INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED PRESCHOOLERS PERCEIVED COMPETENCE - RELATIONS TO MATERNAL ATTITUDES, CONCERNS, AND SUPPORT

The relations of maternal attitudes, concerns, and support networks to intellectually gifted children's perceived competence, as measured by the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (Harter & Pike, 1984), were examined in a sample of 28 middle-class, Caucasian mothers and their gifted preschool children. Mothers' attitudes toward independence and strictness, their concerns, and support network variables (i.e., perceived helpfulness of the net work, willingness to seek help from the network, and the amount of con tact the child had with network members) were found to be significantl y related to multiple dimensions of children's perceived competence. I mplications for theory, research, and practice address understanding g ifted children's perceived competence in relation to parental correlat es.