
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 25, 1994                   TAG: 9412270118
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STUDY: TALENTED GIRLS DON'T WANT TO BE `SUPERWOMAN'

Many talented young girls are concealing their abilities and lowering their aspirations because they're worried they can't have it all, according to a new University of Virginia study.

The study found that many girls may reject challenging careers in favor of lifestyles they perceive as less demanding, said Carolyn Callahan, director of the university's National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.

The center's study tracked 18 high-ability girls in grades six through eight throughout Virginia over the past two years. The girls reflected a range of socioeconomic classes, Callahan said.

She said many of the girls saw their mothers or other female role models struggling with the ``Superwoman syndrome,'' juggling the demands of job, household, child care and community activities.

``Despite seeing themselves as very, very able young women, some of them were questioning career aspirations,'' said Callahan, an education professor. ``They were worried it would be hard to do it all.''

Callahan said she was unaware of any similar study on gifted boys, but she thinks young men would not express the same concerns about the toll of work on their lives.

``The young women are seeing role models of women that are terribly stretched by trying to do it all,'' she said. ``I think that young men don't see the same pressures in the men they choose to model.''

Most of the girls also felt that to succeed means having to be selfish, Callahan said. One girl in the study, for example, refused to participate in a summer learning program because her friend was not accepted.

And although well-qualified and interested in demanding fields such as math or science, many girls said they would prefer helping professions such as teaching or social work.

Another behavior that may inhibit the potential of gifted girls is a tendency to hide their talents, Callahan said. She said girls usually did not want to be singled out in class and often attributed their academic success to luck.

Callahan said there were several exceptions, mostly those in which girls were encouraged by their parents and teachers to be confident in their abilities and good problem solvers. The results also may send a message to mothers that it's important to find ways to find balance.

That way, ``a young woman can say, `this is possible,' ''Callahan said.

She said one pleasing result of the study was that few of the girls based their aspirations on what they thought would be attractive to young men.

``They seemed to be fighting the peer pressure to conform,'' she said.

by CNB