Abstract
In the paper I present results of a multiple-case study of adolescents who were identified as extraordinarily gifted in school, sports or music during their childhood. I examine the ways in which they construe their giftedness in childhood and how they relate these narratives to their perceived agency in the domain of their giftedness.
Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information about the respondents' development and were subsequently processed by thematic analysis. Three distinct themes related to childhood giftedness emerged from the analysis.
Some respondents experienced intensive pressures to achieve during childhood which led to subsequent feelings of burnout and withdrawal from the area of their giftedness. Other respondents talked about their ability to outperform their peers very easily and without effort as children.
Later on, they described themselves as lacking self-regulation skills and being unable to achieve on comparable level as before. The respondents who perceived themselves as successfully controlling their future development described their childhood giftedness in terms of motivation, such as persistence, effort and looking for the most suitable learning strategies.
The implications for the successful long-term development of giftedness are discussed.