, Sports Car Club, Na-
tional Rifle Association, Camera Club, Folk Dancing Club, Mountain
Climbing Club, and Choral Society, to mention a few.
Only the "service clubs" among the remaining categories were
claimed by as many as 10 percent of the men. No other group had a
10 percent representation among women, although both the church-
related groups and the study and cultural organizations were close with
9 . 8 and 9 . 6 percent respectively.
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Although the data on memberships are interesting, they present
only one aspect of the gifted adult as a participating member of society.
To complete the picture, we turn to the subject's report on service
activities. This item in the 1950 General Information Blank was worded
as follows : Record of your service activities (such as scout work, wel-
fare, religious or church work, participation in community and civic
affairs, P.T.A., etc,).
The memberships in Table 45 included only private organizations
with formal membership rolls, as opposed to such community- or nation-
AVOCATIONAL AND OTHER INTERESTS 115
wide groups as P.T.A., Red Cross, American Cancer Society, Boy
Scouts (or Girl Scouts), the Y.M.C.A., or any of the other civic or
community welfare groups. Nearly one-half of the men and two-thirds
of the women were engaged in one or more of the activities sponsored
by such groups; in fact, 10 percent of men and nearly 22 percent of
women mentioned 3 or more community services. In view of their age
and family status, it is not surprising that the most frequent Interest
of both men (22%) and of women (48%) was in organizations con-
cerned with youth. Prominent among these were the P.T.A., the Scouts,
and the "Y" About 15 percent of men and 10 percent of women have
served with community health organizations (e.g., Mental Health So-
ciety), on school boards or as school trustee, in civilian defense pro-
grams, city planning boards, and with similar organizations. Service
activities in connection with a church or of a religious nature were re-
ported by 13 percent of men and 19 percent of women. Volunteer wel-
fare work with the Red Cross, Crippled Children's Society, Heart As-
sociation, Community Chest, Alcoholics Anonymous, Grey Ladies, and
various similar projects was listed by 11 percent of men and 22 per-
cent of women.
While the reports on service activities indicate in some degree the
extent of participation of our gifted group in community life, they do
not tell the full story. Some subjects are more modest than others or
attach less importance to their work with the result that their reports
on this phase of their lives are too general for classification. However,
even the minimal figures available are impressive evidence of the social
awareness of the gifted and their willingness to contribute to com-
munity life. Through membership on boards or in groups that make
community policy and through other volunteer activities, especially in
the case of women, a great deal of worth-while work of both "staff" and
"line" variety is accomplished.
A number of the subjects have received public recognition and honor
for their contributions to community welfare and public betterment,
and some illustrations follow. Among the men there have been : Man
of the Year (large western city) ; Recognition Medal for Distinguished
Community Leadership (large western city) ; Outstanding Citizen
(county award) ; four men with Distinguished Civilian Service Awards ;
a Special Award for Distinguished Service to Boyhood ; three listings
in America's Young Men to mention some of the more outstanding.
Too numerous to cite are those who have held office in the various com-
116 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
munlty service or civic betterment organizations. Included here are
such positions as membership on the Board of Directors of Jewish Big
Brothers ; chairman of Budget Committee of Community Chest (metro-
politan area) ; member, Board of Directors of a city chapter of the
American Cancer Society; chairman of a County Planning Commis-
sion ; director of the Legal Aid Society; and president, Youth Welfare
League. The list of women who have won recognition or held important
posts in community organizations is long. Some examples follow : Spe-
cial Service Award (to four women) ; Woman of the Year (in educa-
tion) ; president of area Girl Scout Council ; president of Women's
Board, Museum of Art ; appointment to the Board of Education of a
large city ; chairman of State Committee of League of Women Voters ;
and appointment to a Grand Jury. The foregoing are illustrations from
a long list of offices held and citations received by members of the gifted
group, both men and women.
THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK
Although we inquired into the attitudes and interests of the subjects
with the results presented above, the questions were not specific so far
as particular hobbies, interests, or activities were concerned. An excep-
tion to this was in the matter of religion. The Supplementary Bio-
graphical Data blank of 1950-52 asked for the amount of religious train-
ing in youth, the extent of religious inclination as an adult, and the
religious affiliation. Close to three-fifths of both men and women re-
ported that they received "very strict" or "considerable" religious train-
ing ; somewhat more than one-third reported "little," and about 6 per-
cent said they had no religious training.
As adults, 38 percent of men and 53 percent of women expressed
moderate to strong religious inclinations. The 599 men and 491 women
for whom data are available responded as follows :
Religious inclination Men Women
% %
Strong 10 18
Moderate 28 35
Little 34 24
None at all 28 23
With respect to religious affiliation, 59 percent of men and 56 per-
cent of women say they belong to a particular church, congregation, or
other religion-oriented group. These figures approximate the 57 per-
AVOCATIONAL AND OTHER INTERESTS 117
cent of the total population (sexes are not reported separately) reported
as church members in 1950. 45 Among the gifted an additional 8 per-
cent of each sex, while not formally affiliated with any church or reli-
gious group, say that they attend services or are inclined toward a par-
ticular faith. A small group of about 4 percent of men and 2 percent
of women state that they have a personal faith or are interested in the
philosophy of religion but that creeds and denominations or other forms
of organized religion have no appeal for them. Almost 24 percent of
the men and 32 percent of the women reported that they are not affili-
ated with any religious group and made no comment regarding their
attitude toward religion. A small minority (5% of men and 1% of
women) described themselves as skeptics, agnostics, or, in a few cases,
as atheists.
The sex difference in church membership, though small (59% of
men versus 56% of women), is of interest because it is not in the ex-
pected direction, since most investigations show that more women than
men are church members. Havemann and West 17 report that among
college graduates about 10 percent more women than men are church
goers.
SUMMARY
More than four-fifths of the subjects reported an interest in two
or more avocational pursuits and more than one-half reported three or
more. The absence of any norms precludes a comparison with the
general population in this matter, but the data indicate a considerable
breadth and diversity of interests.
Many of the special abilities that had been evidenced by the subjects
in their youth found expression in hobbies and avocations at mid-life.
Talent in creative writing, art, dramatics, and music was especially note-
worthy.
Complete data on the amount and kinds of reading and on reading
interests are lacking. The information available, however, indicates
wide reading interests, covering many fields of fiction and nonfiction.
Study through independent reading or in informal groups and classes
was also mentioned by a number of subjects.
Four-fifths of the men and two-thirds of the women reported mem-
bership in one or more clubs or organizations, chiefly professional or
business and social.
The group has displayed an interest in and responsibility for the
118 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
community and civic welfare through participation in a wide variety o
activities such as organizations concerned with youth, health programs,
civic betterment projects, and similar plans. Outstanding contributions
along these lines have won recognition and special awards for a number
of men and women.
An inquiry regarding religious interests elicited the information
that somewhat less than two-fifths of the men and more than one-half
of the women feel moderately or strongly inclined toward religion ; how-
ever, in the matter of religious affiliation, the men report a slightly
higher proportion of church memberships.
CHAPTER IX
SOME POLITICAL AND SOCIAL
ATTITUDES
The General Information Blank of 1950 called for information on politi-
cal affiliation, voting- habits, and a self-rating on radicalism-conserva-
tism. Since similar information had been secured in the 1940 follow-up,
it is possible both to picture the 1950 political and social attitudes and
to compare the 1950 attitudes with those expressed in 1940, 36 to learn
what changes may have occurred in the ten-year interval.
SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM
The self-ratings on radicalism-conservatism (r-c ratings) employed
a cross-on-line technique in which the rating bar represented a con-
tinuum ranging from "extremely radical" at one end to "very conserva-
tive" at the other. The responses were evaluated on a nine-point scale.
The extreme left of the horizontal bar, defined as "extremely radical/*
was coded 1 ; "tend to be radical/' 3 ; "average," 5 ; "tend to be conserva-
tive," 7 ; and "very conservative," at the extreme right, 9. The inter-
vening even numbers, 2 3 4 f 6, and 8, represented the midvalues between
the adjacent categories. The directions were simple : "Rate yourself
on the following scale as regards your political and social viewpoint/'
Only rarely did a subject complain of ambiguity in the question, al-
though an occasional respondent checked himself at one level on political
and at another on social viewpoint. For all but a very few, the ratings
presumably represented a composite of general attitude on political and
social issues based, of course, on individual concepts of the term "po-
litical and social viewpoint" and of what constitutes the "average" in
this regard.
A total of 1,241 subjects (698 men and 543 women) rated them-
selves on this variable in 1950. The distributions of the r-c ratings with
means and standard deviations are given in Table 46.
110
120 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
TABLE 46
SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM (1950)
Men Women
Rating N % N %
1
Extremely radical ,
1
0.1
2.
^
Tend to be radical
9
. .. 62
1.3
8.9
5
56
0,
10
,9
3
4.
S
Average ,
93
. . . 199
13.3
28.5
76
189
14.
34
.0
8
6.
7
Tend to be conservative. . , ,
82
, . . 206
11.8
29 5
56
140
10,
7*1
.3
8
8.
Q
Extremely conservative . . .
29
... 17
4.2
2.4
12
9
2.
1
2
7
Total
, . . 698
543
Mean rating
... 5.57
5.38
Standard deviation
,.. 1.54
1.45
According to their own opinions, more than half the men and nearly
three-fifths of the women consider themselves "middle-of-the-roaders"
though the inclination is slightly to the right of center. The men tend
to be more conservative than the women, with a mean rating of 5 . 5?
as compared with a mean of 5 . 38 for women. The sex difference in
mean ratings is fairly reliable (P = . 03) . The differences between men
and women are found chiefly in the proportions at the average or near-
average categories (ratings 4, 5 f 6) and at the conservative end of the
scale (ratings 7, 8, 9). Somewhat more women than men rate them-
selves average (59% versus 54%) and more men (36%) rate them-
selves conservative than do women (30%). The proportions to the
left of center are not very different for the sexes : 10% of men and 1 1 %
of women rate themselves l t 2, or 3.
There were 602 men and 494 women who rated themselves on radi-
calism-conservatism in both 1940 and 1950. Table 47 compares the two
sets of ratings made by the same subjects ten years apart.
TABLE 47
COMPARISON OF SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM
OF 1940 AND 1950
Men Women
_ . 1940 1950 1940 1950
Ratings N % N % N % N %
On radical side (1, 2, 3) 136 22.6 62 10.3 91 18.4 57 11.5
Average or near average
(4,5,6) 289 48.0 325 54.0 282 57.1 283 57.3
On conservative side (7, 8, 9) 177 29.4 215 35.7 121 24.5 154 31.2
SOME POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ATTITUDES 121
Ratings at the radical end of the scale for these twice-rated people
decreased from almost 23 percent to 10 percent for men and from 18
percent to 11 percent for women between 1940 and 1950. The differ-
ences in percentages at the two dates are statistically significant for
both sexes (P = < .001). At the other end of the scale the conserva-
tive ratings increased from 29 to 36 percent for men and from 24
to 31 percent for women. Ratings at both extremes of the scale, how-
ever, were less frequent in 1950. There were eight men and four women
who ranked themselves at 1 the point farthest to the left in 1940, but
no one checked this point in 1950. At the far right, 18 men checked 9,
extremely conservative, in 1940 as compared with only 13 in 1950.*
However, of seven women who rated themselves 9 in 1940 and eight
who did so in 1950, only one was the same individual. Six of the eight
had been at the *"tend-to-be-conservative" point in 1940 and one had
rated herself at the far left in 1940 !
Even though the general trend between 1940 and 1950 was toward
greater conservatism, there were shifts in both directions, and there
were also a considerable number of persons whose position on the r-c
scale remained unchanged. Identical ratings were given at both dates
by 37 percent of men and 40 percent of women. Shifting to a more
radical point on the scale were 19 percent of men and 21 percent of
women, and shifting toward greater conservatism were 44 percent of
men and 39 percent of women. The correlation between the self-ratings
of 1940 and 1950 was . 62 for both men and women.
VARIABLES ASSOCIATED WITH 1950 R-C RATINGS
It is interesting to examine the relationship between the political and
social attitudes and certain other characteristics. A discussion of some
of the variables associated with the r-c ratings follows.
Age. That age is to some extent a factor in the trend toward con-
servatism is shown in Table 48, which gives the mean r-c ratings accord-
ing to the year of birth. The youngest group of men (those born in
1915 or later) averaged reliably less conservative than those who were
older, with a mean r-c rating of 5.18 for the youngest as compared
with a mean of 5.62 for the total born before 1915. The three older
* It should be remembered that the numbers referred to in this paragraph are
for subjects in the twice-rated sample. Table 51 gives the total number of I and 9
ratings in 1950. In 1940, of the total 667 men with r-c ratings, 11 gave themselves
a rating of I and 21 considered themselves to be 9. Of the total 543 women with
1940 ratings, four rated themselves I and nine rated themselves p.
122 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
groups of men do not differ to any extent in mean r-c rating. The same
tendency toward greater liberalism among those born in 1915 or later
Is found for women but the difference is less marked than for men and
Is not statistically significant. The mean r-c rating for the total group
of women born before 1915 is 5 .41 compared with 5 . 16 for the young-
est group. It is interesting to observe, however, that the 15 oldest
women are far more conservative than any other group.
TABLE 48
1950 SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM BY YEAR OF BIRTH
Men Women.
Mean r-c Mean r-c
Year of Birth N rating S.D. N rating S.D.
Before 1905 58 5.62 1.48 15 6.27 1.12
1905-1909 228 5.61 1.59 177 5.39 1.45
1910-1914 335 5.64 1.53 277 5.38 1.46
1915 or later 77 5.18 1.38 74 5.16 1.39
Education. Among both men and women, the most conservative
are those who entered college but did not graduate. The college gradu-
ates are nearer the center (the women more so than the men) and those
who did not attend college at all fall between the other two educational
groups. Within the college-graduate group the men show differences
in r-c rating according to academic degree. The range in ratings is from
a mean of 5 . 03 for the 68 men with a Ph.D. to 5 . 75 for the 81 LLJB/s,
and for the total group of 280 men with a graduate degree the mean
is 5.46. The mean r-c rating for men with a bachelor's degree only is
5.72. For the 123 women with a graduate degree the mean r-c rating
Is 4.95 in comparison with 5 . 54 for the women with only a bachelor's.
Because the number of women involved was relatively small, the mean
r-c ratings according to the various graduate degrees were not com-
puted. Table 49 gives the r-c ratings according to educational level for
both men and women.
TABLE 49
1950 SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM
BY AMOUNT OF EDUCATION
Men Women
Mean r-c Mean r-c
N rating SJX N rating S.D.
1. College graduates. 504 5.51 1.54 383 5.30 1.41
2. College 1 to 4 years 107 5.83 1.44 78 5.60 1.44
3. No College 87 5.62 1.60 82 5.54 1.49
SOME POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ATTITUDES 123
Occupation. As might be expected, political and social viewpoint
varies according to occupation. Men in the professions (Group I of the
Minnesota Occupational Scale) have a mean r-c rating of 5 .40 as com-
pared with 5.72 for Group II, the semiprofessiona! and managerial
occupations. Men in Group III (clerical, retail business and skilled
trades), with a mean of 5 .73, rated themselves almost exactly the same
as those in the higher echelons of business (Group II). The most con-
servative group were the 11 men in Group IV (agriculture and related
occupations) whose mean r-c rating is 6.45. There are some marked
differences within the occupational groups which are shown in Table 50
where the rank order of 21 occupations from most liberal to most con-
servative is given.
TABLE 50
1950 SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM
BY OCCUPATION (MEN)*
(from most liberal to most conservative)
Mean r-c
Occupation N rating S.D.
1. Personnel directors or welfare workers 11 4.27
2. Authors or journalists 17 4.29 1.27
3. Clergymen 7 4.43
4. Economists or political scientists 7 4 .43
5. Entertainment (directors, producers, writers) . 14 4.71 1.52
6. College or university faculty 40 4,75 1 .39
7. Teachers below college level 35 5 .08 1 .21
8. Architects 8 5.38
9. Accountants or statisticians , . 38 5 .47 1 .48
10. Chemists or physicists.. 32 5.50 1.46
11. In advertising, publicity, or public relations. , . 22 5.64 1.32
12. In clerical, sales and retail business 34 5 . 65 1 . 80
13. In skilled trades.. 25 5.68 1.30
14. Physicians 41 5.73 1.15
15. Executives in business and industry 59 5 .85 1 .24
16. Lawyers 71 5.85 1.41
17. Engineers 48 5.88 1.76
18. Army or Navy officers 16 6.19 1.47
19. Banking, finance, or insurance executives, 36 6.39 1.28
20. Farmers and ranchers 11 6.45
21. Sales managers, sales engineers, or technical
salesmen 19 6.58 1.23
* Occnpations in which fewer than seven men are engaged are not reported separately.
124 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Despite the fact that for three of the occupations in Table 50 the
number of men rated is less than 10, the rank order of the occupations
seems, in general, fairly plausible. Most persons would agree that men
in occupations ranking 1 to 6 are usually more liberal in their political
attitudes than men in occupations 18 to 21, or than those in positions
11 to 17. Some may be surprised, however, that men in skilled trades
should rank 13 in the list only two ranks less conservative than execu-
tives in business or industry, and three ranks less conservative than
lawyers ; or that farmers should rank as one of the four most conserva-
tive groups.
Too few women were employed to permit an analysis by particular
occupation, but a comparison of broader vocational groupings reveals
some interesting differences in r-c ratings. The most liberal group are
the women in the miscellaneous professional occupations (see Table
31 ), for whom the mean rating is 4 . 63. Women on college faculties and
in the higher professions, and the school teachers are both slightly to the
right with a mean rating of 5 . 17. The most conservative are the busi-
ness women and office workers whose average r-c rating is 5 . 64. The
housewives, who make up by far the largest group with a total of 339
self-ratings, have a mean r-c rating of 5.50. Table 51 gives the r-c
ratings for women by occupation.
TABLE 51
1950 SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM
BY OCCUPATION (WOMEN)
(from most liberal to most conservative)
Mean r-c
Occupation N rating: S.D.
Miscellaneous professional occupations 54 4.63 1 .40
College faculty and higher professions 29 5.17 1 . 70
Schoolteachers (including administrators and
counselors) 46 5 . 17 1 .46
Housewives* 339 5.50 1.33
Office, business, and clerical occupations 66 5 .64 1 . 51
* Housewives who have full-time jobs outside the tome are included in the appropriate
occupational category and do not appear here.
Income. Surprisingly, there was little relationship between the
1950 r-c ratings and earned income. For men the largest difference was
between the 322 with earned incomes of $7,000 and above in 1949 and
the 330 who earned less than $7,000. The former were the more con-
servative with a mean rating of 5 . 72, while for the latter the mean was
SOME POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ATTITUDES 125
5.45. The difference between the r-c means is fairly reliable (P = .02).
For women, the trend was reversed. The 21 women who earned $6,000
or more were the most liberal of all the income groups by a slight but
unreliable margin. When mean r-c ratings were checked against the
total annual Income of husband and wife, whether earned or unearned,
no significant relationship was found. However, both the gifted men
and gifted women whose total family income was in the upper half
(above $7,000) rated themselves slightly more conservative than those
whose incomes fell below $7,000.
Intelligence. One would like to know how the r-c variable is related
to intelligence in the general population. Our data do not answer this
question since our gifted subjects as adults score far above the generality
of adults on the Concept Mastery test and were, by definition, in the top
one percent of the generality in childhood IQ. However, despite the
restricted intellectual range in our gifted group, Table 52 shows that
radicalism (or liberalism) is positively associated with higher scores on
the Concept Mastery test in 1950. Men who rated themselves as 1, 2,
or 3 have a mean CMT score of 155 compared with a mean of 140* for
men who rate themselves as 4 t 5 f or (5. The difference is highly reliable
(P = .001). The corresponding drop in the CMT score for women,
from a mean of 153.7 for those on the radical side to 132.7 for those
in the center, is even more significant (P = .0001). Those who rated
themselves as conservatives have the lowest CMT scores but the drop
in mean score for ratings 7 } 8 3 or 9 as compared with ratings of 4, 5 f
or 6 is not very reliable for either sex (P = . 09 for men and . 05 for
women).
Additional evidence of the tendency for those who score highest on
intelligence tests to be less conservative is found in the data for the
Stanford-Binet IQ's. Although the number of cases with IQ's of 170
or over is too small to warrant conclusions, it is of interest to find that
the 42 men with childhood IQ's of 170 and above who rated themselves
on radicalism-conservatism in 1950 have a mean rating of 5.07 (S.D.
1 .80) as against a mean of 5 . 57 for the total group of men. For the 31
women whose Binet IQ's were 170 and above in childhood, the 1950
mean r-c rating is 5 . 19 (S.D. 1 . 51 ) in comparison with a mean of 5 . 38
for all gifted women. Although the subjects with the highest childhood
IQ's are more liberal on the average than other members of the group,
* These are "point" scores, not IQ's.
126 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
they, too, grew more conservative In the Interval between 1940 and
1950. The r-c mean in 1940 for this selected group of highest IQ was
4,83 for men and 4.90 for women. 36
TABLE 52
1950 SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM
BY SCORES ON CONCEPT MASTERY TEST
Concept Mastery Scores
Men Women
Ratings N Mean S.D. N Mean S.D.
On radical side (1,2,3) .......... 49 155.1 21.7 50 153.7 15.8
Average or near average (4, 5, 6) 280 140.1 28.6 248 132.7 29.0
On conservative side (7, 8 } 9) 179 135.3 29.0 116 126.8 25.9
General adjustment. A comparison of the ratings on mental health
and general adjustment* shows that those subjects classified as hav-
ing some, or serious difficulty in adjustment rated themselves reli-
ably more liberal on the average than those considered satisfactory in
adjustment. Table 53 gives the mean r-c rating according to general
adjustment classification. The differences in mean r-c rating between
those rated satisfactory in general adjustment and those with some,
or serious difficulty (categories 2 and 3) are statistically significant
(P = < .001 for both sexes).
TABLE 53
1950 SELF-RATINGS ON RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM BY
GENERAL ADJUSTMENT CLASSIFICATION
Men Women
Mean r-c Mean r-c
General Adjustment N rating S.D. N rating S.D.
1. Satisfactory 511 5.72 1 .49 375 5 .54 1 .34
2. Some difficulty ...... 136 5.22 1.50 133 5.13 1.58
3. Serious difficulty .... 51 5.20 1.76 35 4.60 1.63
The tendency for the less well-adjusted to rate themselves as more
liberal in political and social viewpoint was also found in 1940. At that
time, however, these subjects were farther to the left with mean r-c
ratings of 4. 61 and 4. 64 for men and women, respectively.
It was pointed out in Chapter IV that the subjects who experience
difficulty in emotional and social adjustment make reliably higher scores
on the Concept Mastery test. As shown above, the subjects to the left
* See Chapter IV for a description of these ratings.
SOME POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ATTITUDES 127
of center on the r-c scale also have significantly higher scores on the
Concept Mastery test. Thus, we have a situation in which those more
liberally inclined, socially and politically, make significantly higher test
scores (Concept Mastery) and are also more often classified as having
some, or serious difficulty in general adjustment. We might theorize
that the higher Concept Mastery scores of the less well-adjusted may
be due to their relative lack of social ability, their tendency toward more
solitary interests, and consequent greater preoccupation with Intellec-
tual pursuits. The corresponding tendency to liberal or radical attitudes
found for the less well-adjusted may perhaps be explained by the lack
of conformity that contributes to the adjustment difficulties.
Although the differences disclosed In Tables 52 and 53 are statisti-
cally reliable, care should be taken against overgeneralization. Actually
the differences In mean r-c ratings according to general adjustment are
much too small to justify the conclusion that conservatives are usually
well-adjusted and that radicals usually are not. Nor in view of the small
number of cases at the radical end of the scale can it be concluded that
those who rate themselves left of center are more intelligent, as meas-
ured by test scores, than the conservative members of the group.
In Interpreting the data on political and social attitudes, particularly
with reference to radicalism-conservatism, It should be borne In mind
that these opinions were expressed chiefly in 1950 and 1951. If a similar
opinion survey of the group were made now, the results might be differ-
ent, not alone because of the Influence of age, but because of the changes
in the political and economic scene and In the concept of what consti-
tutes radicalism or conservatism.
POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS
Information on political preferences was supplied by approximately
1,250 subjects in response to the question : On national issues which of
the political parties most nearly represents your leanings? (Check)
Democrat Republican Socialist Communist Other
(Specify) . Somewhat more than one-half (55%) of the men and
one-half of the women said they were Republicans. One-third of the
men and two-fifths of the women said they were Democrats and 2.6
percent of each sex identified themselves as Socialists. No one claimed
membership In the Communist party. Not aligned regularly with any
of the major parties were 7.8 percent of men and 6 percent of women.
Most of the latter described themselves as "Independent" and not fitting
128 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
a party pattern, though a few said "None." Slightly more than one per-
cent of each sex mentioned a minor party, usually the Independent Pro-
gressive Party or other liberal group.
In the 1940-50 decade the political affiliations showed the same
trend toward greater conservatism as had been shown by the r-c ratings.
About 10 percent more men and 8 percent more women called them-
selves Republican in 1950 than in 1940. The number of Democrats
among men decreased from 40 percent in 1940 to the 33 percent of 1950
while the proportion of women under the Democratic banner changed
hardly at all. The Socialists in each sex decreased from approximately
4 percent in 1940 to 2.6 percent in 1950. At the earlier date a larger
proportion (10 percent of men and 12 percent of women) were in the
"None" or "Independent" category.
A comparison of party affiliation with r-c self-rating shows the
Democrats, both men and women, to be reliably more liberal in politi-
cal and social viewpoint than were the Republicans. The Democrats,
though slightly left of center, were much closer to the middle than were
the Republicans. Among men, the Democrats with a mean r-c rating
of about 4.51 were only a half-step from the middle point on the scale,
while the Republicans who averaged 6.48 were nearly one and one-half
steps to the right of center. The women showed the same trend though
the contrast was not quite so marked: Democrats averaged 4.60 on
the r-c scale and Republicans 6.25. Those with no affiliation were only
slightly to the left of center with a mean 4.91 for men and 4.88 for
women. Table 54 gives the percentage distribution of political party
preferences and includes also the mean self -rating on radicalism-con-
servatism according to political preference.
TABLE 54
POLITICAL PREFERENCES AND RELATIONSHIP TO
RADICALISM-CONSERVATISM (1950)
Men Women
Mean r-c Mean r-c
Political Party N % rating N % rating
Republican 387 55.1 6.48* 268 49.5 6.25*
Democrat 233 33.1 4.51 219 40.5 4.60
Socialist 18 2.6 3.47 14 2.6 3.07
Other 10 1.4 2.88 7 1.3 3.57
No affiliation 55 7.8 4.91 33 6.1 4.88
* The critical ratio of the difference in mean r-c rating between Republicans and Democrats
is 21 .9 for men and 16.5 for women.
SOME POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ATTITUDES 129
VOTING HABITS
The General Information Blank of 1950, like that of 1940, asked for
the voting habits of the subjects with respect to national, state, and
local elections. Replies to this item were received from 690 men and
531 women. The responses classified in Table 55 show that those
voting "always" or "usually" include approximately 94 percent of men
and 98 percent of women in national elections, 90 percent of men and
95 percent of women in state elections, 85 percent of men and 91 percent
of women in local elections. These percentages are enormously higher
than those reported for the general population, about 60 percent of
whom vote in national elections. The percentages of gifted subjects
voting "usually" or "always" was about the same in 1950 as it had been
in 1940. One can only conclude that these gifted people as a rule take
their civic obligations much more seriously than is true of the general
population.
TABLE 55
VOTING HABITS (1950)
Percentage Voting
National Elections
State Elections
Local Elections
Men Women
Men Women
Men Women
Always
... 82.0 89.4
70.2 75.1
49.2 58.7
Usually
12 8.7
20.4 20.0
36.2 32 6
Occasionally ....
1.9 2
3.2 1.9
6.5 4 5
Rarelv or never
... 4.1 1.7
6.2 3.0
8.1 4.2
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
Several men in our group have sought public office, some success-
fully, some not. Among the elective offices held are two superior court
judgeships (one of these men has since been appointed to the appellate
court), one municipal court judgeship, two members of the state legis-
lature and one high state official whose name has been mentioned as a
possible United States senator. Another was defeated in a campaign
for superior court judge, two have been unsuccessful candidates for the
State Assembly and one man was defeated in his candidacy for the
United States House of Representatives. Membership on the state
central committee of either the Democratic or Republican party has been
reported by several men and still others have served on county central
committees of the major political parties. Altogether, a number of sub-
jects, both men and women, have engaged in political campaigns as com-
mittee members, speakers, precinct workers, and other activities.
130 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Others have held appointive offices, both federal and state. Among
these are two lawyers who are judicial referees in state agencies. Still
others have held important administrative positions in agencies of the
federal government. One of the most important appointive positions
was held by a young man who, while still under 33 years of age, was
made an administrative assistant to the President of the United States
and served as a member of the White House executive staff for nearly
seven years. He won a Rockefeller Public Service Award for outstand-
ing service in government.
Our records are not complete on the extent of participation of the
group in political affairs, since no specific information on that type of
activity has been sought since the 1950-52 follow-up. Appointment or
election to public office was reported in the 1955 mailed questionnaire
but minor activities were not called for and, therefore, were seldom
mentioned. Because of the Incomplete nature of the present data and
because of the relative youth of the subjects, a record of greater partici-
pation In public life and more political activity can be looked for in future
reports.
SUMMARY
The men and women of the gifted group at mid-life consider them-
selves close to the center on a radicalism-conservatism continuum. Both
sexes are slightly to the right of the mid-point on the nine-point scale
on which they rated themselves. In political affiliation, somewhat more
than half of the men and about half of the women are Republicans. The
group as a whole has a remarkable voting record, as shown by the better
than 90 percent who report that they "usually" or "always" vote In
state and national elections.
A comparison of the self-ratings on radicalism-conservatism made
in 1950 with those made in 1940 shows a shift in the direction of less
radicalism and greater conservatism. Although the increase in propor-
tion at the more conservative end of the scale from 1940 to 1950 was
statistically reliable, it should not be overlooked that about one-fifth of
the group had moved closer to the liberal end of the political spectrum
in 1950. The changes in political affiliation from 1940 to 1950 are in
the same direction as the r-c ratings ; that is, in 1950 more labeled them-
selves as Republicans and fewer as Democrats than in 1940,
Several members of the group have held important elective offices
SOME POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ATTITUDES 131
and several others have been appointed to responsible positions in both
state and federal government. Since the group is still relatively young,
greater participation in political life and government can be expected.
An examination of the political and social attitudes in the light of
certain other variables reveals a relationship between r-c ratings and
age, extent of education, and certain occupations. There is also a
tendency for ratings of 1, 2, 3 on the r-c scale (tend to be radical) to
be associated with higher Concept Mastery test scores as well as with
poorer general social and emotional adjustment.
CHAPTER X
MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND
OFFSPRING
Marriage and marital adjustment are important factors in a portrayal
of anyone's life success and happiness. How do our gifted subjects com-
pare in these respects with the generality of men and women of corre-
sponding age?
Consider first the incidence of marriage to 1955 when the average
age of the subjects was approximately 44 years. By that time 93 percent
of the men and almost 90 percent of the women had married. These
percentages are based on the 780 men and the 610 women living in 1955
for whom information on marital status was available. The incidence
of marriage for both sexes is about the same as that reported for the
total population of corresponding age. In other words, being highly
intelligent apparently is not an obstacle to marriage for either sex, at
least that is true for this group. Table 56 gives the proportion at speci-
fied age levels who have ever been married regardless of current marital
status. The average age at marriage (first marriage if more than one)
was 25 years for men and 23 years for women. Twenty-three men (3 % )
married before reaching age 21 and 9 of these w r ere 18 when married.
The number of women married before age 21 was 71 (12%) and of
these 19 were married at ages 16 to 18. On the other hand, six men and
nine women did not marry until after age 40. Among the men, 45 has
been the oldest age at first marriage, and for women it was 51 years.
TABLE 56
INCIDENCE OF MARRIAGE ACCORDING TO AGE
N* Percentage Who Have Married
Age Men Women Men Women
Under 40 83 74 96.4 93.2
40-44 361 316 91.7 90.5
45-49 262 200 93.5 87.5
50 and over 74 20 93.2 80.0
Ages combined 780 610 93.0 89.5
* The N*s here do not include 4 men and 2 women for whom information on 1955 marital
status was not obtained; nor do they include the 11 men and 17 women lost since 1928 or earlier.
132
MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND OFFSPRING 133
A comparison of the Incidence of marriage among the men college
graduates of our group with that reported for the generality of men
graduates indicates that the marriage rate is about the same for both.
Our women graduates, however, are more likely to marry than are
the generality of college women : 86 percent of the gifted women grad-
uates (all ages) have married as compared with 74 percent of college
women in general in the 40-49-year age bracket and 65 percent of those
age 50 and over. 17 The women college graduates, although they are less
likely to remain spinsters than are college women in general, have a
somewhat lower marriage rate than that of the noncollege women in
our group. Table 57 gives the proportion of gifted men and women at
three educational levels who have married.
TABLE 57
INCIDENCE OF MARRIAGE ACCORDING TO EDUCATIONAL LEVEL
Percentages
Men Women
Are, or have Are, or nave
Education Single been married Single been married
College graduates 7.6 92.4 13.8 86.2
College 1 to 4 years 6.4 93.6 4.9 95.1
No college 5.0 95.0 2.1 97.9
Slightly more than one-fifth of those who married have a history
of divorce. There are 150 men and 121 women who have been divorced
one or more times. These figures represent 21 percent of the men and
22 percent of women who have married. Of these, 32 men (4.1%) and
29 women (4.7%) have been divorced two or more times, and 6 men
and 13 women have been divorced three or more times. It is impossible
to say how the divorce rate in the gifted group compares with that for
the generality of corresponding age since the census data report only
current marital status. However, recent estimates of the proportion
of marital failures among the general population of the United States
place the figure at one-fourth to one-third of the marriages formed. 9
According to the figures for our gifted group the divorce rate to 1955
is somewhat less than that for the generality. However, it is still too
soon to say how the ultimate divorce rate will compare with that of the
total population since additional divorces can be expected among our
subjects.
Divorce is negatively associated with extent of schooling. Those
134 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
subjects who graduated from college have a far lower divorce rate than
do the nongraduates. Of the college graduates who married, only 16
percent have a history of divorce while 32 percent of those who attended
college one or more years without graduating and 36 percent of those
who did not enter college have a record of one or more marital failures.
The trend toward a lower divorce rate for those who completed college
agrees with data reported by other investigators for college graduate
populations. In a questionnaire survey made in 1950 of the Harvard
class of 1926, in which replies were received from 61 percent, the figures
indicated that 13 percent of those who had married had been divorced
one or more times. 14 An investigation made by Havemann and West 17
of the total U.S. college graduate population showed the proportion
divorced at the time of the survey to be 6 percent. However, the latter
inquiry did not include a record of marital history and because of the
known tendency of college graduates to remarry soon after divorce,
this estimate is undoubtedly too low. Table 58 shows, separately for
men and women, according to educational level the proportion who
(1) are single, (2) are married (no divorce), and (3) have been
divorced one or more times (may currently be married).
TABLE 58
MARITAL STATUS BY AMOUNT OF EDUCATION
College College 1 to
Graduates
4 Years No College Total Group
Men Women
(N = (N =
Marital Status 555) 413)
Single 7.6 13.8
Men Women Men Women Men Women
(N = (N = (N = (N = (N = (N =
125) 101) 100) 96) 780) 610)
6.4 4.9 5.0 2.1 7.0 10.5
Married, no divorce 77.8 72.4
Divorced 1 or more
times 14.6 13.8
60.8 70.3 67.0 57.3 73.7 69.7
32.8 24.8 28.0 40.6 19.3 19.8
% of N ever married
who have been di-
vorced 15.8 16
35 26 29 5 41 6 20 7 22 1
Among men, the divorce rate is highest for those who attended col-
lege one or more years without graduating, and for women the propor-
tion of divorces is greatest for those who did not enter college. One
might speculate that greater restlessness, discontent, or frustration are
felt by the gifted persons who do not complete college and that this may
bring about greater instability in personal relationships.
MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND OFFSPRING 135
The data for women support this theory, at least to the extent that
general adjustment ratings are related to both education and divorce.
Those women who either did not complete or did not enter college are
less often rated satisfactory in mental health and general adjustment.
The proportion rated satisfactory at each of these two educational levels
is 58 percent, compared with 69 percent of the college graduates. In
the case of men the relationship of education to general adjustment
rating is quite different. The college graduates and those with one to
four years of college have almost exactly the same proportion of satis-
factory ratings, 69 and 68 percent, respectively. But the highest pro-
portion of satisfactory ratings (73%) is found for the men who did not
enter college ! As would be expected, those persons with a history of
divorce are much less likely to be rated satisfactory in general adjust-
ment. The proportion of men rated satisfactory is 75 percent for the
unbroken marriages and 57 percent for those with a divorce history.
The difference is even more marked for women with 71 percent of
persons with unbroken marriages rated satisfactory as against 46 per-
cent of those with a record of divorce.
Neither marriage nor divorce rate in this group is correlated with
childhood IQ for either men or women. The adult Concept Mastery
test scores show practically no difference between the married with no
divorce record and those with a history of divorce. The highest CMT
scores, however, were made by the single men and the single women !
The 34 single men scored about 17 points higher, on the average, than
those who had married (with or without divorce) . The difference was
somewhat less in the case of women, with the single women averaging
a little over 8 points higher than those who had married.
If the divorce rate in our group as a whole is high, so also is the
rate of remarriage. Of the 150 men who have been divorced, 86 percent
remarried at least once. Of the 121 women with a history of divorce,
slightly more than two-thirds remarried. When the gifted subjects
divorce and remarry they tend to make happy remarriages. In 1950,
the subjects were given a shortened form of the 1940 test of marital
happiness which has been reported in detail in earlier publications. 36 ' 38
In the 1950 test the maximum happiness score was 44 points. For both
men and women there is virtually no difference in the happiness score
between those whose first marriage was intact and those with a history
of divorce(s) and remarriage (s). The mean scores by marital history
of currently married men and women follow :
136 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Men Women
(N = 515) (N = 393)
Divorced, Divorced,
Married, remarried Married, remarried
no 1 or more no 1 or more
divorce times divorce times
Mean Happiness Score 23.7 25.6 25.5 25.4
S.D 9.7 8.8 9.8 10.3
Other data collected in the 1950-52 field follow-up throw additional
light on the marriages and marital happiness of the gifted. For example,
the questionnaire, The Happiness of Your Marriage, included the item
How happy has your marriage "been? The subjects and their spouses
were asked to check the appropriate description from a list of seven re-
sponse choices. The percentage distribution of responses for the gifted
and spouses who replied were as follows :
Husbands
Wives of of
Gifted Gifted Gifted Gifted
Men Men Women Women
(N = 515) (N = 327) (N = 393) (N = 242)
% % % %
Extraordinarily happy 26 . 8 35.8 27 . 7 33.9
Decidedly more happy than
average 42.1 33.6 46.1 40.5
Somewhat more happy than
average 14.2 17.4 12.7 11.6
Average 10.7 9.5 7.6 7.8
Somewhat less happy than
average 3.1 2.8 2.3 2.5
Decidedly less happy than av-
erage 2.9 0.6 2.6 2.9
Extremely unhappy .... 0.2 0.3 1.0 0.8
Various studies 19 of marital happiness for the population in general
indicate that about 65 percent of married couples are happy or very
happy, about 20 percent just get along (probably equivalent to our
rating of average), and about 15 percent are more or less unhappy. In
contrast to these figures, better than 85 percent of our subjects and their
spouses rate their marriage above average in happiness and only about
6 percent say they are less happy than average (actually only 3.7%
of wives of gifted men say they are more or less unhappy). Further-
more, according to the subjects' Supplementary Biographical Data
blank 73 percent of gifted men and 70 percent of gifted women consider
their marriage to be an aspect of life from which the greatest satisfaction
is derived.
A discussion of marriage in the gifted group would not be complete
MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND OFFSPRING * '' ^ 137
without a description of the men and women they marry. (In the matter
of age, the gifted subjects follow the general pattern in our culture by
choosing wives who are younger and husbands who are older than them-
selves. The gifted men tend to marry women about two and one-half
years younger while the gifted women as a rule choose husbands about
three and one-half years older. These, however, are only the averages
and there were many exceptions. For example, 8 . 6 percent of the gifted
men chose wives who were two or more years older, including four men
whose wives were from 8 to 12 years older. On the other hand, 6 per-
cent of gifted men married women 10 or more years younger than
themselves, and in one instance the gifted husband (his second mar-
riage) was 22 years older than his wife. As for the gifted women, close
to 10 percent married men who were two to ten years younger, while
seven women chose husbands from 20 to 26 years older than themselves.
Investigations agree in showing education to be an important factor
in marital selection, so it is not surprising to find that many of our gifted
subjects have married college graduates. More than one-half of the hus-
bands and more than two-fifths of the wives graduated from college.
The proportion of college graduates who have taken degrees beyond the
bachelor's is 24 percent of husbands and 10 percent of wives. For the
514 husbands and 684 wives for whom adequate information on educa-
tion was available, the percentages with varying amounts of schooling
are as follows :
Husbands Wives
% %
College graduation 55.6 42.4
College 1 to 4 years (no degree) 18.7 26.5
High-school graduation 19.9 27.3
High school 1 to 3 years 3.7 2.5
No formal schooling beyond eighth grade , . 2.1 1 .3
As might be expected in view of their superior education, a large
proportion of the husbands are in Group I (professional) and Group II
(serniprofessiona! and higher business occupations) when classified ac-
cording to the Minnesota Occupational Scale described in Chapter VII.
Table 59 gives the percentage distribution by occupational group for
the husbands of gifted women. On the distaff side considerably fewer
of the wives of gifted men are gainfully employed than are the married
gifted women. Whether this Is a reflection of the superior economic
status of the gifted men or of the greater desire on the part of the gifted
women for a career outside the home Is a matter for speculation. In any
138 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
case, only 15.5 percent of the wives of gifted men are employed as com-
pared with 29 percent of the married gifted women. Of the employed
wives, 11 percent are in college teaching, research, or the higher pro-
fessions, 23 percent are in schoolteaching or administration (below
college level), and 22 percent are in other professional occupations.
About 39 percent are in business and office work, and slightly more
than 5 percent are in miscellaneous occupations (e.g., telephone opera-
tor, hairdresser, et cetera).
TABLE 59
OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF HUSBANDS OF GIFTED WOMEN
Percentage
of Husbands
of Gifted
Women
Occupational Group (N = 487)
I. Professional 34.9
II. Managerial, official, and semiprofessional 39.
III. Retail business, clerical, skilled crafts, and kindred. .. 18.7
IV. Agriculture and related occupations 4.3
V. Semiskilled 3.1
Evidence of the generally superior intellectual caliber of the spouses
is found in the Concept Mastery test scores. In the field fallow-up of
1950-52 the Concept Mastery test, Form T, was given to 690 spouses
including 273 husbands and 417 wives. The mean CMT score for the
spouses was 95.3 and the standard deviation, 42.7. Although their
average score is close to one S.D. lower than the mean score of the gifted
subjects, about one-fifth scored above the average for the gifted group.
The spouses appear to good advantage when compared to various other
groups tested on the CMT. The data for these comparisons are given
in Tables 15 and 17 of Chapter V. The mean CMT score of 115 found
for the total college graduate group among the spouses is higher than
the average of such college graduate populations as the Electronic Engi-
neers and Scientists (Mean score = 94), the applicants to the graduate
Public Health Education curriculum (Mean score = 97), and the 75
miscellaneous college graduates (Mean score = 112). For those
spouses who have taken graduate degrees, the mean CMT scores range
from 149 for those with a Ph.D. to 131 for those with a master's or
equivalent degree. In contrast, two groups of advanced graduate stu-
dents at a leading university made average scores on the CMT of 118
and 119, respectively. The spouses who entered but did not complete
college score above the college graduates in the Air Force group (means
of 85 and 73, respectively). Moreover, the spouses who did not go be-
MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND OFFSPRING 139
yond high school averaged slightly higher on the CMT than did the
total Air Force group, both graduates and nongraduates.
Since in the original survey of 1921-22 the majority of the subjects
were chosen from fairly limited geographical areas (chiefly the San
Francisco Bay cities and the Los Angeles metropolitan district), some
intermarriages among them could be expected. Actually, in ten In-
stances a gifted subject has married a member of the group; however,
three of these marriages terminated in divorce. In two cases, the mar-
riage was very brief and there were no children ; the third couple were
married for 12 years and had two children before being divorced. Among
the seven unbroken marriages one couple has 4 children, two couples
have 2 children each, one has 1 child, and three couples are childless.
THEIR CHILDREN
By 1955 the gifted group had produced approximately 2,500 chil-
dren. This number includes both living and deceased off spring and also
takes into account the children of those subjects who had died or whose
marriages had been terminated by divorce or death of the spouse. Fig-
ured on this basis, the average number of children for all subjects who
had ever been married was 1 .9.
The typical family with children has 2.4 children. The gifted men
have slightly larger families with 2.5 children as compared with 2.3
for the gifted women. The two largest families, however, are those of
gifted women, one of whom has 8 children and the other 7. There are
also six gifted women and three gifted men who have families of 6 chil-
dren. At the other extreme, among those who have married, 23 percent
of the women and 16 percent of the men have no children. Table 60
gives the percentage distribution of family size for all subjects who
have ever been married.
The sex ratio among the offspring is 107.8 boys to 100 girls. This
represents a slightly greater excess of boys than that reported for the
TABLE 60
NUMBER OF CHILDREN FOB. ALL SUBJECTS EVER MARRIED-
Percentages
Gifted Gifted
Number of Children Per Family Men Women Total
5 or more 3,1 2.8 3.0
4 9.7 6.4 8.3
3... 19.6 17.5 18.7
2 , 33.8 30.9 32.5
1 17.6 18.9 18.2
None 16.2 23.4 19.3
140 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
total U.S. white population. Dublin gives the sex ratio for the generality
as 106 boys born to every 100 girls. 10 Among the offspring are 36 pairs
of twins, including one family with three sets and another family with
two sets. This is 1 . 5 percent of the births, which is a slightly greater
frequency of twins than that given for the United States as a whole,
where during the years 1941-47 there was one set of twins for every 95
births (1. 05 %). 10
Of the 2,452 offspring born to 1955, a total of 84 (3 . 5%) have died
and an additional 15 stillbirths have been reported. More than half
(56%) of the deaths occurred in the first year of life. Those children
who survived the first year died from a number of causes, of which
accidents were the most frequent with 11 deaths, and leukemia second
with 5 deaths. Age at death ranged from a few hours after birth to 28
years, but all except 7 deaths took place before age 5. Two children
died of brain tumor at ages 12 and 14, respectively; 3 were accidentally
killed (automobile) at ages 11, 12, and 28 ; one died of a heart condition
at 8 years ; and one of bulbar poliomyelitis at 19 years of age.
It is too early to predict the ultimate fertility rate of the gifted group.
At the time of last report nearly two-thirds of the gifted women who
had married were under 45 years of age. Ten percent were in the 35-to-
39-year age bracket and 2 percent were under 35 years of age. The wives
of the gifted men were younger, with 71 percent under 45 years of age.
About one-fourth of the wives were age 35 to 39 years, and 9 percent
were under age 35. Whether the present birth rate of 2 . 4 children per
mother will increase sufficiently to equal the 2.8 children per mother
required to maintain the stock remains to be seen. 10 However, in view
of the number of child-bearing years remaining to both the gifted
women and the wives of the gifted men, a considerable increase in the
number of children can be expected.
A comparison of family size with extent of education shows a tend-
ency for the college graduates among the gifted subjects to have some-
what larger families, with the differences according to education being
greater for men than for women. The following percentages illustrate
the differences in family size at three levels of educational attainment :
No Children 3 or More Children
Gifted Gifted Gifted Gifted
Men Women Men Women
% % % %
College graduates 14.0 23.0 36.9 28.9
College 1 to 4 years 17.3 21.8 19.2 28.7
No college 19.0 21.7 29.8 21.7
MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND OFFSPRING 141
The larger families of the college graduates may be a reflection of
their superior economic status. Our data show that those subjects with
the larger families have somewhat greater total family incomes. The
median total family income in 1954 of couples with no children was
$10,462 in comparison with $11,688 for those with 3 or more children.
Of the subjects with total family incomes of $25,000 and above, 52 per-
cent had 3 or more children while only about 29 percent of those with
incomes below $10,000 had as many as 3 children. However, the rela-
tionships are only suggestive and should be interpreted with caution
since age also is related both to income and to size of family.
In the field follow-up investigations of 1939-40 and 1951-52 the
field workers gave Stanf ord-Binet tests to all of the offspring of suitable
age who could be reached. In addition, a number of subjects who live
at a distance have, over the years, brought their children to Stanford
University for testing.* Altogether we have tested a total of 1,525 off-
spring, 786 boys and 739 girls. The distributions of IQ's with means
and S.D/s are given in Table 61.
TABLE 61
STANFORD-BlNET IQ'S OF OFFSPRING
Binet IQ Boys Girls Total
190-199 1 1 2
180-189 37m
170-179 15 9 24
160-169 22 33 55
150-159 82 66 148
140-149 .... 137 125 262
130-139 188 180 368
120-129 181 168 349
110-119 86 83 169
100-109 53 48 101
90-99 13 11 24
80-89 426
70-79 1 6 7
Total 786 739 1,525
MeaaScore 132.7 132.7 132.7
S.D 17.2 18.0 17.6
The mean IQ was exactly the same for boys and girls, namely,
132.7 and the S.D. 5 s differed only slightly in the direction of greater
* As pointed out earlier, the subjects who live outside California and could not
be seen by a field worker have been encouraged to call at the research headquarters
for a personal interview whenever they might be visiting in the area.
142 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
variability among girls. Approximately one-third of the offspring tested
at IQ 140 and above while about 2 percent had IQ's below 100. An
additional 13 offspring (7 boys and 6 girls) to whom we did not give
the Stanford-Binet were known to be mentally defective. Of these, 4
have died, 6 are in schools or institutions for the mentally retarded, and
3 are being cared for at home. Of the total 2,452 offspring, the 13 men-
tally defective constitute only one-half of one percent, and of the 1,525
offspring whose intellectual status has been determined, they represent
only 0.8 percent. In the generality the proportion of the mentally de-
fective (defined as below IQ 70) is very much greater. Of the nearly
3,000 subjects on whom the 1937 revision of the Stanford-Binet test
was standardized, 2 . 6 percent tested below 70. This percentage, how-
ever, does not fully represent the incidence of the lower levels of mental
ability in the generality age 2 to 18 years since the extreme cases of
mental deficiency are not found in the regular school classes. 28
Some 50 gifted subjects have adopted children. One family has
taken four children for adoption ; one has adopted 3, and several have
2 adopted children. Although it would have been interesting to have
given intelligence tests to all the adopted children, limitations of time
and funds made it impractical. However, 18 of these children have been
tested and found to have Binet IQ's ranging from about 100 to 146 with
6 of the adopted children testing at IQ 135 or higher.
Although at the present writing a large proportion of our subjects
are still under 45 years of age, more than 50 have already reached grand-
parent status with a total of 115 grandchildren so far reported. One of
our gifted women who herself had 5 children is the grandmother of 11
at age 52.
CHAPTER XI
THE FULFILLMENT OF PROMISE
In the past 35 years we have watched the gifted child advance through
adolescence and youth into young manhood and womanhood and on
into the fuller maturity of mid-life. The follow-up for three and one-
half decades has shown that the superior child, with few exceptions, be-
comes the able adult, superior in nearly every aspect to the generality.
But, as in childhood, this superiority is not equally great in all areas.
The superiority of the group is greatest in intellectual ability, in
scholastic accomplishment, and in vocational achievements. Physically
the gifted subjects continue to be above average as shown in their lower
mortality record and in the health ratings. While personal adjustment
and emotional stability are more difficult to evaluate, the indications are
that the group does not differ greatly from the generality in the extent
of personality and adjustment problems as shown by mental break-
downs, suicide, and marital failures. The incidence of such other prob-
lems as excessive use of liquor (alcoholism) and homosexuality is below
that found in the total population, and the delinquency rate is but a small
fraction of that in the generality. Clearly, desirable traits tend to go
together. No negative correlations were found between intelligence and
size, strength, physical well-being, or emotional stability. Rather, where
correlations occur, they tend to be positive.
THE MAINTENANCE OF INTELLECTUAL ABILITY
But if gifted children are not prone to die young or, as they advance
in years, to become invalids or to suffer to any extent from serious
personality or behavior difficulties, there remains the question of the
degree to which their intellectual superiority is maintained. The evi-
dence on this score is conclusive. Test scores of 1927-28, 1939-40, and
1950-52 showed the majority of the subjects close to the 99th percentile
of the generality in mental ability. This is true even of those whose
careers have not been particularly notable. It was especially interesting
to find that the average Concept Mastery test score in 1950-52 of the
143
144 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
subjects who did not go beyond high school was exactly the same as
that of a group of candidates for advanced degrees (Ph.D. or M.D.)
at a leading university. Of additional interest are the results of a com-
parison of Concept Mastery test scores of 1939-40 and 1950-52 of the
same individuals. The test-retest comparisons showed a reliable gain
in the 11-to-l 2-year interval with increases occurring at all educational
and occupational levels, in all grades of ability, and at all ages. The data
indicate that not only do the mentally superior hold their own but that
they actually increase in intellectual stature as measured by the Concept
Mastery test.
APPRAISAL OF ACHIEVEMENT
From a practical and utilitarian point of view the real test of the
significance and value of this high degree of mental ability is the use
that is made of such gifts. The record points to the conclusion that
capacity to achieve far beyond the average can be detected early in life
through tests of general intelligence. Such tests do not, however, enable
us to predict what direction the achievement will take, and least of all
do they tell us what personality factors or what accidents of fortune will
affect the fruition of exceptional ability. The appraisal of achievement
of our gifted subjects will be concerned with their educational attain-
ments, their vocational records, their contributions to knowledge and
culture, and the recognitions that have been won.
The educational record is a distinguished one. More than 85 percent
of the group entered college and almost 70 percent graduated. The latter
figure is about ten times as high as for a random group of comparable
age. Graduation honors and elections to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi
were at least three times as numerous as in the typical senior college
class, with better than 35 percent of the graduates winning one or more
of these distinctions. Of the college graduates, two-thirds of the men
and nearly three-fifths of the women continued for graduate study. The
PhD. or comparable doctorate was taken by 80 men and 17 women,
or about 14 percent of men and 4 percent of women graduates. The
proportion of the generality of college graduates of corresponding age
who have taken a doctorate is less than 3 percent.
The occupations and occupational status of the men and women of
the gifted group have been evaluated separately since the pattern in this
regard has been so different. The careers of women are often deter-
mined by extraneous circumstances rather than by training, talent, or
THE FULFILLMENT OF PROMISE 145
vocational interest. Whether women choose to work and the occupa-
tions they enter are influenced both by their own attitudes and by the
attitudes of society toward the role of women. These attitudinal factors
also influence the opportunities for employment and for advancement.
But in spite of the fact that American women on the average occupy
positions of lesser responsibility, opportunity, and remuneration than
do men, the gifted women have a number of notable achievements to
their credit, some of which have been described in Chapter VII. That
7 women should be listed in American Men oj Science, 5 2 in the Direc-
tory of American Scholars,* and 2 in Who's Who in America, 42 all be-
fore reaching the age of 43, is certainly many times the expectation from
a random group of around 700 women. Publications of the gifted
women include 5 novels ; 5 volumes of poetry and some 70 poems that
have appeared in both literary and popular journals ; 32 technical, pro-
fessional, or scholarly books ; around 50 short stories ; 4 plays ; more
than 150 essays, critiques, and articles; and more than 200 scientific
papers. At least 5 patents have been taken out by gifted women. These
figures do not include the writings of reporters and editors, nor a va-
riety of miscellaneous contributions.
Our gifted women in the main, however, are housewives, and many
who also work outside the home do so more to relieve the monotony
of household duties or to supplement the family income rather than
through a desire for a serious career. There are many intangible kinds
of accomplishment and success open to the housewife, and it is debatable
whether the fact that a majority of gifted women prefer housewifery
to more intellectual pursuits represents a net waste of brainpower. Al-
though it is possible by means of rating scales to measure with fair accu-
racy the achievement of a scientist or a professional or business man,
no one has yet devised a way to measure the contribution of a woman
who makes her marriage a success, inspires her husband, and sends
forth well-trained children into the world.
As for the men, close to three and a half decades after their selection
solely on the ability to score in the top one percent of the school popu-
lation in an intelligence test, we find 86 percent in the two highest
occupational categories : I, the professions, and II, the semiprof essions
and higher business. Eleven percent are in smaller retail business, cleri-
cal, and skilled occupations. Farming and related occupations account
for nearly 2 percent and the remaining 1 percent are in semiskilled work.
The representation in the two highest groups is many times their pro-
146 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
portionate share, with a corresponding shortage of gifted representation
in the middle occupational levels. No gifted men are classified in the
lowest levels of the occupational hierarchy (service workers and slightly
skilled or unskilled laborers), whereas 13 percent of the total urban
population are in these categories.
A number of men have made substantial contributions to the physi-
cal, biological, and social sciences. These include members of university
faculties as well as scientists in various fields who are engaged in re-
search either in industry or in privately endowed or government-spon-
sored research laboratories.* Listings in American Men of Science 5
include 70 gifted men, of whom 39 are in the physical sciences, 22 in
the biological sciences, and 9 in the social sciences. These listings are
several times as numerous as would be found for unselected college
graduates. An even greater distinction has been won by the three men
who have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of
the highest honors accorded American scientists. Not all the notable
achievements have been in the sciences ; many examples of distinguished
accomplishment are found in nearly all fields of endeavor.
Some idea of the distinction and versatility of the group may be
found in biographical listings. In addition to the 70 men listed in
American Men of Science, 10 others appear in the Directory of Ameri-
can Scholars, a companion volume of biographies of persons with no-
table accomplishment in the humanities. 6 In both of these volumes,
listings depend on the amount of attention the individual's work has
attracted from others in his field. Listings in Who's Who in America?*
on the other hand, are of persons who, by reasons of outstanding
achievement, are subjects of extensive and general interest. The 31 men
(about 4%) who appear in Who's Who provide striking evidence of
the range, of talent to be found in this group. Of these, 13 are members
of college faculties representing the sciences, arts and humanities ; 8 are
top-ranking executives in business or industry; and 3 are diplomats.
The others in Who's Who include a physicist who heads one of the fore-
most laboratories for research in nuclear energy ; an engineer who is
a director of research in an aeronautical laboratory ; a landscape archi-
tect ; and a writer and editor. Still others are a farmer who is also a
*A detailed study of the vocational correlates and distinguishing character-
istics of scientists and nonscientists among the gifted men was made in 1952 under
the sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research and has been published in a sepa-
rate monograph^ and also appeared in an abbreviated version as an article in the
Scientific Americanos
THE FULFILLMENT OF PROMISE 147
government official serving in the Department of Agriculture ; a briga-
dier general in the United States Army ; and a vice-president and di-
rector of one of the largest philanthropic foundations.
Several of the college faculty members listed in Who's Who hold
important administrative positions. These include an internationally
known scientist who is provost of a leading university, and a distin-
guished scholar in the field of literature who is a vice-chancellor at one
of the country's largest universities. Another, holding a doctorate in
theology, is president of a small denominational college. Others among
the college faculty include one of the world's foremost oceanographers
and head of a well-known institute of oceanography ; a dean of a leading
medical school ; and a physiologist who is director of an internationally
known laboratory and is himself famous both in this country and abroad
for his studies in nutrition and related fields.
The background of the eight businessmen listed in Who's Who is
interesting. Only three prepared for a career in business. These include
the president of a food distributing firm of national scope ; the controller
of one of the leading steel companies in the country ; and a vice-president
of one of the largest oil companies in the United States. Of the other
five business executives, two were trained in the sciences (both hold
Ph.D.'s) and one in engineering; the remaining two were both lawyers
who specialized in corporation law and are now high-ranking execu-
tives. The three men in the diplomatic service are career diplomats in
foreign service.
Additional evidence of the productivity and versatility of the men
is found in their publications and patents. Nearly 2000 scientific and
technical papers and articles and some 60 books and monographs in the
sciences, literature, arts, and humanities have been published. Patents
granted amount to at least 230. Other writings include 33 novels, about
375 short stories, novelettes, and plays ; 60 or more essays, critiques,
and sketches ; and 265 miscellaneous articles on a variety of subjects.
The figures on publications do not include the hundreds of publications
by journalists that classify as news stories, editorials, or newspaper
columns, nor do they include the hundreds, if not thousands, of radio,
television, or motion picture scripts. Neither does the list include the
contributions of editors or members of editorial boards of scientific, pro-
fessional, or literary magazines. There have also been a sizable number
of scientific documents reporting studies in connection with government
148 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
research which are restricted publications. We do not have information
on the exact number or content of these.
The foregoing are only a few illustrations of conspicuous achieve-
ment and could be multiplied many times. They by no means represent
all of the areas or types of success for there is scarcely a line of creditable
endeavor in which some member of the group has not achieved outstand-
ing success. There are men in nearly every field who have won national
prominence and 8 or 10 who have achieved an international reputation.
The latter include several physical scientists, at least one biological
scientist, one or two social scientists, two or three members of the United
States State Department, and a motion picture director. The majority,
though not all so outstanding as those mentioned, have been highly suc-
cessful vocationally from the standpoint of professional and business
accomplishment as measured by responsibility and importance of posi-
tion, prestige, and income.
There is, however, another side to the picture. There are various
criteria of success, but we are concerned here with vocational achieve-
ment, and success has been defined as the extent to which the subject
has made use of his intellectual ability. This calls for a very high level
of accomplishment since the intellectual level is so high and not all have
measured up to it vocationally. Although not more than three or
possibly four men (again women are not included) could be considered
failures in relation to the rest of the group, there are 80 or 90 men
whose vocational achievements fall considerably short of the standard
set by the group as a whole.
Since the less successful subjects do not differ to any extent in in-
telligence as measured by tests, it is clear that notable achievement calls
for more than a high order of intelligence. After the 1940 follow-up a
detailed analysis was made of the life histories of the ISO most successful
and 150 least successful men among the gifted subjects in an attempt to
identify some of the nonintellectual factors that affect life success. The
results of this study indicated that personality factors are extremely
important determiners of achievement. The correlation between suc-
cess and such variables as mental health, emotional stability, and social
adjustment is consistently positive rather than negative. In this respect
the data run directly counter to the conclusions reached by Lange-
Eichbaum in his study of historical geniuses. 24 A number of interesting
differences between the two sub-groups were brought out but the four
THE FULFILLMENT OF PROMISE 149
traits on which they differed most widely were "persistence in the ac-
complishment of ends/' "integration toward goals," "self-confidence,"
and "freedom from inferiority feelings." In the total picture the great-
est contrast between the two groups was in all-round emotional and
social adjustment, and in drive to achieve. This study is fully reported
in The Gifted Child Grows Up?*
OUTLOOK FOR FUTURE ACHIEVEMENT
The careers of the gifted subjects, now in their mid-forties, are
pretty well set in their present courses. In a very few cases, there are
no higher rungs on the particular professional or executive ladder they
have climbed. But for most of the group, advances to greater levels of
achievement and more important roles can be looked for. Lehman 25
has shown that the median age at which positions of leadership are
reached has greatly increased in the last 150 years. In field after field
the increase has amounted to 8, 10, or even 12 years and numerous
positions of high-ranking leadership are most likely to be acquired and
retained from fifty to seventy years of age. Lehman has also shown
that in nearly all fields of intellectual achievement the most creative
period is between thirty and forty-five years. But here Lehman is con-
cerned with quality of achievement. Productivity as measured by quan-
tity is often greater after forty than before. And regardless of the merit
of one's work, the peak of recognitions, honors, and earned income is
usually not reached until the fifties.
On the basis of Lehman's data as well as on the evidence from their
own records, the peak of achievement for this group is not yet reached.
More than half were still under age 45 in 1955 and there was little evi-
dence of any slackening of pace. Whether the rise in the next 10 years
will be as steep as that between 1945 and 1955 is doubtful, principally
for the reason that they are so much nearer the top. The group has
made tremendous strides in the past ten or fifteen years. This is true
in every field and in every walk of life. There is almost no one who
has not improved his status, even though he may still be well below
the average of the group in terms of realizing his intellectual potential
in his vocational accomplishments.
We said some years ago, 36 that only a professed seer would venture
a statistical forecast of the future achievements of the group. However,
we did venture some predictions on the basis of the data to 1945, among
which were the following:
150 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
The peak of recognition for achievement will come much later, probably
not before another fifteen or twenty years have elapsed. Listings in Ameri-
can Men of Science may well be doubled by 1960, and listings in Who's Who
may be trebled or quadrupled by 1970. In the decade 1960 to 1970 there
should be several times as many holding positions of high responsibility as
in 1945, and several times as many of national or international reputation
in their special fields of accomplishment
These were indeed conservative estimates. Instead of the doubling
of listings in American Men of Science which was thought might take
place by 1960, the number has quadrupled, with 77 names (70 men and
7 women) compared to the 19 men and no women to 1945. The list
in Who's Who in Americans grown from 5 names (all men) to 33 (31
men and 2 women), an increase of more than six times rather than the
trebling or quadrupling cautiously predicted for the still-distant 1970.
In 1945 probably not more than a half-dozen had a national repu-
tation, and perhaps one was internationally known. By 1955 several
dozen at least have become national figures and 8 or 10 are known
internationally. Moreover, the group now includes three men who have
been elected to the National Academy of Sciences as compared with
only one at the earlier date.
It is hard to say in which fields the greatest advances will take place
in the next five or ten years. Business will certainly be one, and law
another. The scientists are probably nearer their peak than are the rest
of the group but even here there are a number of younger scientists
with great promise. Regardless of the degree of productivity yet to be
attained, the number of those winning special honors and distinctions
will increase. This is true because of the time lag between achievement
and recognition. Although American Men of Science listings are prob-
ably now close to their maximum, at least one and possibly two scien-
tists are so outstanding that eventual election to the National Academy
of Sciences can be predicted for them. There will undoubtedly be a
considerable increase in the number of Who's Who biographies but we
hesitate to estimate the ultimate number.
There are, however, a few fields, all dependent on special talent,
in which there has been a lack of outstanding accomplishment. These
are the fine arts, music and, to a lesser extent, literature. The group
has produced no great musical composer* and no great creative artist.
* An exception in the case of musical composer should be noted. This is a man
of rare creative genius who was not included in the statistics of this report because
his intelligence level was not definitely established in childhood. He is several years
THE FULFILLMENT OF PROMISE 151
Several possessing superior talent in music or art are heading univer-
sity departments in these fields and have produced some excellent origi-
nal work, but none seems likely to achieve a truly great piece of creative
work. There are a number of competent and highly successful writers
among the subjects but not more than three or four with a high order
of literary creativity. Perhaps it is not surprising, in view of the rela-
tively small size of our group, that no great creative genius in the arts
has appeared, for such genius is indeed rare. In any case these are the
only major fields in which the achievement of our group is limited.
SOME COMMENTS ON SUCCESS
Our discussion so far has been concerned with achievement of emi-
nence, professional status, and recognized position in the world of
human affairs. But these are goals for which many intelligent men and
women do not consciously strive. Greatness of achievement is relative
both to the prevailing patterns of culture and the individual's personal
philosophy of life ; there neither exists nor can be devised a universal
yardstick for its measure. The criterion of success used in this study
reflects both the present-day social ideology and an avowed bias in favor
of achievement that calls for the use of intelligence. It is concerned with
vocational accomplishment rather than with the attainment of personal
happiness. And the record shows that the gifted subjects, in over-
whelming numbers, have fulfilled the promise of their youth in their
later life achievements.
There are other criteria of success and other goals and satisfactions
in life, however, and in the biographical data blank the gifted men and
women have expressed their own opinions on what constitutes life suc-
cess. The final question in the blank was worded as follows : From your
point of mew, what constitutes success in lijef There was a wide range
of replies, often overlapping, and frequently a respondent gave more
than one definition. The definitions most frequently given fall into five
older than anyone included in the group, and when he was a child no satisfactory
IQ test had been devised. However, the senior author has followed his develop-
ment since 1910, when he was 13 years old, and has known him about as intimately
as any gifted subject tinder observation. He is an eminent musician who has pro-
duced hundreds of musical compositions, authored two books and scores of arti-
cles on musical theory ; invented new musical techniques, given recitals throughout
the United States and Europe ; lectured in leading American universities ; founded
and edited a musical magazine, and^won recognition as an authority on musicology
and primitive music. His compositions cover a wide range with respect to type,
theme, and technique. Many of his productions have been recorded ; several of his
orchestral selections are played by leading conductors ; ^ and^ some of his briefer
compositions are famous among musicians because of their
152 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
categories, each noted by from around 40 to 50 percent of the group
(with the exception of category c} . None of the other definitions of suc-
cess was mentioned by more than 15 percent, and only two by more than
10 percent of the subjects. The five most frequently mentioned defi-
nitions of life success are :
a. Realization of goals, vocational satisfaction, a sense of achieve-
ment;
b. A happy marriage and home life, bringing up a family satis-
factorily ;
c. Adequate income for comfortable living (but this was men-
tioned by only 20 percent of women) ;
d. Contributing to knowledge or welfare of mankind; helping
others, leaving the world a better place ;
e. Peace of mind, well-adjusted personality, adaptability, emo-
tional maturity.
We would agree with the subjects that vocational achievement is not
the only perhaps not even the most important aspect of life success.
To many, the most important achievement in life is happiness, content-
ment, emotional maturity, integrity. Even failure to rise above the
lowest rungs of the occupational ladder does not necessarily mean that
success in the truest sense has been trivial. There may have been heroic
sacrifices, uncommon judgment in handling the little things of daily
life, countless acts of kindness, loyal friendships won, and conscientious
discharge of social and civic responsibilities. If we sometimes get dis-
couraged at the rate society progresses, we might take comfort in the
thought that some of the small jobs, as well as the larger ones, are being
done by gifted people.
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3. BURKS, BARBARA S., JENSEN, DORTHA W., and TERMAN, L. M. Genetic
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153
154 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
17. HAVEMANN, ERNEST, and WEST, PATRICIA SALTER. They Went to Col-
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18. HENRY, A. F., and SHORT, J. F., JR. Suicide and Homicide. Glencoe,
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APPENDIX
APPENDIX
INFORMATION SCHEDULES OF 1950-52 AND 1955
The information blanks used in the 195052 field follow-up and in
the 1955 survey by mail were S*/2 by 1 1 inches in size. They are repro-
duced here in small type. The list that follows includes all the blanks
used at these dates except two : ( 1 ) a 4-page blank titled Information
About Child which called for developmental data on those offspring
of the gifted subjects who had been given a Stanford-Bmet test; and
(2) the Concept Mastery test.
Blanks reproduced:
General Information (1950)
Supplementary Biographical Data
Data on Rate of Reproduction
The Happiness of Your Marriage
Report of Field Worker
Information Blank (1955)
160
THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Gifted Children Follow-Up
Stanford University 1950
Date of filling out this blank....
GENERAL INFORMATION
Full name Birthdate Age
(Married women include maiden name)
Address Telephone
Name and address of relative or friend through whom you could be reached if your address should change
1. Education: Circle highest grade completed. High school 1234 College 1234 Postgraduate 1234
Since 1940 : College degrees Date(s) College attended
Special courses taken (extension, business, technical, professional, etc.)
2. Occupation and earned income (for income report annual salary before income tax deductions). If self-employed (doc-
tor, lawyer, business owner, etc.) give equivalent of salary, i.e., income less operating expenses.
Year Profession, job, or position Exact nature of work ^M^v^"" 6
1946.
1947 .
1948.
1949 .
Approximate current income from other sources (investments, trust funds, other assets)
3. Marital status (check) single ; married ; widowed ; separated ; divorced
Date of marriage Your age at marriage: Years Months
If this or a previous marriage ended in divorce, give date(s)
4. About your spouse: Name (maiden name of wife) Age of spouse at
marriage: Years Months Highest grade or college year of spouse's schooling
Diplomas or degrees received What school or college?
Present occupation Present annual earned income
His (her) avocational interests or hobbies
Occupation of his (her) father His (her) mother
Other information regarding husband (wife) that you think .would be of interest _
5. Offspring:
S Dtt of birth f? ll^VA^tl' Cause of death
APPENDIX: GENERAL INFORMATION (1950) 161
6. Your general health since 1945 :
a) Physical condition has been: (check) Very good ; good ; fair ; poor ; very poor
b) Illnesses, accidents, or surgical operations in recent years
Aftereffects
c) Has there been any tendency toward nervousness, worry, special anxieties, or nervous breakdown Date
and nature of such difficulties
How handled (psychiatric, psychoanalytic, or medical help, hospitalization, etc.) Give details .....
Present condition (free from difficulty, improved, no change, worse, etc.)
d) Use of liquor (check the statement below that most nearly describes you)
I never take a drink, or only I am a fairly heavy drinker ; I drink to excess rather frequently
on rare occasions. but do not feel that it has interfered seriously with my work
or relationships with others.
I am a moderate drinker. I
have seldom or never been -Alcohol is a serious problem. I am frequently drunk and at-
intoxicated. tempts to stop drinking have been unsuccessful
If alcohol has been a serious problem, what steps have been taken ?
7. Have you ever been arrested? (Do not include minor traffic violations) If so, give facts regarding each
instance, including date, charge made, and disposition o case
8. List any members of your family (parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters) who have died since 1940.
Date of death 1 Age at death 1 Caase of death
T
9. (a) Occupation of father, if living Special accomplishments, activities, honors,
or misfortunes of father in last few years - -
(b) Occupation of mother, if living Special accomplishments, activities, honors,
or misfortunes of mother in last few years
162
THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
10. Your brothers and sisters. Mark with cross (X) any half brothers or sisters. If deceased, mark D after name and give
age at death.
Age Amount of education
Yes or no
Marrl<d No of ch.ldren
Living Deceased
""" '" I
Have any brothers or sisters been divorced? If so, which (indicate if divorced more than once)
Special accomplishments, activities, honors, or misfortunes of brothers or sisters in recent years
11. (a) List your avocational interests or hobbies of recent years (e.g., sports, music, art, writing, collections, gardening,
woodwork, etc.) Underline each activity once to show moderate interest, twice to show very great interest.
Special instruction in any of above interests (amount and kind)
(b) What kind of reading do you prefer? (fiction, biography, poetry, etc.)
Give illustrations from your reading of the last year
What magazines do you read fairly regularly?
12. How regularly do you vote? (check for each kind of election)
National election: Always Usually Occasionally Rarely Never
State election: Always Usually Occasionally Rarely Never
Local election : Always Usually Occasionally Rarely Never
13. On national issues which of the political parties most nearly represents your leanings ? (check) Democrat Repub-
lican Socialist Communist Other (specify)
Have you held political office? (specify)
Other political activities
14. Rate yourself on the following scale as regards your political and economic viewpoint (Indicate by cross (X) on the
line)
Extremely
radical
Tend to be
radical
Average
Tend to be
conservative
Extremely
conservative
APPENDIX: GENERAL INFORMATION (1950) 163
IS. List memberships in clubs or organizations and offices held (e.g., labor unions, business or professional organizations,
social clubs, service organizations, etc.)
16. Record of your service activities (such as scout work, welfare, religious or church work, participation in community
and civic affairs, P.T.A., etc) Please do not be modest include offices held, etc
17. Any special honors, citations, awards, election to honor societies, "Who's Who" listings, etc? (specify) .
18. List your publications since 1940, if any. Give title, date, publisher, and type of materials (e.g., poem, short story, mu-
sical composition, plays, scientific or critical articles, etc.) If space is insufficient, attach further sheets listing such pub-
lications. ~
19. List other creative work accomplished (e.g., architectural, engineering, inventive, scientific, artistic, dramatic) . Note
any special recognition -
20. Give any other significant information regarding yourself or your family which has not been covered in this question-
naire, e.g. (a) marriage of children and birth of grandchildren ; (b) any special good fortune, accomplishments, or
change of status ; (c) any misfortunes or disappointments that have seriously affected your life, etc. (If space is inade-
quate, answer on additional sheet).
164 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Gifted Children Follow-Up
Stanford University, 1950-51
Date of filling blank Age
(Name to be cut out on this lia)
Name ..
(Married women include maiden name)
Code number...
SUPPLEMENTARY BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
Directions. The purpose of this questionnaire is to obtain certain kinds of biographical information that will throw light
on your personality development and on the factors that may have helped or hindered you in achieving your life goals. The
information called for is intended to supplement, clarify, and perhaps, in some cases, correct the information I have collected
from all sources over the many years I have known you. Your point of view regarding certain aspects of your early life on
which your parents and teachers have reported should be of special value.
Such information as you are willing to give me is, of course, for my confidential records. As soon as the blank has
reached me your name at the top of this page will be cut out and a code number will be substituted for it so that no assist-
ant who tabulates the data for statistical treatment will know the identity of any respondent.
Experience has shown that most persons can fill out the blank in an hour or less. If the time allowed does not permit
you to finish, you will be given an extra blank to take home with you which you can return to rne by mail with whatever
additions or amplifications you wish to make.
LEWIS M. TESMAN
1. Following are several aspects of parent-child relationships. Each trait or attitude is represented by a straight line, the
two ends of the line being the extremes. Place a cross (x) on the line where you think it should go to describe your re-
lationships with your parents correctly. The cross does not have to be placed at the small vertical bars ; put it where-
ever you think it should go.
Try to view your childhood and youth objectively. It should be remembered that frequently either end of the scale
might be considered favorable from an independent observer's standpoint ; hence the objective rating should be shown
even though such a rating might not seem complimentary from your point of view.
a) To what extent did you admire and want to emulate your parents ?
FATHER MOTHER
-I-
Slightly
Extremely A good deal Moderately Slightly Not at all Extremely A Rood deal Moderately
&) To what extent did you feel rebellious toward your parents?
A good d
Extremely A good deal Moderately Slightly Not at all Extremely A good deal Moderately Slightly
c) To what extent did your parents encourage your efforts toward initiative and independence?
FATHER MOTHER
Extremely A good deal Moderately Slightly Not at all Extremely A good deal Moderately Slightly
d) To what extent did your parents resist your efforts to achieve normal independence from them?
Extremely A good deal Moderately Slightly Not at all Extremely A good deal Moderately
Slightly
APPENDIX: SUPPLEMENTARY BIOGRAPHICAL DATA 165
e) To what extent did you feel rejected or that your parents' feeling toward you was unsympathetic?
FATHER MOTHER
Extremely A Eood deal Moderately Sl.ghtly Not at all Extremely A good deal Moderately SH K htIy Not at all
/) To what extent was there a feeling of deep affection and understanding between you and your parents ?
FATHER MOTHER
Extremely A Rood deal Moderately Slightly Not at all Extremely A good deal Moderately Slmhtly Not at all
g) How solicitous were your parents about you ; that is, inclined to "anxious" affection, overprotection, and planning
for you ?
FATHER MOTHER
Extremely A cood deal Moderately Slightly Not at all Extremely A sood deal Moderately Slightly Not at all
2. To show what your parents were like in their life as a whole, entirety apart from their relationships toward you or
their other children, please rate them on the following traits :
o) How self-confident?
FATHER MOTHER
Extremely More than Avc
average
b) How helpful?
FATHER
Extremely More than A\erajse Less" than MarfcedK Extreme!} More than Average Less than Markedly
average lacking average average lacking
-I h
c) How domineering?
FATHER
Extremely More than Average Less than Markedly Extremely More than Average Leas than Markedly
average average lacking average average lacking;
d) How friendly?
FATHER MOTHER
Markedly
ncly More than Ave
e ) How intelligent ?
FATHER
3. As an adult, do you find yourself becoming more like your father or mother than you were in adolescence ? (check)
Father Mother In what ways do you seem to be changing toward or away from your parents' person-
alities or attitudes? -
4. Additional comments regarding your parents or your relationships with them
166 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
5. Relationships within family :
a) Was there either unusually close attachment or marked rivalry or jealousy between you and any of your brothers
or sisters? (check) Attachment ; Rivalry.... ; If present, between whom?
Effect on you... -
Was there marked friction ktween any of the members of your family ? If so, which?
Effect on you
6. Socio-economic factors :
a) During your childhood and youth was there much financial difficulty in your home? Finances were: (check) Very
limited ; Limited ; Adequate ; Abundant
b) As regards social position, how did your parents compare with the parents of your schoolmates ? (check) Much
above average ; Somewhat above average ; About average ; Somewhat below average ;
Much below average
c) In your elementary and high-school days how successful vocationally did you consider your father? (check) Out-
standing. ; More successful than average ; About average ; Less successful than average ;
Quite unsuccessful
d) Comments: -
7. Other influences;
o) What persons other than your immediate family have markedly influenced your personality and development?
Give age at time and describe.,.. - .
Has any book or philosophy had a profound influence on you? Give age at time and describe
8. Your attitude toward religion :
a) Religious training in childhood and youth : (check) Very strict ; Considerable ; Little ; None
b) As an adult, to what extent are you religiously inclined? (check) Strongly ; Moderately ; Little
c ) What is your religious affiliation, if any _
d) Comments;
9. Physical factors:
o) Characterize the general level of your health during the earlier periods of your life as follows : (check)
Childhood: Very good Good Fair. Poor Very poor.....
Adolescence; Very good..... Good Fair Poor Very poor .
b) Did such factors as physical size, appearance, strength, agility, or physical handicap affect your personality, and
if so, in what way?~ ..... .. .
APPENDIX : SUPPLEMENTARY BIOGRAPHICAL DATA 167
c) What important illnesses or accidents have influenced your personality or attitudes? Explain
d) How would you rate yourself as to amount of physical energy in recent years? (check) Extremely energetic.
More energetic and active than average ; Average ; Less energetic and active than average.. .
Markedly lacking in energy, fatigue very easily
e} Comments:
10. Emotional and social factors:
a) As compared to your friends, to what extent were you interested in succeeding at the following? (Indicate by a
cross [x] on the line.)
) Competitive sports
Before
[ |
a R e!2
III 1
Age 12-20
|
i i
Since age 20
i i
je- A (rood Moder- Slightly Not at Ex- A giwd Moder- Slightly
mely deal alely all tremely deal ately
Not' at Ex- Agoud Moder- Shu
alt treraely <iea! ately
htly Not at
all
') Being a leader
Before
age 12
1 1
Age 12-20
I
I !
Since age 20
i i
i
x- A good Moder- Slightly Not at Ex- A good Moder- Slightly
mely deal ately all temely deal ately
Not at Ex- A good Moder- Sins'
all tremely deal ateiy
tly Not at
all
) Having friends
Before
age 12
1 1
Age 12-20
! !
,
Since age 20
1 f
t
x. A good Mfider- Slightly Not at E A Rood Moder- Slickly
mely deal ately all tremely deal ately
Not at Ex- A good Moder- Slightly Not at
all tremely deal ately all
) Making money
Before age 12
1 1 ! [
Age 12-20
!
Since age 20
f !
1
x- A good Moder- Slightly Not at Ex- A good Moder- Slightly
mely deal ately all tremely deal ately
Not at Ex- A good Moder- Slightly Not at
a! tremely deal ately all
) Being a social success
Before asc 12
I I 1 j j __ ......
Affe 12-20
! 1
j j
Since age 20
! 1
f
x- A good Moder- Slightly Not at Ex- A good Moder. Slsgh'tly
mely deal ately all tremeiy deal ately
Not 'at Ex- A good Moder- Slightly Not at
all tremely deal ately all
) School work
Before
I
age 12
I I
Age 12-20
1 1
|
Sine* age 20
1 !
I
x- Aeuod Moder- Slightly Not at Ex- A good Moder- Slightly
roely deal ately all tremely deal ately
Nut at Ex- A good Moder- Sligh
all tremely deal ately
tly Not at
all
) Did you as a
way did you
Effect on you
child or later feel that you were '
fed different^
different" from your classmates or associates ? If so, in what
c) In your childhood or adolescence how easy or difficult was it for you to enter into the social and other activities
of your classmates? (check) Had difficulty in making friends and being accepted ; Average in this respect
; Very adept socially
Comments:
168 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
d } Describe any circumstances, personal influences, or events that contributed to your social adjustment or lack of social
adjustment in childhood and youth
e) Either in childhood or later, have there been any major problems or marked difficulties related to sex?
Give age at time and nature of difficulty
11. Education:
c) Did your parents encourage you to forge ahead in school, were you allowed to go your own pace, or were you held
back? (underline)
&) What was the attitude of your parents toward your schoolwork? (check) Demanded high marks ; En-
couraged them ; Took them for granted , Showed little concern ; Were not interested
Comments : ,
f) Did your parents encourage you to go to college? Explain:
d) Did you have as much schooling as you wanted? If not, explain...
e) Comments:
12. Vocation:
o) What vocation did your parents think you should plan for? ,.
b) At about what age did you start thinking seriously about your lifework and what vocation(s) appealed to you
most at that time? .,
c ) Was there any conflict with your parents regarding your choice of career ? Were you greatly influenced by their
desires in your choice ? Give details
d) Other circumstances that influenced your final choice....,
e) Which of the following best describes your feeling about your present vocation? (check) Deep satisfaction and in-
terest ; Fairly content ; No serious discontent, but do not find it particularly interesting or satis-
fying ; Discontented but will probably stick it out ; Strongly dislike and hope to change
APPENDIX I SUPPLEMENTARY BIOGRAPHICAL DATA 169
/) If dissatisfied with your vocation, what vocation or vocations do you think would have suited you better?
g) Comments:
13. Overview:
a) On the whole, how well do you think you have lived up to your intellectual abilities 13 (Don't limit your answer to
economic or vocational success only.)
(Check) Fully ; Reasonably well ; Considerably short of it ; Far short of it ; Consider my
life largely a failure ; A total failure
&) Does your life offer satisfactory outlets for your mental capabilities? If not, explain
c) Factors which have contributed to your life accomplishment to date : (Check once all of the following that have had
a definitely helpful effect; double-check those that have been most helpful)
(1) Superior mental ability ; (2) Adequate education ; (3) Good social adjustment ; (4) Good
personality ; (5) Good mental stability ; (6) Persistence in working toward a goal ; (7) Good habits
of work ; (8) Excellent health ; (9) Lucky "chance" factors (specify) ;
(10) Helpful factors related to other people (e.g., spouse, children, friends, employer, etc.). Explain
(11) Comments:
d) Factors which have hindered life accomplishment to date : (check once each thing that has had a definitely hinder-
ing effect; double-check those that have hindered most).
(1) Inadequate mental ability ; (2) Inadequate education ; (3) Poor social adjustment ; (4) Pooi
personality ; (5) Mental instability ; (6) Lack of persistence in working toward a goal ; (7) Poor
work habits ; (8) Poor health, ; (9) Unlucky "chance" factors (specify) ,
(10) Hindering factors related to other people (e.g., spouse, children, friends, employer, etc.). Explain
(11) Comments: ,
e) From what aspects of your life do you derive the greatest satisfaction? (Check once those you regard as important,
double-check those most important.)
Your work itself ; Recognition for your accomplishments ; Your income ; Your avocational activities
or hobbies ; Your marriage ; Your children...,-. ; Religion ; Social contacts ; Community service
activities. ; Other
/) From your point of view, what constitutes "success" in life?
170
THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
14. Self-ratings on personality traits :
Instructions: Please rate yourself on all of the following traits. For each trait place a cross (x) on the line at the
place you think it should go to describe you correctly as an adult.
Try to view yourself objectively. Don't hesitate to rate yourself toward the extreme if that is where you belong.
The extremes do not necessarily represent clear-cut faults or virtues. Try not to think of the traits in terms of
"good" or "bad."
o) How happy is your temperament
I have an Have a more Usually less happy
extraordinarily happy disposition than others would be
happy and joyous than the average Average m the same
temperament /' person m this respect circumstances
Am strongly inclined
to look 01 tV
dark side of things
and to be unhappy or
discontented
v ' \ /
&) Are you moody? A
V
My moods are
decidedly changeable;
I don't have moods. , ,, .
I always feel about My moods are . Average My moods are
the same relatively permanent m this respect rather cnangeawe
alternate between
extreme sadness,,
'
,,,,"' A
\
c] How impulsive are you ?
yr '
,- * v >
Rather imoulsiv;:
Am trShfnf WS: Am more deliberate UlSSriSffiS?
wttbortcmudenagit wd IKS impulsive , Avenge because of npulve
from every angle than the average in this respect action
| r-|
Extremely impulsive,
alw.ijs ruining headlong
into thinRs
1
V\
\J
d) How self-confident are you?
1
Extremely self-confident; , ., ,, .
thtn R s that would cause Nearly always Less self-confident
tension and anxiety confident of myself. *> the aver aw;
in most people more so than the , Average am inclined to
never worry me average person '" this respect borrow, trouble
I .
Extremely lacking
in self-confidence;
suffer Rreatly from
anxiety and
apprehension-
.__ | -
\s
X
Y/
e) How emotional are you?
Am extremely Hnemotional, I tend to be
even in situation-! which unresponsive to
arouse strong emotions situations of an Aver
in others emotional nature in this r
Have a tendency to
age become over-emotional
espcct on occasion
Am over-emotional
to an extreme
degree
1 ' X . , -^
/) To what extent do you conform to authority and the conventions?
No tendency whatever
to resent or criticize
or in the form of Less resentfnl Average Am more rebellious
conventions than the avera K e in this respect than the avera B e
I I __ 1
Am inclined to be
extremely antagonistic
toward authority and
1 - 1 H^
V" ^
g) In general, how easy are you to get on with?
V
Extremely good natured,
alw^ld SeW Am easier to * on with Am harde: ; ta , gel : on with
kind of quarrel or than the average Average than the average
altercation person in this respect person
i _ . . ...-'..,. ,_ |- _ _.
Am rather inclined to be
irritable, quarrelsome, or
resentful at slight
provocation^ N
h) How much do you enjoy Social contacts? '
V,"
Am socially minded
to an extreme;
Am definitely, unsocial;
prefer to work and play
alone; refuse to be drawn
prefer^be^wfth people More socially minded Averase Less socially minded
most of the time than the average in this respect than the average
into group activities when
I can possibly avoid them
. 1
APPENDIX: DATA ON RATE OF REPRODUCTION
t) How persistent are you in the accomplishment of your ends?
171
I won't give up; Am more persistent
Average
Less persistent
than the average
Very easily deterred by
obstacles; give up in the
face of even trivial
every d
fficulty person
m this respect
person
difficulties
I
1
/" '
1
v t i
/) Do you have a program with definite purposes in terms of which you apportion your time and energy?
My life is completely
integrated toward a
' ' tegoal
-I-
I have a well-established
plan for my life and
usually keep to it
-I-
Aw inclined to drift and
to be satisfied with just
"getttn* by" . '
Drift entirely;
no definite life plan;
leave everything to
chance
k) How sensitive are your feelings?
Extremely lacking in
sensitiveness; thick-skinned;
almost impossible to
hurt my feelings
! - -
Less sensitive
than the average
1
Average
in this respect
More sensitive
than the average
Extremely sensitive
and tain-skinned.
Many things hart me
that others would not
, 1
/) To what extent have you suffered from feelings of inferiority?
Have rarely or never been
conscious of such feelings ;
I have a feeling of adequacy
which almost never , a
deserts m '
Have probably suffered
less from this cause
than the average
person
Have probably suffered
more from this cause
than the average
Inferiority feelings have
been the bane of my life;
have suffered agonies f rotn
then and still do
15. Supplemental data : Will you please add below any further data or explanations that will contribute to an understanding
of your life to date.
172 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Gifted Children Follow-up
Stanford University, 1950-51
Name of gifted subject
(Gifted women include maiden name)
Gifted subject's age Sex (M or F) Date of filling out blank
Age of spouse Code number of blank
DATA ON RATE OF REPRODUCTION
Explanation. The purpose of this questionnaire is to obtain information on factors which may have influenced the rate of
reproduction in the gifted group to the present time. Although numerous studies have been made of the number of chil-
dren born to college graduates and certain other groups, no serious investigation has been made of the jactors which have
influenced fecundity in a large group of intellectually superior persons. Such data on this group would be of great interest
to sociologists, psychologists, and students of population trends.
It will be noted that the questionnaire is divided into two parts ;
PART I-FOR PERSONS WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN MARRIED
PART II FOR PERSONS WHO ARE OR HAVE BEEN MARRIED
The data will be used for statistical purposes only, and it is hoped that returns can be obtained from as nearly as pos-
sible 100 percent of the group. The blanks will be kept in a separate confidential file. As soon as each blank is returned
PART I FOR SUBJECTS WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN MARRIED
1. How do you feel now about not having married? (Check one of following) :
No regret ; Mild regret ; Considerable regret ; Strong regret
2. Reasons for not marrying :
(Below are listed numerous possible reasons, each preceded by a dotted line. On the dotted line check once (V) each
reason that influenced you in any degree. Double check (VV) th e more important reasons in your case. Triple check
( VW) ^ e one most important reason)
(1) Feared marriage would interfere with my career
(2) \rttfZ?... Disappointment in love (unhappy love affair, etc.)
(3) Responsibility for support of parents or other relatives
(4) Poor physical or mental health
(5) Bad heredity in my ancestry
(6) m .k!L. Little or no interest in physical aspects of sex
(7) |,^^*/Positive dislike of physical aspects of sex
(8) ....irfi.JU-r' Preference for companionship of my own sex
(9) JU^-L^ Feelings of antagonism toward the opposite sex
(10) Parental opposition to my getting married
(11) Strong attachment between me and my father
(12) -i/.|/'... Strong attachment between me and my mother
(13) Marital unhappiness of my parents
(14) Just never found the right person
(15) Other reasons (specify)
APPENDIX: DATA ON RATE OF REPRODUCTION
173
PART II FOR SUBJECTS WHO HAVE MARRIED
1. Number of offspring :
(a) How many children have been born to you (live births) ? _.
(&) Number of children deceased (including still births) .......
(c) Number of wife's miscarriages (including both spontaneous and induced) _
2. Is the number of children born to you the number you originally wanted or planned to have ? Yes ; No
If answer is NO, how many did you want or plan for?
3. If life could be lived over, how many children would you try for?
4. Menopause status of wife (check) : Menopause not yet started ; Has begun but is not over ; Is apparently
over
5. Duration of marriage (if more than one, give data separately for each) :
*~&zsssr
Your *pouse* age then
(YnHtmoa.)
If narri**e ended, indicate how. (Deatiof
tpoosc, divorce, or separation)
If narroiK ended, rive dtte
(Yr. &o.)
First marriage
Second marriage
Third marriage
6. Give for each marriage the approximate number of months you and your spouse were away from each other for any
reason, such as war, long trips, impending break-up of the marriage, etc. Do not count any single separation that lasted
less than six months.
First marriage . * Second - - ', Third
7. Extent to which you and/or your spouse have practiced birth control (check) :
Never ; Rarely and only for brief periods ; Regularly for one or two years only ; Regularly for
more than two years ; Approximate number of years during which birth control methods were regularly used
(that is, total of all such periods in your married life, counting all marriages if there were more than one) :
8. If birth control methods were never used, or only for very brief periods, give reason (or reasons) why they were not.
174 TflE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
9. Reasons for any birth control practised for as much as one year (check once each reason that operated in any degree,
double check all important reasons, and triple check the one most important reason) :
To space pregnancies at appropriate intervals .......... ; Inadequate income .......... ; Housing difficulties .......... ; Husband's
health __________ ; Wife's health .......... ; Wife's preference for career .......... ; Necessary for wife to work in order to supple-
ment husband's income .......... ; Wife's dislike of pregnancy or fear of childbirth .......... ; Uncertainty due to war or
threat of war .......... ; Bad heredity on one or both sides .......... ; Unhappiness of the marriage .......... ; Husband no de-
sire for children .......... ; Wife no desire for children .......... ; Other reasons (specify) ......................................................
10. Did any pregnancies occur because of failure of birth control methods that were being used? .......... ; If so, how many?
11. Has it happened that a child was born to you after you had decided that your family was as large as you wanted?
Yes ; No If answer is Yes, how may times did this occur?
12. Has it happened that over a long period of time, when you and your spouse neither practised abstinence nor used
any birth control measures, no pregnancy resulted? Yes ; No If answer is yes, indicate the approximate
date (or dates) during which conception failed to occur :
From to ; From to ; From to
What do you think was the reason that no pregnancy occurred during such periods?
13. Have you or your spouse ever consulted a doctor to find out why pregnancy failed to occur? Husband has ;
Wife has ; Neither What was the doctor's opinion about failure of pregnancy to occur?
His opinion about husband -
His opinion about wife , ,
14. (a) How many siblings (i.e., brothers and sisters) have you had? (Include both living and deceased ; also include half
brothers and sisters)
(b) How many siblings has your spouse had, reckoned in same way?
(c) If your present marriage is not your first, give the number of siblings each previous spouse had
APPENDIX : THE HAPPINESS OF YOUR MARRIAGE 175
15. (a) Your religion (check): Catholic ; Protestant ; Other ; None
(b) Your spouses's religion : Catholic ; Protestant ; Other ; None
(c) If this marriage is not your first, state religion of each previous spouse
16. The happiness of your marriage :
(a) Do you and your spouse engage in outside interests together? (check) AH of them ; Most of them ;
Some of them ; Very few of them ; None of them
(&) Do you ever regret your marriage? (check) Frequently ; Occasionally ; Rarely ; Never
(r) Have you ever seriously contemplated either separation or divorce? (check) Yes No
(<f) Can you truthfully say that your spouse never does or says anything that irritates or bores you in the slightest?
(check) Completely true ; Almost completely true ; Questionable ; Untrue
(e) Can you truthfully say that when you have any unexpected leisure you always prefer to spend it with your spouse?
(check) Completely true ; Almost completely true ; Questionable ; Untrue
(/) Everything considered, how happy has your marriage been? (check) Extraordinarily happy ; Decidedly
more happy than the average ; Somewhat more happy than the average ; About average ; Per-
haps a little less happy than the average ; Definitely less happy than the average ; Extremely un-
happy
(g) How well mated are you and your spouse from the strictly sexual point of view? (check) No two could be more
perfectly mated sexually ; Extremely well mated ; Reasonably well ; Not well ; Very
badly
176 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Gifted Children Follow-up
Stanford University, 1950-51
Name of person filling out blank ..
(Name to be cut out on this tine)
Age of person filling blank Date of filling out blank .
Sex Code number of blank
MorF
THE HAPPINESS OF YOUR MARRIAGE
Note: This blank to be filled out by the husbands and wives of gifted subjects. Please be objective and frank. The
data will be regarded as highly confidential and will be used for statistical purposes only.
LEWIS M. TERMAN
(a) Do you and your spouse engage in outside interests together? (check) All of them ; Most of them ; Some
of them ; Very few of them ; None of them
(b) Do you ever regret your marriage? (check) Frequently ; Occasionally ; Rarely ; Never
(c) Have you ever seriously contemplated either separation or divorce ? Yes No
(d) Can you truthfully say that your spouse never does or says anything that irritates or bores you in the slightest?
(check) Completely true ; Almost completely true ; Questionable ; Untrue
(*) Can you truthfully say that when you have any unexpected leisure you always prefer to spend it with your spouse?
(check) Completely true ; Almost completely true ; Questionable ; Untrue
(f) Everything considered, how happy has your marriage been? (check) Extraordinarily happy ; Decidedly more
happy than the average *, Somewhat more happy than the average ; About average ; Perhaps a
little less happy than the average ; Definitely less happy than the average ; Extremely unhappy
(0) How well mated are you and your spouse from the strictly sexual point of view ? (check) No two could be more per-
fectly mated sexually ; Extremely well mated ; Reasonably well ; Not well ; Very badly
APPEXDIX : REPORT OF FIELD WORKER 177
REPORT OF FIELD WORKER
Name of subject . . ...
Name of field worker . ... .. . S*vv - - -
Informants . . . -
Address ... . .
1. Additional education or plans for further study.
2. (a) Occupation, (b) vocational and avocational interests, (c) recreation, (d) dynamics (drive, consistency of goal,
satisfaction with goals).
3. Special abilities: Nature, degree of success.
4. Attitude of subject toward gifted study, own giftedness, school acceleration, etc., leading possibly into discussion of
inferiority feelings (if any), feelings of adequacy and confidence, aspirations, etc.
5. Intellectuality of interests; impression of cultural level.
6. Health, nervous tendencies, emotional adjustment.
7. Marital status. Include education, occupation, and personality of spouse.
8. Family constellation. Include parents, offspring and others in household.
9. Home, neighborhood, other evidences of socio-economic status, including financial worries.
10. Special notes and comments. Total impression.
[Here followed two and one-half pages of ruled space for the field worker's
report on the ten items above.]
178 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
RATINGS OF SUBJECT
Subject
12345 1. Appearance
Spouse
12345
12345 2. Attractiveness
12345
12345 3. Poise
12345
12345 4. Speech
12345
12345 5. Vanity
12345
12345 6. Alertness
12345
12345 7. Friendliness
12345
12345 8. Loquacity
12345
12345 9. Frankness
12345
12345 10. Attention
12345
12345 11. Curiosity
12345
12345 12. Originalky 12345
APPENDIX: INFORMATION BLANK (1955)
179
Gifted Children Follow-up
Stanford University, 1955
Date of filling: out this blank
INFORMATION BLANK
Full name Age at last birthday
(Married women include maiden name)
Address Telephone
1. Education: List any courses taken and degrees or certificates received since 1950:
2. Occupation and earned income (for income report annual salary before income tax deductions). If self-employed (doc-
tor, lawyer, business owner) give equivalent of salary, i.e., income less operating expenses.
Year Profession, job, or position Exact nature of work I Earned income per year
1952
1953
1954
3. Approximate annual income, if any, of self and spouse from sources other than earnings
4. Any special honors, awards, offices held in clubs or organizations, biographical listings, etc. (specify)
5. Marital status (check) Single Married Widowed Separated Divorced
Date of marriage If this, or previous marriage ended in divorce, give date(s)
6. About your spouse: Name ~ His (her) age..
(Maiden name of wife)
Highest grade or college year of schooling What school or college?
Present occupation Present annual earned income
7. Offspring : (If any grandchildren please attach list with name, sex, and age of each)
Star DateofWrtli Schoolgrade j age it death Cause of death
8. Other information regarding your spouse or children that you think would be of interest
180 THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
9. Special accomplishments, honors, or misfortunes among near relatives (parents, brothers, sisters) since 1950. If any
deceased, give date and cause of death
10. Your general physical health since 1950 : (underline) very good good fair poor very poor .
Illnesses, accidents or surgery in recent years
After effects ..
11. Has there been any tendency toward nervousness, special anxieties, emotional difficulties, or nervous breakdown ? ..
Date and nature of such difficulties
How handled (medical or psychiatric help, hospitalization, etc.) Give details .
Present condition (free from difficulty, improved, no change, worse, etc.)
12. Add any further significant information regarding yourself or your family which has not been covered above or for which
the space provided was inadequate. Also list here any publications, patents, or other creative work since 1950.
INDEX
Abilities : compared with generality, 9,
16 ; degree of unevenness, 9, 16 ; early
indications of, 8; versatility shown
in occupations and avocations, 106,
107 ff. ; see also Special abilities
Acceleration in school, see School ac-
celeration
Achievement quotients : as related to
amount of schooling, 9 ; compared
with control group, 9 ; see also Edu-
cational histories
Achievement tests : 1921-22, 5, 8 f. ;
1928, 17
Achievement to 1955 :
appraisal of : educational achieve-
ments, 71 f., 144 ; vocational achieve-
ments, 106, 145 ff.
biographical listings: of men, 146 f.;
of women, 145 ; increase in, 149 f.
compared with generality, 145 i.
illustrations of achievement : men,
83 ff., 146 1, 150 f. ; women, 88 ff., 145
outlook for future achievement,
149 ff.
personality factors as determiners of
achievement, 148 f.
Sec also Success
Adjustment general, 28, 35 ff., 1481;
sec also Mental health and general
adjustment
Alcoholism, 21, 28, 143; as a mental
disorder, 40 ; definition, 45 ; incidence
compared with generality, 45 f. ; rat-
ings on use of liquor, 44 f. ; sex dif-
ference in, 50 f. ; subjects hospital-
ized, 40
American Men of Science: 145 f., 150;
listings of men, 146 ; listings of wom-
en, 88, 145 ; listing as indication of
achievement, 145 f.
Analogies test, 52, 55
Anderson, E. E., 153
Anderson, J. E., 153
Anthropometric measurements, 5, 6, 8,
34
Army Alpha Test, subjects selected
by, 3
A vocational interests, 107 ff. ; 117; as
related to special abilities, llOff. ;
number of, 107 ff. ; reading, 109 ;
leading hobbies, 108 f. ; as related to
age, 107 f.; sex differences in, 108;
see also Special abilities
Background of study : origin and pur-
pose, vii ff. ; plan of research, 1 ff.
Ballin, Marian, xiii
Bayley, Nancy, xii, 61, 153
Buchholtz, Shiela, xiii
Bunzel, B.. 44, 153
Burks, Barbara S., 153
Cady, V. M. f 11, 153
Careers of men and women, 73 ff . ; see
also Occupational status
Carnegie Corporation, v
Cattell, Jacques, 153
Character tests: scores of gifted and
control subjects, 5, 11 f., 16
Ciocco, Antonio, 153
Columbia Foundation, v
Commonwealth Fund, v, viii, 1
Community service: 107, 115f. ; recog-
nition and honors, 115
Composite portrait of typical gifted
child, 1922, 15 f.; 1927-28, 18 f.
Concept Mastery scores : as related to
Binet IQ, 57 ff., 143 f. ; as related to
education, 57 ff . ; as related to mar-
riage and divorce, 135 ; as related to
mental health and general adjust-
ment, 49 f . ; as related to radicalism-
conservatism, 125 f ., 131 ; method of
equating Forms A and T scores, 61 f. ;
of spouses compared with college
groups, 138; of subjects and spouses,
56 f . ; of various groups tested, 60 ;
sex differences, 57; test-retest com-
parisons, 61 ff., 142 ff. ; see also Con-
cept Mastery test ; Intelligence
181
182
THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Concept Mastery test, 23, 24, 25, 27,
52 ff,, as affected by schooling, 53 ;
correlation between Forms A and T,
55 f. ; description of, 52 ff. ; Form A
compared with Form T, 54 f. ; groups
tested, 59 1 ; normative data, 59 ff . ;
reliability and validity, 54 f. ; score
distributions of subjects and spouses,
56 f. ; sec also Concept Mastery
scores
Co-operation of subjects, xi, 20, 21, 25 f.
Cox, Catharine M., xi, 153
Crime and delinquency, 28, 46, 51
Data on Rate of Reproduction blank,
23, 24, 27, 172 fi.
Davis, Kingsley, 153
Delinquency, 21 ; sec also Crime and de-
linquency
Directory of American Scholars, 145,
146 ; listings of men, 146 f. ; listings
of women, 145; listing as indication
of achievement, 145 1
Divorce : incidence of, 133 ff. ; as re-
lated to education, 133 f. ; as related
to general adjustment rating, 135 ; as
related to intelligence, 135 ; as related
to scores on Marital Happiness Test,
135 f.
Doyle, Babette, xiii
Dublin, L. L, 28, 31, 32, 44, 139, 153
DuBois, Cornelius, 153
Early development, see Physical his-
tory
Education of gifted children, contribu-
tions to, xii, 72
Educational histories :
acceleration, 8, 21, 22, 72
achievement quotients, 9
achievement tests, 1922, 81; 1928, 17
age at completing high school, 72
age at entering school, 8
age at learning to read, 8
amount of education compared with
parents' attitude toward college at-
tendance, 71
amount of education, 64 ff.
amount of education as related to :
divorce, 133 f. ; education of parents,
71; income (men), 941; income
(women), 981; intelligence, 57 ff.;
marriage, 133 ; radicalism-conserva-
tism, 122
college grades, 67 f.
college graduation, 64 ff.
college graduation compared with
generality, 65
educational record appraised, 71 1,
144
failures in college, 68
graduate study and degrees, 65 ff.
graduate study compared with gen-
erality, 66 f .
graduation honors, 67 f.
major fields of study, 68
school achievement, 1928, 18
schooling of parents, 6, 71
subject's opinion on amount of school-
ing, 69
subject's report on parents' attitude
toward schooling, 70 1
See also School acceleration
Family background of subjects, 51;
see also Parents
Fertility: 1391; of group to 1945, 22;
as related to age of gifted women,
140 ; as related to age of wives of
gifted men, 140; see also Offspring
Field workers, xii, 56; reports of, 17,
20 1, 26, 45, 177 1
Follow-ups :
1927-28, 17ff.; data obtained, 171;
summary of findings, 18 f.
1936, 191
1939-40, 20 ff.; data obtained, 21;
summary of findings, 21 f.
1945, 21 ; summary of findings, 21 1
1950-52, 23 ff.; data obtained, 231;
inforrnation schedules, 23
1955, 23 ff.
Fund for the Advancement of Educa-
tion, v
Galton, Francis, 22
Gebhard, P. H., 154
General adjustment, see Mental health
and general adjustment
General Information Blank, 1950: 23,
24,27, 44, 107, 114, 119, 160 ff.
INDEX
183
Goldhamer, H., 42, 43, 153
Goodenough, Florence L, xii, 153
Happiness of Your Marriage Blank,
24, 27, 135 1, 176
Havemann, Ernest, 79, 80, 98, 117, 133,
134, 154
Health history, 6 ff. ; 1928, 18 ; sec also
Physical health
Height : reported by subjects, 1940, 34;
see also Anthropometric measure-
ments
Henry, A. F., 32, 154
Hirning, Alma L., 154
Hirning, J. L., 154
Hobbies, see Avocational interests
Homosexuality, 21, 47 if., 51, 143
Income, earned :
of men, 93 ff. ; as related to age, 93
f . ; as related to education, 94 f . ; as
related to opinion on extent abilities
lived up to, 104 ; as related to radi-
calism-conservatism, 1241; as re-
lated to vocational satisfaction, 104 ;
as a source of satisfaction, 105; by
occupation, 95 ff. ; comparison with
generality, 97 f .
of women, 98 f . ; as related to educa-
tion, 98 f. ; as related to radicalism-
conservatism, 125 ; as a source of
satisfaction, 105 ; by occupation, 99
Income: total family, lOOf. ; compared
with generality, 100 1 ; as related to
radicalism- conservatism, 125
Information About Child blank (off-
spring), 23, 24
Information Blank, 1955 : 24, 27 ff.
Information obtained :
1921-23, 4ff.
1927-28, 17 f.
1936, 19 f.
1939-40, 21
1945,21
1950-52, 23 ff.
1955, 24 ff.
Information schedules reproduced:
157 ff.
Data on Rate of Reproduction, 172 ff.
General Information (1950), 160 ff.
The Happiness of Your Marriage,
176
Information Blank (1955), 179f.
Report of Field Worker, 1771
Supplementary Biographical Data,
164ff.
Intellectual abilities: subjects opinion
on extent lived up to, 104 f.
Intellectual status :
as of 1940, 22, 54; as of 1950-52,
52 ff.
compared with general it}', 54, 60 f.
estimate of changes in: to 1928, 18;
to 1940, 54; to 1952, 61 ff.
maintenance of intellectual superior-
ity, xii, 61 ff. ; 143 1
Intelligence :
and amount of education, 57 ff.
correlation with desirable traits, 142
maintenance of, 61 ff. ; 143 f.
of offspring, 141 1
as related to general adjustment, 49 f.
as related to marriage, 135
as related to radicalism-conservatism,
1251
Sec aho Concept Mastery scores ; In-
tellectual Status ; Stanford-Binet test
Intelligence tests :
1921-22,21
1927-28, 171
1939-40, 52 ff.
1950-52, 52 ff.
Interest Blank, for subjects :
1921-22,5,91
1928, 17
Interests: avocational, 107ff. ; reading
interests, 109, 117; versatility of 107
ff.
Interests in childhood, 9 ff. ; in plays
and games, 10 ; reading interests, 1 1 ;
scholastic interests, 9 ; vocational in-
terests, 10; sec also Play interests
IQ : distribution of IQ's of offspring,
141 1 ; of subjects when selected, 2 1 ;
predictive value of, 144; subjects
with IQ 170 or above, 21, 125 1 ; sec
alstt Intelligence
Jellinek, K. M., 46, 154
Jensen, Dortha \V., 153
Juvenilia, literary, 181
Keller, Mark, 46, 154
Kinsey, A. C, 48, 51, 154
184
THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Labor organizations: activity in, 114;
membership in, 113 1
Landis, Carney, 154
Lange-Eichbaum, Wilhelm, 148, 154
Lehman, H. C, 149, 154
Lotka, A. J., 153
McNemar, Olga \V M xii
McXemar, Quinn, viii, xiii, 4, 154
Malzberg, Benjamin, 42 f., 154
Marital aptitude test, 22
Marital happiness test, 22, 23, 24, 47,
135 i.
Marital selection :
age difference between spouses, 137 f.
education of spouses, 58, 137
intelligence of spouses : 58, 138 ; com-
pared with college groups, 138 t
intermarriages in group, 139
occupational status of spouses, 137 f.
Sec also Marriage
Marriage :
age at, 132
incidence to 1945, 22
incidence by age to 1955, 132 ff.
incidence by amount of education, 133
marital happiness : scores on happi-
ness test, 135 f. ; rating on happiness
of marriage, 136; compared with
generality, 136
as related to intelligence, 135
Sec also Divorce; Fertility; Marital
selection
Marsden Foupdation, v
Marshall, A., 42, 43, 153
Marshall, Helen, xii
Martin, C. E., 154
Medical examinations, 4 f., 7 f., 34
Memberships in clubs and organiza-
tions, 107, 112, 117; kinds of, 113;
number of, 112
Mental adjustment, sec Mental health
and general adjustment
Mental deficiency, among offspring of
subjects, 142
Mental disease: 21, 28
age at hospitalization, 41
definition of, 41 f.
diagnosis of illness, 40
expectancy of, 42 f.
incidence compared with generality,
41 ff.
length of hospitalization, 39 f.
number hospitalized, 37 ff.
recovery from, 38 ff.
subjects hospitalized, 37 ff.
Sec also Alcoholism ; Suicide
Mental health and general adjustment,
xii, 28, 35 ff., 143
basis for ratings, 35
definition of ratings, 35 f.
incidence of mental disease, 21, 37 ff.
mental disease defined, 41 f .
ratings on mental health and general
adjustment, 36 ff.
as related to education, 49 f .
as related to intelligence, 49 f.
as related to marital status, 135
as related to radicalism-conservatism,
126 f.
Sec also Alcoholism ; Delinquency ;
Homosexuality ; Mental disease, Sui-
cide
Merrill, Maud A., 154
Minnesota Occupational Scale, 73, 80,
81, 87, 137
Mortality, 24, 28 ff. ; age at death, 29 ;
causes of, 29 f . ; compared with gen-
erality, 29 ; education of deceased
subjects, 32 f. ; incidence of, 29; IQ
of deceased subjects, 32; mental ill-
ness among deceased subjects, 38 ff . ;
occupation of deceased subjects, 33;
suicides, 30 ff.
Murphy, J. V., 153
National Academy of Sciences : elec-
tions to, 146, 150
National Intelligence Test, 2, 3, 4 ; sub-
jects selected by, 2 f.
National Research Council, v
Nervous disorders, sec Mental health
and general adjustment
Norris, Dorothy, 155
Occupational classification, sec Minne-
sota Occupational Scale, also Occu-
pational status
Occupational status :
appraisal of, 106, 144 ff.
gifted men : as of 1955, 73 ff, ; break-
down of occupational groups, 74 ff. ;
classification of occupations, 73 f. ;
compared with generality of male
185
college graduates, 79 ff . ; illustrations
of occupations, 77 ff. ; occupational
changes between 1940 and 1955,
81 ff. ; as related to income, 95 f. ; as
related to radicalism-conservatism,
123
gifted women : as of 1955, 85 ff. ; ac-
cording to education, 86 ; according
to marital status, 85 f. ; breakdown of
occupational groups, 87 f. ; classifica-
tion of occupations, 87; illustrations
of careers, 88 ff. ; as related to in-
come, 99 f. ; as related to opinion on
how well intellectual abilities lived up
to, 104 f. ; as related to radicalism-
conservatism, 124
Sec also Achievement to 1955 ; Voca-
tion
Occupations, childhood preferences, 10 ;
sec also Occupational status
Oden, Melita H., vii, 61, 153, 155
Offspring : incidence of twins, 140 ; in-
telligence of, 141 f. ; number of, 139 ;
number according to education,
140 f, ; number of adoptions, 142 ;
number of deaths, 140; number of
grandchildren, 142; sex ratio, 139 f.;
sec also Fertility
Page, J. D., 154
Parents : education of, 6, 71 ; home li-
brary, 6; income of, 6; listings in
ll'ho's Who, 6; occupations of fa-
thers, 5 f.
Patents, number awarded to 1955, 88,
145, 147
Phi Beta Kappa, 67 f., 144
Physical defects, 7 f., 34 f.
Physical health, 6 ff., 28 ff., 143 ; self-
ratings, 33 ff.
Physical history : early development,
7 f . ; birth history, 7 ; sec also Health
history
Play information, test of, 10 f.
Play interests, 16; as measures of in-
terest maturity, 10; as measures of
masculinity-femininity, 10 ; as meas-
ures of sociability, 10 ; test of, 5, 10
Political and social attitudes :
party preferences, 127 f.
political activities, 129 f. ; offices held,
1291
self-ratings on radicalism-conserva-
tism, 118 ff. ; as related to age, 121 f. ;
as related to education, 122 ; as re-
lated to general adjustment, 126 f. ;
as related to income, 124 1 ; as re-
lated to intelligence, 125 f.; as re-
lated to occupation, 123f. ; as re-
lated to political preferences, 128;
comparison of 1940 and 1950 ratings,
120 f. ; sex differences in, 120
summarized, 130 f.
voting habits, 129
Pomeroy, \V. B., 154
Pressey Group Test, 4
Psychological Corporation, 54
Public offices : election to public office,
129 f. ; appointive offices held, 1291;
sec also Political and social attitudes
Publications, number and kinds : for
men, 110, 1471; for women. 110, 145
Racial origin, 5
Radicalism-conservatism, sec Political
and social attitudes
Raubenheimer, A. S.. 11, 12, 154
Reading, 5 ; age at learning, 8 ; reading
interests as adults, 109, 117; reading
interests in childhood, 11
Religion: affiliations, 116; attitudes to-
ward, 1161, 118; religious training,
116; sex differences in membership,
1161
Reproduction, rate of, sec Fertility
Rockefeller Public Service Award, 130
School acceleration, 8, 21, 22, 72; and
graduate study, 72; as a method of
providing for the gifted, 72 ; progress
quotients, 8 1
Schooling, sec Educational histories
Scottish investigations, sex differences
in variability, 4
Sears, Robert, xiii
Selection of subjects: procedures used,
2 ff . ; tests used, 2 ff .
Semelman, Barbara B., 32 T 154
Service activities, 107, 114 ff., 118; con-
tributions to community life, 115;
memberships in community welfare
groups, 115; recognitions and honors
for,l 151
Sex adjustments, 22, 47 ff.
186
THE GIFTED GROUP AT MID-LIFE
Sex differences : in alcoholism, 46, 50 f. ;
in amount of schooling, 69 ; in avoca-
tional interests, 108 ; in church mem-
bership, 1161; in Concept Mastery
scores, 57 ; in incidence of crime and
delinquency, 51 ; in incidence of homo-
sexuality, 51 ; in incidence of mental
disease, 50 ; in IQ, 3 f . ; in IQ of off-
spring, 141 f. ; in mortality rate, 34 ;
in play interests, 10 ; in radicalism-
conservatism, 120; in ratings on
health, 34; in relationship of general
adjustment to education and intelli-
gence test scores, 51 ; in suicide rate,
32, 50 ; in vocational goals, 73, 106,
145
Sex problems, 28, 46 ff .
Sex ratio : among subjects, 4 ; of off-
spring, 139 f.
Shea, "Alice Leahy, xii
Short. J.F. Jr., 32, 154
Siblings, included in gifted group, 2, 6
Sigma Xi, 67 f., 144
Social attitudes, sec Political and social
attitudes
Social origin, 5
Spearman, Charles, 52
Special abilities: 110 ff., 150 i; in art,
111; in dramatics, 111; in music,
llOf. ; illustrations of special ability,
lllf.; as related to vocations and
avocations, 110 ff. ; writing as an avo-
cation, 110
Spiegelman, Mortimer, 153
Spouses, of gifted, see Marital selec-
tion
Stanford Achievement Test, 1922, 8 f.
Stanford-Binet IQ's: changes to 1928,
18 ; compared with Concept Mastery
scores, 57 f . ; distributions for off-
spring, 141 f. ; of subjects, 3; sec also
Intelligence
Stanford-Binet test, viii, 1 ff., 23, 24, 27,
61, 141 f.; subjects selected by, 3;
sec also Stanford-Binet IQ's
Strong, E. K., 154
Strong Vocational Interest Blank, 21 ;
Study : in adult education classes, 67 ;
in study groups, 109, 117 ; through in-
dependent reading, 109, 117
Subjects: basis for selection, 21; co-
operation of, xi 1, 20, 21, 25 f.; de-
ceased subjects, 24, 29 ff., 32; effects
of inclusion in group, 20 ; the group as
of 1928, 17; the group as of 1940,
20 i; the group as of 1952, 24; the
group as of 1955, 24; intermarriages
among, 139; IQ's of subjects, 3;
method of selection, 2 f . ; number lost,
24, 25 ; number of, 3 ; sex ratio among,
4; siblings and cousins in group, 6;
proportion living in California, 23,
32
Success : differences found in compari-
son of most and least successful men,
148 f.; measures of, 145, 148 ff,,
1511; subjects' opinion of what con-
stitutes success, 1511; see also
Achievement to 1955
Suicide, 30 ff. ; and mental disorder,
43 f . ; incidence compared with gen-
erality, 30 ff. ; sex differences in, 32,
50
Sullivan, Ellen, xii
Sumption, M. R., 155
Supplementary Biographical Data
blank, 24, 27, 47, 64, 68, 101, 116, 136,
151, 164 ff.
Sward, Keith, 53, 154
Synonym-antonym test, 52, 54 f .
Terman Group Test, 21; subjects se-
lected by, 2 i.
Terman, Frederick E., viii
Terman, L. M., vii ff., xi ff., 4, 19, 146,
153, 154, 155
Thomas Welton Stanford Fund, v
Thorndike CA VD test, 4
Trait ratings by parents and teachers,
12 ff. ; gifted and control groups com-
pared, 13 ff.
U.S. Census reports : current popula-
tion reports, 100, 155; statistical ab-
stract, 97, 155
Vocation: as a source of satisfaction,
105 ; subjects' feelings about, 101 ; vo-
cational achievements, 106; voca-
tional satisfaction as related to in-
come, 104; as related to occupation,
102 ff. ; see also Occupational status
Voting habits, see Political and social
attitudes
INDEX
187
Wallin, Paul, 154
Wechsler-Bellevue test, 61
Weight : reported by subjects, 1940, 34 ;
sec also Anthropometric measure-
ments
West, Patricia Salter, 80, 98, 117, 133,
134, 154
Whittier Scale for Grading Home Con-
ditions, 6
irho's Who in America, 145, 146, 147,
150, 155; listings of men, 1461; list-
ings of women, 145 ; listing as indica-
tion of achievement, 145 ff. ; parents
listed in, 6
\Volfle,Dael,65,66,71, 155
Woodbury, R. M., 7, 155
World Health Organization, definition
of alcoholism, 45, 46, 50
Writing : as an avocation, 110 ; sec also
Avocational interests
Yearbook of American Churches, 155
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