{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T13:12:50Z","timestamp":1777900370536,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777593600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Intell."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Equity in gifted education remains a persistent international challenge, particularly regarding the \u201cexcellence gap\u201d in advanced achievement and long-term attainment. This study investigates the supports and barriers shaping the talent development of socio-economically disadvantaged gifted students in Taiwan. Using a retrospective narrative inquiry, we analyzed the life stories of 25 alumni from the \u201cBright Minds Award Program,\u201d a long-term initiative providing financial aid, mentorship, and enrichment opportunities for high-ability learners from low-income households. Findings indicate that participants often displayed early academic promise, yet their developmental trajectories were continuously negotiated under structural constraints (limited material and cultural resources, restricted access to domain-specific cultivation, and opportunity gaps across educational transitions) and the psychosocial burden of poverty (shame, stigma management, and identity strain). Drawing on the Actiotope Model of Giftedness, we identify how exogenous educational capital (e.g., scholarships, information brokerage, mentoring networks) and endogenous learning capital (e.g., resilience, self-regulation, goal persistence) interact to stabilize\u2014or destabilize\u2014developmental pathways. A novel contribution is the emergence of \u201cActing Middle Class\u201d as a coping mechanism through which participants navigated social stigma and the hidden curriculum of elite educational settings. We argue that effective intervention requires not only resource provision but sustained \u201ceducational scaffolding\u201d that is psychologically safe and institutionally stigma-sensitive. Implications are discussed for talent development research, school practice, and equity-oriented policy designs aimed at preventing talent attrition and promoting developmental justice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jintelligence14050072","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T10:15:27Z","timestamp":1777630527000},"page":"72","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Supports and Barriers in the Talent Development of Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Gifted Students: A Retrospective Narrative Inquiry"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5195-7510","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chia Chao","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Gifted Education Resources in Elementary Schools, National Taiwan Normal University, New Taipei City 236, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.3102\/0013189X019005002","article-title":"Stories of experience and narrative inquiry","volume":"19","author":"Connelly","year":"1990","journal-title":"Educational Researcher"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Olszewski-Kubilius, P. 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