Understanding the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Students presents a comprehensive treatment of social and emotional development in high-ability learners. The author, a nationally recognized leader in gifted education, discusses theories that guide our examination of the lived experiences of gifted students; social and emotional characteristics and behaviors evidenced in gifted learners; friendships and family relationships that support them; contextual influences that shape their social and emotional lives; and identity development. Moreover, the author examines the complexity of these issues with gifted underachievers, gifted culturally diverse students, and twice-exceptional students. In addition, the book offers a plan for designing a gifted-friendly classroom environment for social and emotional development and a comprehensive collection of resources to support professionals in gifted education research and practice. The author has more than a decade of classroom experience working with K-12 gifted students and almost 20 years in higher education training graduate students and educators. As a result, this book combines theory that drives our understanding of gifted students with the latest research and practical strategies to implement in addressing social and emotional development with K-12 students. The book is geared toward graduate students with research interests in this area and educators with questions regarding how to support gifted young people in their classrooms.