Psychological constellations assessed at the age of 13 indicate eminence decades later.
A team from the USA wanted to understand whether particular math/scientific and verbal/humanistic ability and preferences, modelled using gifted 13-year-olds, could predict their educational achievements at 23. In addition, they examined whether these same people would go on to attain distinct forms of ‘eminence’ 35 years later. Eminence was defined as having accomplished something rare by the age of 50, such as having a high-impact career as a professor, Fortune 500 executive, a judge, leader in biomedicine, award-winning writer etc. The first study consisted of 677 intellectually gifted youth assessed at age 13. Their accomplishments were assessed again 35 years later. The second study was an analysis of 605 top science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduate students, assessed on the same predictor constructs early in graduate school and again after 25 years. In both samples, the same ability and preference parameter values identified those who ultimately distinguished themselves from their peers in terms of life pursuits.
doi.org/10.1177/0956797618822524
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