Depression, Self-Esteem and Perceived Peer Acceptance Reported By Children Enrolled in a Gifted Program
The current study was designed to investigate the relationship between depression, self-esteem, and perceived peer acceptance for children in a regular, public school setting and children enrolled in two public school programs for the gifted. The group of participants enrolled in a full-time gifted program was too small to be included in statistical analyses. Students in a part-time gifted program reported significantly less depression and higher self-esteem than children in the control group. Also, gifted boys evidenced significantly higher perceived peer acceptance than gifted girls and nongifted boys. These findings are discussed in light of two models of depression: social comparison combined with Beck, Rush, Shaw and Emery's (1974) cognitive theory of depression and Lewinsohn's (1974) behavioral model of depression.
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