Investigating the Spiritual Vitality and Communication Skills of Gifted Students and Graduates Entering the University before the Age of 15

Today, intelligence is generally understood as the ability to understand and to adapt to the environment using inherited abilities and learned knowledge (Pahor et al. 2019). Humans are incredibly intelligent creatures and we rely on our intellectual abilities every day. Although intelligence can be defined and measured in countless ways, our overall intelligence as a species makes us incredibly unique and allows us to thrive for generations to come (Rohl 2020).Intelligence has been defined or conceptualized in different ways, some of them are compatible with each other but others are contradictory. Of course, intelligence is a real phenomenon that can be explained, but people's perceptions of that phenomenon are completely different, just as different perceptions are imagined in the same scene from the movie.  Accordingly, the purpose of this research was to "examine the spiritual vitality and communication skills of gifted students and graduates who entered the university before the age of 15".

The method of the present research in terms of the goal and in terms of the implementation method according to the nature of the subject (comparison of spiritual vitality between gifted students and graduates who entered the university before the age of 15 with those who studied without leap) was fundamental and causal-comparative research, respectively. Causal-comparative research refers to research in which the researcher examines the possible causes of its occurrence with regard to the dependent variable. Given that the data collection was done at a specific point in time, hence the current research was cross-sectional. Documentary and library methods were used to examine the theoretical aspects of the research, and the basis of data collection was a questionnaire. In fact, by using these scientific and conceptual bases as well as the information obtained from the questionnaires, the subject were explained. The statistical population of the present study included two groups. A group of gifted students and graduated who entered the university before the age of 15, and another endo-group of people who studied without leaps. To identify the gifted students, the National Elite Foundation, the Educational Talent and Inquiry Organization were referred through coordination and identification with the help of the Ministry of Science. Also, the normal group included all the people who entered the university at a normal age or were in the same range in terms of age and academic progress (average) and working in a job environment with the gifted in the current conditions. In this research, non-random sampling method and available were used to select the people of the sample group. A number of 32 gifted students and graduates who entered the university before the age of 15 were selected. 32 students and graduates who were almost the same as the first sample in terms of year of entry, average and job type were selected.The criteria for entering the research were as follows: above average intelligence (at least two standard deviations), entering university at the age of 15, studying in a national university and academic success, and having no history of physical or mental illness, especially after Entering the university that had overshadowed or delayed the individual's performance. In the present study, the researcher collected research data from Afrooz's spiritual vitality questionnaire (2015) and Bar-On's social-emotional intelligence questionnaire in addition to the personal profile form, (Adults) (1980) used. First, we used library studies to study the subject, then using a non-random sampling method, 32 talented students and graduates who entered the university before the age of 15 were selected.  Next, questionnaires of general characteristics were distributed among them. After completing the questionnaires, they were collected and then coded and analyzed in SPSS software version 22, finally.

The results of the analysis showed that the average of spiritual vitality, communication skills and their subscales in both groups were significantly higher than the expected average. Mean and standard deviation were used to describe spiritual vitality and its scales in two groups. And to determine the level of spiritual vitality and its scales in two groups, considering that the answers to each question in the questionnaire were in the form of four options, which were scored as completely disagree = 0 to completely agree = 3, the expected average score in each question was equal to 1.5, therefore, the comparison of the mean of each sub-scale and the total score, the number of questions multiplied by 1.5, and the one-sample t-test was used.

In the first hypothesis of the research that "spiritual vitality of gifted students and graduates who entered the university before the age of 15 is different from normal people.", Because the independent variable in two levels (gifted and normal groups) and the dependent variable , i.e. spiritual vitality, were not significantly different from the normal distribution in the two groups; therefore, the average spiritual vitality and communication skills in the gifted group were significantly higher than the normal group.