What is it about?

The Overexcitabilities Questionnaire-II (OEQII) is designed to measure the five overexcitabilities in Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration. In this study I found that OEQII scores CANNOT be compared across gender groups. In fact, OEQII scores probably are not interpretable at all.

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Why is it important?

Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration is popular in some gifted education circles. The OEQII was designed to provide empirical support for the theory by measuring the "overexcitabilities" that it proposes. However, this article shows that the instrument is not very good. This means that every study using the OEQII may have inherent flaws.

Perspectives

I wrote this in graduate school, and it really disenchanted me. Fast forward several years, and today I don't think that the "overexcitabilities" exist, nor do I think that Dabrowski's theory has anything interesting to say to gifted education or psychology. Let's let it die, folks.

Dr Russell T. Warne
Independent Scholar

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: An Investigation of Measurement Invariance Across Genders on the Overexcitability Questionnaire–Two, Journal of Advanced Academics, August 2011, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1932202x11414821.
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