Desenvolvimento ocupacional de estudantes com características de dotação e talento

Abstract

The students with characteristics of giftedness and talent (G&T) generate personal and social benefits when they turn their superior ability into occupational skills. In so doing, they need to make career choices that increase the possibility of academic and professional success and exploits of his top potential. Drawing upon Social Cognitive Theory of Career Development and Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent, this study aims to compare personal, contextual, and experiential factors that might affect the behavior of career choice of students with and without characteristics of G&T throughout High School. The sample comprised 275 adolescents of both sexes. The participants answered a questionnaire on socioeconomic, educational and intentions regarding career choice variables and four instruments to assess career interests, selfefficacy for occupational activities, self-efficacy to career choice and outcome expectations/values. Adolescents with G&T (9.1%) most often engage in extracurricular activities that stand out in certain dimensions of the investigated socio-cognitive variables and, mostly, among participants who have higher levels of these. As for the development of these cognitions, the target group showed levels of professional interests and beliefs of self-efficacy higher than their peers since the start of High School. Regarding the values, however, discrepancy was detected only in the last series. The findings of this research can contribute to understanding the occupational development of G&T students and mainly provide support for planning and implementing interventions in the field of occupational guidance appropriated for this group and other students.