Choices gifted women made in education, personal life, and career: A qualitative study in the Netherlands

Abstract

From a developmental perspective, gifted girls could benefit from the life experience shared by gifted women about what influenced them to make life choices. This study focuses on Dutch gifted women to explore what were facilitating or hindering factors in making those decisions in education, personal life, and career. Interviews with 10 participants, from ages 18 to 62, provided in-depth descriptions of participants’ personal experiences. They clearly stated what they wanted to achieve and how, whether it was in school, career, or in personal life. Overall, this study is in line with previous research. When making career choices, gifted women valued intrinsic motivation, differentiation, and the quality of the work. When they made choices, significant adults, a supportive partner, and active behaviours in seeking guidance were helping factors whereas the feeling of being different, lack of suitable education, and others’ judgment were hindering factors. Some implications are also given.