Types of Underachievers

As stated in the previous article not all underachievers are alike therefore knowing what motivates these kids is the key to helping them fulfill their potential.

Mandel and Marcus (1988) identified six most important types of underachievers, illustrated below:  

1.Coasting underachievers: They believed to appear at about 9-10 years. Some common characteristics are that they show general satisfaction with themselves and life, delay at home and school, give up easily, do not worry about low grades, less attentive towards school work and look blasé about the future. 
2. Anxious underachievers: They may have problems at any age and tend to show performance deficit of 10-20%. They stay away from school, extremely worry and are unrealistic about their ability and mistakes, need regular encouragement and endorsement, and may even become school-phobic. According to Marcus (2007) worried or anxious underachievers are unconfident, have high levels of self doubt and suffer through high levels of stress.  
 3. Defiant underachievers: Mostly these are boys and not the girls before adolescence. Some general traits are that they lose their temper easily, argue with authority figures and disobey them, consciously irritate others and blame others for their own actions or faults. 
  4. Wheeler-dealer underachievers: Mandel and Marcus (1988) cited that this type of underachievers may be impulsive, attractive or threatening, manipulative and egoistic and target on immediate satisfaction.  They want instant rewards, lie, cheat or steal and manipulate others. 
  5. Identity search underachievers: They are so engrossed in identifying who they are that they could not focused on their work (Mandel and Marcus 1988). They obtain the characteristics of intense egotism.        
 6. Sad or depressed underachievers: Mandel and Marcus (1988) describe that they are miserable, have low self-esteem, find challenging to make decisions and lack the energy needed to focus on school work. They appear lethargic, have poor appetites or eat too much, sleep too much or have insomnia , are low in energy and feel tired, have difficulty in focusing tasks and may feel doomed and negative.