I think there may be a selection bias in the study, because the Target group was kids who were identified by their parents as gifted. Maybe a percentage of the kids were not gifted (say, as defined by objective measures), and the label of gifted was something these kids could never live up to. I'd like to see the study repeated with kids identified as gifted by tests, perhaps multiple tests, to assure the validity of the Target group.
That was my thought as well. The quote in the OP stated that these kids were ided as gifted primarily without any testing to support that contention. I do believe that there can be some harm to making assumptions that are not supported with data and kids who aren't gifted, but are being pressured to be high achievers b/c their parents have a need for them to be gifted for whatever reason, are likely to suffer some emotional fall out.
