This master's thesis deals with anxiety in gifted students in primary school. The main purpose is to analyse to what extent is anxiety present in gifted students, which types of anxiety are most common among gifted students, how they cope with it and which coping strategies they use.
The theoretical part first introduces giftedness and the characteristics and needs of gifted students. This is followed by the definition of anxiety, covering its characteristics, types of anxiety disorders and risk factors. The main part focuses on the theoretical background of the experience of anxiety in gifted students and their coping with anxiety. Finally, possible coping strategies are described.
A mixed-method research were conducted in the empirical part of the thesis, using the descriptive method. The Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) was used. 171 ninth-grade students from seven primary schools in the Coastal-Karst region participated in the study. Three school counsellors from these schools were interviewed.
The data collected through questionnaires was statistically processed. To test the hypotheses, t-test for independent samples and Cohen's d were used to measure the effect size. The answers obtained from the interviews were content analysed. The quantitative research results showed that gifted students have higher levels of anxiety compared to students not identified as gifted. Girls experience anxiety in a similar way, regardless of their identified giftedness. There were no differences in the experience of anxiety between male and female gifted students. Based on the results of the qualitative research, counsellors report that anxiety is highly present, but they do not observe differences between students. The most frequently mentioned coping strategies are conversations, breathing and relaxation techniques, techniques for coping with possible outcomes, minimisation techniques, event evaluation and affirmations.
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