The effect of the perceived social support level on self-esteem in gifted and talented children

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of the perceived social support level on self-esteem in 3th, 4th and 5th grade students who were identified as gifted and talented in accordance with the executions and regulations of Science and Art Education Centres (BİLSEM) of Ministry of National Education and who were attending to Antalya Science and Art Education Centre. 73 pupils (32 girls and 41 boys), attending to the 3th, 4th and 5th grades of Antalya BİLSEM during 2012-2013 academic year, participated in the research. Self Esteem Lower Scale of Rosenberg Self Esteem Inventory which was developed by Morris Rosenberg (1963) and was adapted to Turkish by Çuhadaroğlu (1986), Perceived Social Support Scale developed by Yıldırım (2004) and Personal Informaton Form developed by the researcher were used to collect the data. SPSS 17.00 was used for the statistical analysis of the data. Whether the perceived social support scores of the students affected their self-esteem level or not was tested through regression and variance analysis. It was understood that there was a significant difference between self-esteem levels of the gifted and talented students related to the general social support scores and social support scores perceived from the parents (p>0.03, p>0.04), There was no significant difference between self-esteem levels related to the Social Support Points perceieved from the friends and from the teacher (p>0.07, p>0.97). According to the results of the regression and variance analysis which was applied to analyze the effects of sex, parents' education levels and the financial situation of the family on self-esteem by checking the gifted and talented students' social support levels perceived from the parents, friends, teacher and perceived general social support, the following findings was obtained: There was no significant difference between self-esteem levels related to the sex according to the social support scores perceieved from parents, friends, teachers and perceived general social support (p>0.45, p>0.55, p>0.45, p>0.74). On the other hand, there was a significant difference between self-esteem levels related to mother's education level according to the social support scores perceieved from parents, friends and perceived general social support (p<0.00, p< 0.00, p<0.04) while there was no significant difference between self-esteem levels related to mother's education level according to the social support points perceieved from teacher (p>0.36). There was no significant difference between self-esteem levels related to father's education level according to the socail support points perceieved from parents, friends, teachers and perceived general social support (p>0.55, p>0.27, p>0.71, p>0.85); There was a significant difference between self-esteem levels related to the financial situation of the family according to the social support scores perceived from parents, friends and perceived general social support (p<0.03, p<0.01, p<0.03) while there was no significant difference between self-esteem levels related to financial situation of the family according to the social support scores perceieved from teachers ( p>0.15). As a result, self-esteemlevels of the gifted and talented students were effected by the social support scores perceieved from the parents while they were not effected by the social support scores perceieved from the friends and from the teachers. Also, the self-esteem levels of these gifted and talented children were effected by their mothers' education levels and financial situation of the families. It was seen that fathers' education levels and the sex did not effect the self-esteem levels of the gifted and talented students. Key Words: Gifted, talented, perceived social support, self-esteem.