Sylvia Says…

Traits of achievers and underachievers

Dear Dr. Sylvia,
What kinds of skills or traits do successful, achieving kids have?

Successful achievers do have some characteristics in common, which I'll be happy to describe, but I would ask you not to take them too literally because I don't know the ages of your children. Some typical characteristics for younger children can be indicators of problems for older children. For example, younger children have more problems coping with frustration or paying attention than older children in whom these same symptoms might signal a problem. Furthermore, children may appear to be achievers before they have had to cope with challenge and might change their pattern in the face of challenge.

It is probably easier to describe the characteristics of underachievers first. Underachievers, although they may be very capable students, do careless work or don't hand it in at all. They give up easily, complain about boredom, and have few interests related to learning and school. They may be inattentive, have poor study habits, and sometimes have behavior problems. They are often negative about school and teachers, ad they tend to blame others for their school problems. They may have uneven abilities, e.g., they are very good at some skills and below average in others, as they tend to avoid doing whatever they find difficult, but are willing to do easy tasks. They are often disorganized, specifically related to areas of learning in which they have low confidence. They avoid competitive activities unless they are fairly certain they can win. Some are also perfectionistic and self-critical. They may procrastinate or not hand in assignments because they are not satisfied with the quality.

You can see that underachievement is readily observable, but the characteristics of achievers are a little trickier to determine. The characteristics you might see in achievers include responsibility, perseverance, interest, initiative, curiosity, pride in their work, attentiveness, a positive attitude, confidence, good study habits, and respect for teachers and parents. They recognize the relationship between their efforts and outcomes and can function well in competition; that is, they enjoy winning but can cope with losing experiences without quitting or exhibiting poor sportsmanship.

Many children and even adults show some characteristics of underachievement from time to time. That's unlikely to cause a problem. It's only when underachieving characteristics predominate that parents should be alert to recognizing a need for help.

From SYLVIA RIMM ON RAISING KIDS: A Newsletter to Help Parents and Teachers, Volume 13, Issue No. 1, 2002: used with written permission of the author.

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Last update: 8/14/2006 11:12:04 AM