The examination of gifted children in terms of psychological, social, and emotional characteristics

The main aim of this study is to compare the emotional intelligence, psychological vulnerability, perfectionism, grandiose narcissism, ostracism, loyalty, and life satisfaction levels of gifted and talented children and their normal peers. In addition, another aim of the study is the examina the relationships between emotional intelligence, psychological vulnerability, perfectionism, grandiose narcissism, ostracism, loyalty, and life satisfaction in gifted and talented children. The fact that a few studies have been found in the literature in this regard is of value in terms of the literature contribution of the study. The participants of the study were 386 gifted and talented children attending SACs from different regions of Türkiye and also 411 peers typically developing. The Personal Information Form, the Rotterdam Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Psychological Vulnerability Scale, The Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale, The Revised Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, The Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Scale, The Ostracism Experience Scale for Adolescents, The Individual and Group Loyalty Scales, and The Life Satisfaction Scale were used for data collection. In the analysis of the data, parametric tests such as Independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis, Simple Linear Regression Analysis were used for data with normal distribution. Moreover, Bayesian Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling were performed. The criterion (p<.05) was taken as the significance level. In findings, gifted children's emotional intelligence scores, positive self-oriented perfectionism scores and life satisfaction scores were statistically significantly higher than their typically developing peers. On the other hand, the ostracism scores of gifted students were statistically significantly lower than their normal peers. One of the most interesting findings of this study is that grandiose narcissism was higher in gifted children and adolescents than in their normal peers. Psychological vulnerability, perfectionism and loyalty have mediating roles in the relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction. The study findings were discussed in the light of the literature.