Difference in moral intelligence dimensions, leadership skills, achievement motivation and self-efficacy among Saudi middle schools' gifted students

Objective: To evaluate the difference in moral intelligence dimensions, leadership skills, achievement motivation and self-efficacy among Saudi Middle Schools' Gifted Students. Methods: This study included Saudi middle schools' gifted students in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. It assessed the difference in moral intelligence, leadership skills, achievement motivation and self-efficacy among the three levels of Saudi middle schools' gifted students. Validated and piloted self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 122 out of 733 male gifted students in 89 schools in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Data were analysed using SPSS. Results: The study included 46, 42, and 34 first, second and third level middle school students respectively. In the moral intelligence scale, self-control (4.225 ± 0.463), tolerance (3.899 ± 0.515) and respect (3.666 ± 0.535) had the highest score. Saudi middle schools' gifted students were rated moderate in the leadership skills, achievement motivation and self-efficacy scales. The third level students demonstrated significantly (0.010) higher mean score (176.24 ± 17.280) than the first (174.98 ± 20.004) and second (164.95 ± 16.420) level students in the leadership skills scale. The overall score in the moral intelligence dimensions varied significant (P = 0.009) across the three levels. The third level had the highest mean rank (74.12), followed by the first (63.32) and the second (49.30) level. However, differences in self-efficacy and achievement motivation were not significant. Conclusion: Third level Saudi middle schools' gifted students demonstrated significantly higher mean score in the moral intelligence, and leadership skills scales. There were no significant differences in self-efficacy and achievement motivation between the three levels.