Cultural Perspectives on Talent Development and Parenting

This manuscript-style dissertation presents four §essays that provide theoretical and empirical §insights on a systematic theme of cultural §perspectives on talent development and parenting. §Topics addressed include Western and Chinese §perspectives on concepts of giftedness, cultural §issues related to nature and nurture, and parenting §influence on talent development.§§The first essay reviews Western and Chinese §literature on giftedness and introduces a §preliminary Chinese model of talented performance. §The second essay presents a reflective review of §Confucian philosophy on learning and achieving, §examines its influence in China and other Asian §countries, and discusses its implications for the §education of gifted and talented children. The third §essay explores the influence of parenting beliefs §and practices on children s talent development §through a specific perspective of Chinese American §families with gifted children. The last essay §investigates parenting beliefs and practices of some §Nobel Prize winners. A summary of the four essays §with a focus on the links between the topics among §these essays is presented at the end of the §dissertation.