According to Ken Seeley (1998), there are myriad definitions of underachieving gifted students. All these definitions suggest an incongruence between potential (usually as measured by IQ) and performance (especially in daily school work and/or grades).

Butler-Por (1987) suggested using the following procedures to look for giftedness in underachievers:

• Looking at discrepancies between high cognitive reasoning abilities and ordinary schoolwork mastery.
• Finding differences between high-interest topical reading and failure to complete general reading assignments.
• Observing task persistence at high levels of performance on topics of interest compared to ordinary or low motivation on schoolwork.
• Using teacher evaluation, student evaluation, and parent evaluation of strengths and weaknesses.

According to Reis & McCoach (2000), the following are common characteristics of gifted underachievers:

PERSONALITY:

• Low self-esteem, low self-concept, low self-efficacy.
• Alienated or withdrawn; distrustful, or pessimistic.
• Anxious, impulsive, inattentive, hyperactive or distractible; may exhibit ADD or ADHD symptoms.
• Aggressive, hostile, resentful, or touchy.
• Depressed.
• Passive-aggressive trait disturbance.
• More socially than academically oriented. May be extroverted. May be easygoing, considerate, or unassuming.
• Dependent, less resilient than high achievers.
• Socially immature.

INTERNAL MEDIATORS:

• Fear of failure; may avoid competition or challenging situations to protect self-image.
• Fear of success.
• Attribute successes or failures to outside forces; exhibit an external locus of control, attribute successes to luck and failures to lack of ability; externalize conflict and problems.
• Negative attitude toward school.
• Antisocial or rebellious.
• Self-critical or perfectionistic; feeling guilty about not living up to the expectations of others.

DIFFERENTIAL THINKING SKILLS/STYLES:

• Performs less well on tasks that require detail-oriented or convergent thinking skills than their achieving counterparts.
• Score lower on sequential tasks such as repeating digits, repeating sentences, coding, computation, and spelling.
• Lack insight and critical ability.

MALADAPTIVE STRATEGIES:

• Lack goal-directed behavior; fail to set realistic goals for themselves.
• Poor coping skills; develop coping mechanisms that successfully reduce short-term stress, but inhibit long-term success.
• Possess poor self-regulation strategies; low tolerance for frustration; lack of perseverance; lack self-control.
• Use defense mechanisms.

POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES:

• Intense outside interests, commitment to self-selected work.
• Creative.
• Demonstrate honesty and integrity in rejecting unchallenging course work.