Using the ElemenOE with parents to identify Dąbrowskian overexcitabilities among precocious children

Year 2025, Volume: 12 Issue: 1, 1 - 22, 30.06.2025

Keri Guılbault , Hilary Leithauser Kinsey Genheimer

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15395909

Abstract

This exploratory study examined the prevalence of five forms of overexcitability in children between the ages of four and eight who were identified as gifted by a standardized intelligence test score of 130 or greater. The study included 132 parents of gifted children in the United States who completed an online version of the ElemenOE questionnaire, an instrument with 30 items measuring overexcitabilities on a 5-point Likert scale. Results revealed intellectual overexcitability as most prevalent (M = 4.39), with three forms (intellectual, psychomotor, and emotional) exceeding the threshold for classification as "high" overexcitability. Males scored higher in psychomotor overexcitability, and while females scored higher in the remaining four OEs, only the differences in intellectual and imaginational overexcitabilities were statistically significant. Chi-squared analyses revealed significant associations between gender and both imaginational and psychomotor high scores (>3.5). While children with disabilities (15.5% of the sample) showed higher mean values across all overexcitabilities, particularly in sensual (3.75 vs. 3.34) and emotional domains (4.27 vs. 3.98), these differences were not statistically significant. Neither age nor level of giftedness showed significant correlations with overexcitability scores, though profoundly gifted children demonstrated notably less variability in scores across all domains. Strong positive correlations emerged between certain overexcitability pairs, particularly emotional-sensual and emotional-psychomotor. These findings contribute to the literature on overexcitabilities among younger gifted children and provide insight that may be used to guide education, school counseling, and parenting practices to support the development of gifted youth. Results demonstrate that the ElemenOE is an effective tool for parents and caregivers to identify students' overexcitability profiles.

Keywords

Dąbrowskian overexcitabilities, gifted children, quantitative, elementary school

Ethical Statement

We have no conflicts of interest to disclose. This study was approved by the Johns Hopkins University institutional ethics review board.

Supporting Institution

This research was made possible in part by generous funding from the William and Sylvia Cohen Early Childhood Education Fund, a Johns Hopkins School of Education endowment. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the Cohen Family.

Thanks

We would like to thank the parents who participated in this study for their time and support, as well as the organizations that shared recruitment information about this study.

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