ACHIEVEMENT BARRIERS OF GIFTED WOMEN FROM FIVE GROUPS

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ACHIEVEMENT BARRIERS OF GIFTED WOMEN FROM FIVE
GROUPS

• Jo Beth Brizendine, Ed.D., Dean Of Instruction,
• Clear Creek High School, League City, Texas
• Genevieve Brown, Ed.D., Dean, College of
  Education
• Beverly J. Irby, Ed.D., Chair Professor
• Educational Leadership and Counseling Department
• Dianne Reed, Associate Professor
• Educational Leadership and Counseling Department
• SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY
• American Educational Research Association Annual
  Conference 2008

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

• Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences
  (1993)
• alternative view of intelligence from
• traditional IQ score
• framework to consider the broad range of
  individual of individual competencies
• pluralistic notion of intelligence to account for
  individuals diverse abilities both to pursue
  various domains of knowledge and to create new
  ones.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK (cont.)

• Gardner pointed out seven basic intelligences
• 1. linguistic
• 2. logical-mathematical
• 3. spatial
• 4. musical
• 5. bodily-kinesthetic
• 6. personal- interpersonal and intrapersonal
• 7. naturalistic and existential
• Note naturalistic and existential intelligences
  were not analyzed in this study.

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METHODS

• This study used a phenomenological
• multiple-case design.
• The sample included 30 young women of various
  ethnicities representing six of Gardners
  multiple intelligences.
• Replication logic was a key component of the
  design.
• Interviews were employed as the data collection
  tool.

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METHODS (cont.)

• Seven stages of data collection and analysis
  included (Kvale, 1996)
• thematizing
• designing
• interviewing
• transcribing
• analyzing
• verifying
• reporting

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METHODS (cont.)

• Snowball chain sampling was utilized.
• Knowledgeable people were asked to recommend
  gifted young women to participate in the study.
• One researcher contacted the participants to set
  up interviews, obtained consent, and took notes
  and audiotaped each interview.

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METHODS (cont.)

• Abbreviated names were used for all participants
  to protect the identities of the participants.
• Three additional researchers triangulated the
  data by reviewing 320 pages of interview
  transcripts, and making notes on possible themes,
  patterns, and conclusions.

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METHODS (cont.)

• Data Sources
• Young women who identified themselves as African
  American, Anglo, Asian, Hispanic, and Middle
  Eastern and were recommended as gifted in one of
  the six areas of Gardners intelligences were
  included n the study.
• (one of each ethnic group in each of the six
  areas)

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METHODS (cont.)

• Data Sources (cont.)
• The young women ages were 18-22 years.
• They were selected from 18 U.S. colleges and
  universities.
• They were identified by people other than
  themselves (i.e. professors, directors,
  acquaintances or friends).

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METHODS (cont.)

• Data Sources (cont.)
• Thirteen interview questions were used in
  face-to-face or telephone interviews.
• The questions were validated by a focus group
  comprised of five 18 year old women who
  identified themselves as African American, Anglo,
  Asian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern.

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METHODS (cont.)

• Data Sources (cont.)
• The young womens areas of study included
• radio and television, mechanical engineering,
  music education, business, English, biochemistry,
  statistics, accounting, communication design,
  biomedical design, biology, political science,
  chemical engineering, anthropology, art,
  government, social studies, print journalism,
  economics, and chemistry.

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RESULTS

• Both internal and external barriers to success
  were identified by the gifted young women.
• Five themes emerged under the internal barriers
  category.
• Four themes emerged under the external barriers
  category.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Internal Barriers
• The following themes emerged
• perfectionism
• shyness
• lack of confidence
• procrastination
• burnout.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Perfectionism
• Many gifted women face perfectionism (Reis,
  2002).
• Perfectionists do not feel satisfaction because
  they never seem to do things well enough
  (Hamachek, 1978).

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Perfectionism
• Healthy perfectionists are aware of their need
  for order. They understand that mistakes are a
  part of learning (Schuler, 1997).
• Dysfunctional perfectionists concern over
  mistakes result in a high state of anxiety,
  self-doubts, procrastination, and worry (Schuler,
  1997).

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants responses on perfectionism
• If I messed up on a sheet of paper, I would
  tear it up and start all over again, in writing
  my name, which is pretty eccentric
• In my work habits, sometimes Im a bad
  overachiever. I like try to get things perfect. I
  suffer from anal-retentiveness.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Shyness
• Shyness as an internal barrier, received mention
  by 10 out of 30 participants.
• They mentioned shyness as an internal barrier in
  their developing years.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants responses on shyness
• Whenever I was in junior high and elementary
  school, I was very shy. I wouldnt even have
  conversations with people or order my own food at
  restaurants.
• I am very anti-social. Being anti-social is not
  very good. If I werent, Im sure it would
  improve my relations with people . It would help
  me learn more.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Procrastination
• Procrastination was a barrier that persisted with
  these young women, perhaps as a result of a
  degree of perfectionism.

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RESPONSES (cont.)

• Participants responses on procrastination
• I put things off until it comes down to the
  deadline.
• I am so lazy. There is nothing I cant put off
  for a little bit longer.
• If I did an assignment five days in advance and
  I didnt have pressure, I wouldnt be as good at
  it.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants responses on burnout
• This participant had to step back and take a
  break from her artistic work
• I am very serious about my work. But I push
  myself and I would get tired of it. I burned
  myself out just after high school because I was
  very tired of it. I think it was so much. I
  consumed so much of it and then I burned myself
  out.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• External Barriers
• The following themes emerged
• financial
• others expectations
• programming limitations
• medical problems.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Financial Barriers
• Some young women experienced considerable
  financial difficulties.
• More than one young woman faced financial
  challenges in paying for college expenses.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants response to financial barriers
• My mom was a single mother and although she got
  started off in corporate America, she got laid
  off, and our finances dropped dramatically. It
  caused a lot of stress. Just dealing in a poor
  environment, I had drug dealers living across the
  street. People getting shot. Living on the street
  corner. It was a hard environment to grow up in.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Others Expectations
• Expectations of others can be a powerfully
  motivating force.
• However, when these expectations were perceived
  as stereotypes or gender roles, they became
  barriers.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Others Expectations (cont.)
• The stated or unstated message of stereotypical
  ethnic or gender expectations was powerful and
  potentially destructive.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants responses to others expectations
• As a minority student in an engineering program,
  Kendra felt others had distinct expectations of
  her.
• When I got to college, I realized I truly am a
  minority. So its a constant pressure. The guys
  would joke about it. They sometimes remind you
  that you are a girl-- you are the minority. So
  its constant pressure. You always want to do
  well because you dont want people to think
  youve got it just because they needed a woman.
• Also, at a school with so few minorities, its
  added pressure because youre not only trying to
  do well for yourself, youre trying to do well
  for your whole race. If you dont do well in a
  class, the professor may feel that Black people
  just cant cut it in this class and they cant
  cut it in this school. So its more pressure
  because youre representing your whole race, even
  though you dont want to.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants responses to others expectations
• Brandi also felt pressure as a minority female,
  both at her magnet high school and in her
  extracurricular activities.
• I did feel like being academically motivated
  separated me from the majority of the Black
  students. I didnt attend the same parties they
  did I didnt do the outside of school activities
  they did. I was afraid that a lot of people
  thought that I was stuck up because I was always
  with a different group of friends in AP
  classes. But that wasnt the case. Its just
  that I didnt get to know them until after I
  graduated.
• At some out of school conferences, other
  students would say things like We for sure dont
  want any rap music or music like that. They
  would all look at me and I thought, Well, how do
  you know I listen to rap music? It didnt make
  any sense. They were just negative toward Black
  culture.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Programming Limitations
• The gifted young women perceived educational
  curricular programming as an external barrier,
  citing some gifted programs and high school
  science programs as a deficit in their education.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants responses to programming
  limitations
• I feel like I was not as prepared as some of
  the people in my university. We didnt have a lot
  of good teachers. The good teachers we did have
  always left. I feel like I could have gotten
  better teaching. I could have got better help.
  Its helped me to understand that theres a need
  for better teachers in inner city schools,
  especially math and science. I feel like weve
  been left behind.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants responses to programming
  limitations
• I was part of the gifted program, but they
  never really did anything. They gave us a test to
  see if we were good enough to be in the GT
  program but afterwards we never heard anything
  from them. After I left the school, they didnt
  even offer it to students anymore.

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RESULTS (cont.)

• Participants response to medical problems
• One young woman described her recent struggle
  with mental illness.
• Being diagnosed as bipolar has been a
  challenge. They switched me on so many different
  meds because a lot of them werent working. One
  of the meds made me gain 60 pounds. I was so
  depressed with bi-polar. Its just crazy. You go
  through so many ups and downs. But I have been
  symptom-free for a year and a half because now I
  am on good meds.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

• American society has traditionally marginalized
  the achievement of gifted young women (Arnold,
  Noble, Subotnik, 1996).

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY (cont.)

• This topic is significant because of Americas
  demographic changes and growing diversity.
• Gifted women have been socialized to minimize or
  hide their gifts and talents, to lower their own
  expectations, to discount their own skills and
  accomplishments (Reis, 1998).

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY (cont.)

• Girls continue to face problems, such as teachers
  whose styles reinforce the dominance of boys and
  favor male interactional styles, curricula that
  reflect inequities, and a lower female
  participation in math and science courses
  (Sanders Nelson, 2004).

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY (cont.)

• Research on various ethnicities of gifted young
  women is very limited therefore, this study can
  make an important contribution to the literature.
  
• To date, there has not been a study that
  investigated gifted young women from a
  multiple-intelligence and multiple-ethnic
  perspective.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY (cont.)

• A close in-depth examination of the educational
  experiences of several young women can add
  richness and specificity to the research base and
  can assist school leaders in addressing these
  issues.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY (cont.)

• According to Brizendine (2006), it is dangerous
  to generalize about women of color based solely
  on race or ethnicity. Some issues, however, may
  be common to gifted women of color who have been
  socialized in the United States. It is vitally
  important for the talents of gifted young women
  to be recognized and encouraged so that barriers
  to their achievement can be overcome.