DWELLING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE CURVE: AN EXPLORATION OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING OF PARENTS OF GIFTED CHILDREN A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology) of the The Australian National University by Natalie Anne Rimlinger © Copyright by Natalie Anne Rimlinger 2016 All Rights Reserved DECLARATION This thesis describes original research undertaken in the Department of Psychology at The Australian National University. Apart from the usual support and advice provided by my supervisor, Dr Phillipa Butcher, the ideas and research detailed in this thesis are solely my own, except where otherwise indicated. To the best of my knowledge, any theories and techniques that are not my own have been properly acknowledged within the text. The work contained in this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree at any other institution. __________________________ Natalie Anne Rimlinger March 2016 2 “The greatness comes not when things go always good for you. But the greatness comes when you’re really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes. Because only if you’ve been in the deepest valley can you know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.” Richard M. Nixon 3 Dedicated to my Dad - Tony de Bont There is no doubt in my mind that this thesis is now completed because of your continued support, gentle encouragement, unwavering patience, wise counsel, and tough love. Thank you for believing in me. Nat 4 In memory of Dr Glenison Alsop of the CHIP Foundation. Thank you for ‘passing the baton’ to me Glen. I wish that you were here to see the finished product. And in loving memory of Bert Hagel for giving me the push in the direction that I needed right when I needed it. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the patience, instruction, and guidance of my chair and supervisor, Phillipa Butcher. While your input has been priceless and appreciated, it was your belief in me and my project I cherished the most. To my advisor, Joan Webb, thank you for your clinical insight, your friendship, and your ongoing support and advice. To Linda Bilich, thank you for joining my panel and keeping me sane during most of the clinical placement part of my degree. Your direction and friendship was precious. To Michael Smithson – who always willingly answered my questions, never made me feel stupid, and gave me even more rabbit holes to run down. I will miss our conversations greatly. Thank you Jay Brinker for telling me to “grab all you can first go”. Without your suggestion I would not have the depth in the data that I was privileged to collect. To the staff at the Research School of Psychology, ANU, especially Caroline Twang, for your help through the years. To my office buddies, Shaun Goh and Iris Carter, for the stimulating chats, shared frustrations, and 100% inter-rater reliability. To my dear friend Michele Martin who keeps putting me back together physically, listens to me blubber, and hands me tissues when I need them. To Bert Hagel who in so many ways helped me find my feet and set me on an incredible path. To Darryl Bounty. Huzzah Dazz! I think the Tard’s done OK for a Year 10 dropout eh? To Fiona Smith for helping me enter the world of all things gifted and for being a silent supporter of everything I have done for all these years. To the Thesis Whisperer and team who invited me to attend the very first #ANUTBC2014 – I would not have made it without that weekend. Here’s to a #shittyfirstdraft. Thank you to the parents who chose to participate in this research. Your stories have touched me in ways I will never be able to fully describe. My only hope is that I am able to make a difference in your lives at some point, no matter how small. To Tony and Jenny de Bont, my parents – thank you for your love, patience, and support. It might have taken me a while but I got here in the end. To my #swolemate, Erik Rand, who has done more for me physically and mentally than I could ever express. I honestly cannot find words to say how I feel about you. To my husband, François, and my children, Amy and Emalee Rimlinger. I could not have made it through this process without your belief, assistance, tolerance, love, and support. You mean the absolute world to me. 6 ABSTRACT Research has shown that parenting a child who is exceptional is difficult. Gifted children by statistical definition are exceptional and therefore, the experience of their parents should be an area of potential concern. The existing literature has largely overlooked the psychological wellbeing of the parents of gifted children. It has highlighted the concerns of the parents about their child, however the impact of these concerns on the parents’ psychological wellbeing has not been investigated systematically. Further, much of the literature has explored the lives of gifted children and their family using qualitative methods. This makes it difficult to compare the experiences of the children and parents to normative samples and to then draw conclusions as to whether there are measurable differences between the populations In a cross-cultural (Australian and USA) study, parents who considered their child gifted were asked to complete an online survey. The behavioural characteristics of gifted children were examined with a commonly used standardised psychological measure of child behaviours. The parents of the children reported higher levels of a range of problematic behaviours including conduct, emotional difficulties, peer problems, and hyperactivity/inattention, and lower scores on prosocial behaviours. When twice exceptional children were removed from the analysis the results remained largely unchanged. In both countries, parents reported a moderate level of confidence in their child’s teacher and a moderate degree of satisfaction with the frequency of contact and nature of their relationship with their child’s teacher. Across all aspects of school experience as investigated by this study, the majority of parents were ambivalent. 7 Problematic child behaviours have been shown to be negatively associated with parental psychological wellbeing and results showed this was true in the current sample. The parents completed standardised measures of mental health and parenting stress. They reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and higher scores on parenting stress. Multiple regressions showed that child behaviour was a key predictor for both measures of parental psychological wellbeing. Child conduct problems were strongly associated with parental anxiety. For parenting stress child conduct was again a significant predictor as were peer problems and poor prosocial behaviours. Lower levels of trust in the child’s classroom teacher were also a significant predictor of increased parenting stress. Again, removal of parents of twice exceptional children from the analysis had little impact on results. Findings of psychological distress in parents that was associated with their children’s problematic behaviour suggest a need to investigate the wellbeing of both parents and children more deeply. The high frequency of behaviour problems in the children suggests a need to broaden the definition of “gifted” so that it encompasses social, emotional, and intellectual characteristics. The findings also raise the question whether standardised psychological measures developed for the full range of intellectual ability are appropriate for the assessment of the social and emotional needs in this population. 8 CONTENTS DECLARATION ................................................................................................................ 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ 6 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ 7 CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................ 9 List of Tables..................................................................................................................... 15 Table of Figures ................................................................................................................ 17 CHAPTER 1 Overview and Aims ................................................................................... 18 What is known about the concerns of parents of gifted children ............................. 22 Theoretical Framework - Bioecological Theory of Human Development ............... 26 Definitions of Gifted ................................................................................................. 31 A Holistic Definition of Gifted ................................................................................. 34 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 2 Methodology .............................................................................................. 38 Recruitment ............................................................................................................... 38 Appropriateness of Design ....................................................................................... 39 Measures ................................................................................................................... 40 Parent, family, and child sociodemographics questionnaire. ........................... 40 Open answers. .................................................................................................