The Roles of Inferiority Feelings, Self-Coldness, and Self-Compassion in the Stress and Anxiety Experiences of Gifted Adolescents

Literature indicates a need for a better understanding of the psychological processes behind the stress and anxiety experiences of gifted adolescents. Using mediation analyses, this study aimed to reveal if inferiority feelings have direct and indirect roles in the anxiety and stress experiences of a Turkish sample of 644 gifted adolescents (334 females and 310 males). The results indicate that inferiority feelings are associated with increased stress through increased self-coldness and decreased self-compassion, and with increased anxiety through higher self-coldness. The results also identify inferiority feeling as a significant predictor of stress anxiety, self-coldness, and self-compassion. By providing insight into how inferiority feelings, self-coldness and self-compassion function in the stress and anxiety experiences of gifted adolescents, the results of this study can help parents, researchers and practitioners better address mental health problems in this population.