| Summary: | The focus of this paper is the quantitative synthesis of findings in selected
literature on longitudinal gifted studies using 'meta-analysis.' In the existing
literature there is a plethora of conflicting findings regarding occupational and life
satisfaction of gifted individuals. Thus, a meta-analysis investigated the integration
of the statistical results of these divergent findings. Nineteen studies were
analyzed. The resulting 41 statistical results were transformed into a common
effect size measure (ES), correlation coefficient. Using Validity Generalization
Methodology, the corrected mean effect size for the relationship between giftedness
and satisfaction was .14. When life and occupational satisfaction were separated
into two separate effect size estimates, life satisfaction had a corrected mean ES of
.10, and occupational satisfaction had a corrected mean ES of .19. No significant
difference existed between men and women participants. The relationship of these
two measures with giftedness was dependent on a number of variables. In order of
strength they include: location of sample studied, location of sample drawn, and
gender and age at time of study. Additionally, special school programs for gifted
individuals had a mean effect of .10 and a standard deviation of .1. The implications
of these findings are discussed in terms of current theories of intelligence and
suggestions for further educational investigations are addressed.
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