Neuropsychological deficit, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

The results of a community study dealing with the ecological distribution of intellectual and various perceptual-motor deficits, presumed to be functionally related to neurological status, are presented. Ss were 158 White and 60 Black 3rd graders of public and parochial schools. Measures included a parents' questionnaire, school achievement data, behavioral ratings, and such tests as the Culture Fair Intelligence Test, Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test, and the Bender Gestalt Test. Results suggest that levels of neurological integrity vary along a socioeconomic gradient and between ethnic groups. An environmentally based model of social causation is presented as the most appropriate explanation of the patterned distribution of neurological pathology across social class and ethnic-group lines. This model focuses on such factors as malnutrition/undernutrition, adverse conditions of environmental stimulation, inadequate obstetrical and pediatric care, and environmental deterioration. (105 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's self-image disparity: Effects of age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender.

Assessed developmental and experiential determinants of self-image disparity in 80 2nd and 5th graders. There were 8 groups formed on the basis of socioeconomic status (SES), ethnicity, and gender within each grade. Consistent with predictions generated by developmental theory, self-image disparity was found to be positively related to CA. Although the results were not uniform across the 3 self-image instruments employed, the larger disparity in older Ss appeared to be a function of both decreased self-evaluations and increased ideal self-images. Gender, SES, and ethnic group membership—characteristics thought to subsume pervasive experiential differences—were also found to affect self-image. Males had larger self-image disparities than females, Whites had larger disparities and higher ideal self images than Blacks, and SES affected self-image differentially for the 2nd and 5th graders. Findings indicate that an understanding of children's self-images requires a consideration of both developmental and experiential factors. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generalizability of Holland's structure of vocational interests across ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Items from the Vocational Preference Inventory (J. L. Holland; 1985) were administered to a sample of 370 African American and White high school students to investigate differences in the circular structure of RIASEC interests across ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender. Analyses using both the randomization test of hypothesized order relations (L. Hubert & P. Arabie; see record 1987-30217-001) and 3-way MDS suggest that there are no differences in interest structure between African American and White high school students. However, structural differences were found when both ethnicity and SES were considered together. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of socioeconomic status, race, and parenting on language development in early childhood.

The authors examined the associations between socioeconomic status (SES), race, maternal sensitivity, and maternal negative-intrusive behaviors and language development in a sample selected to reduce the typical confound between race and SES (n = 146). Mother–child interactions were observed at 12 and 24 months (coded by randomly assigned African American and European American coders); language abilities were assessed at 18, 24, 30, and 36 months. For receptive language, race was associated with ability level, and maternal sensitivity and negative-intrusive parenting were related to rate of growth. For expressive communication, race, SES, and maternal sensitivity were associated with rate of growth; race moderated the association between negative-intrusive parenting and rate of growth such that the relation was weaker for African American than for European American children. The results highlight the importance of sensitive parenting and suggest that the association between negative-intrusive parenting and language development may depend upon family context. Future work is needed concerning the race differences found, including examining associations with other demographic factors and variations in language input experienced by children, using culturally and racially validated indices of language development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's comprehension of family role portrayals in televised dramas: Effects of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and age.

578 middle and lower socioeconomic status (SES), Black and White children in Grades 2, 5, and 8 participated in 2 fully-crossed replications of the same design. They viewed 1 of 2 edited television dramas that portrayed either a White middle-class family (Study 1) or a Black working-class family (Study 2) in similar conflict resolution situations. Ss' comprehension of central (plot-essential) and peripheral content and their inferences about actors' emotions and causes of action were assessed. Memory for content was age-related in both studies. However, in Study 1, middle-SES 2nd graders viewing the middle-class family show scored higher than lower-SES 2nd graders. In Study 2 lower-SES 2nd graders who viewed the working-class family show achieved higher scores than their middle-class counterparts. There were no SES effects among 5th- and 8th-grade participants and no consistent effects of ethnicity at any age. Additional analyses indicated that congruence between televised characters and settings and viewers' own experiences, as indicated by SES, facilitated 2nd graders' processing of program content. Implications of age-related processing skills for social effects of TV are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes and beliefs about affirmative action: Effects of target and of respondent sex and ethnicity.

349 undergraduates at a multicultural metropolitan university were surveyed to assess (1) beliefs and evaluations of potential components of affirmative action plans (AAPs), (2) correlations between attitudes toward affirmative action and such beliefs and evaluations, (3) differences in reactions as a function of the AAP target (minorities, women, or people with disabilities), and (4) gender and ethnic differences in the results of 1, 2, and 3. Many beliefs about affirmative action were incorrect. Recruitment, training, and attention to applicant qualifications were favored, whereas discrimination, quotas, and preferential treatment were opposed. Opposition to potential AAP components was directly related to the weight given to demographic status. Responses varied depending on respondent gender and ethnicity. Conflict associated with affirmative action can be minimized by eliminating certain misperceptions about AAPs and by incorporating positively evaluated components. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influences of socioeconomic status, social network, and competence on subjective well-being in later life: A meta-analysis.

Meta-analysis is used to synthesize findings from 286 empirical studies on the association of socioeconomic status (SES), social network, and competence with subjective well-being (SWB) in the elderly. All three aspects of life circumstances are positively associated with SWB. Income is correlated more strongly with well-being than is education. The quality of social contacts shows stronger associations with SWB than does the quantity of social contacts. Whereas having contact with friends is more strongly related to SWB than having contact with adult children, there are higher associations between life satisfaction and quality of contact with adult children when compared with quality of friendships. Moderating influences of gender and age on the effects of SES, social network, and competence on SWB are also investigated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender, socioeconomic status, age, and jealousy: Emotional responses to infidelity in a national sample.

The authors used a representative national sample (N = 777) to test the evolutionary hypothesis that men would be more bothered by sexual infidelity and women by emotional infidelity, the Jealousy as a Specific Innate Module (JSIM) effect. Our alternative conceptualization of jealousy suggests that there are distinct emotional components of jealousy that did not evolve differently by gender. The authors looked for effects of age, socioeconomic status (SES), and type of measure (continuous or dichotomous) on jealousy. The authors did not find age or SES effects. Forced-choice items provided support for our alternative view; both genders showed more anger and blame over sexual infidelity but more hurt feelings over emotional infidelity. Continuous measures indicated more emotional response to sexual than emotional infidelity among both genders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in parents' and their grown children's perceptions of parenting.

A 2–5 factorial between-Ss experiment was conducted, with level of success, sex of stimulus parent, sex of stimulus child, sex of respondent, and generation as the 5 independent variables. 139 undergraduates and their parents of the same sex served as Ss. The overall performance rating, the attributions made to explain parenting success/failure, and the ratings made both of the stimulus parent and of the stimulus child on the same 60 personality items were the dependent variables. The present study replicated one of the principal findings of attribution research: that males are more given to explaining failure in terms of external factors. Males of both generations made greater use of the factor Child's Fault in explaining parenting failure than did females. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why bother with beliefs? Examining relationships between race/ethnicity, parental beliefs about causes of child problems, and mental health service use.

In this study, the authors examined the role of parental beliefs about the causes of child problems in predicting later mental health service use in a large, diverse population of at-risk youths. Study hypotheses were that parental beliefs consistent with biopsychosocial causes would be associated with later mental health service use; sociological, spiritual, or nature disharmony etiologies would be negatively associated with service use; and beliefs would partially mediate the relationship between race/ethnicity and service use. Of the 5 biopsychosocial beliefs, 2 were positively related to later mental health service use. Unexpectedly, of the 6 parental beliefs related to sociological, spiritual, or nature disharmony etiologies, only 1 was negatively associated with later service use patterns. Parental endorsement of etiologies relating to physical causes, relational issues, trauma, and prejudice was found to partially mediate the relationship between race/ethnicity and service use for Asian/Pacific Islander American and Latino youths. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual beliefs about human values and their implications: Human nature beliefs predict value importance, value trade-offs, and responses to value-laden rhetoric.

Beliefs that may underlie the importance of human values were investigated in 4 studies, drawing on research that distinguishes natural-kind (natural), nominal-kind (conventional), and artifact (functional) beliefs. Values were best characterized by artifact and nominal-kind beliefs, as well as a natural-kind belief specific to the social domain, "human nature" (Studies 1 and 2). The extent to which values were considered central to human nature was associated with value importance in both Australia and Japan (Study 2), and experimentally manipulating human nature beliefs influenced value importance (Study 3). Beyond their association with importance, human nature beliefs predicted participants' reactions to value trade-offs (Study 1) and to value-laden rhetorical statements (Study 4). Human nature beliefs therefore play a central role in the psychology of values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interparental conflict, negative parenting, and children's adjustment: Bridging links between parents' depression and children's psychological distress.

Pathways linking parental depressive symptoms, adult relationship insecurity, interparental conflict, negative parenting, and children's psychological adjustment (internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems) were assessed using a 3-wave longitudinal research design. Two-parent families (N = 352) with 11- to 13-year-old children (179 boys, 173 girls) participated in the study. Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms were associated with insecurity in adult close relationships assessed 12 months later, which was concurrently related to heightened levels of interparental conflict. Controlling for children's initial symptom levels, interparental conflict was related to child appraisals of father and mother rejection assessed an additional 12 months later, which were related to children's internalizing symptoms and externalizing problems, respectively. Results are discussed with regard to the implications for understanding the complex interplay between adult depressive symptoms, attributions in close adult relationships, interparental conflict, negative parenting, and children's psychological adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiation of abilities, socioeconomic status, and the WISC.

The study investigated the effect of an increase in age on the factor structures of the subtests of the WISC, and the relationship between subtest scores and socioeconomic status (SES). The scores of 70 Ss, tested at ages 10 and 12, were factor analyzed and structures at the 2 age levels compared. The sample was also divided into high and low SES groups, and subtest means calculated for each group. At both age levels, between-group mean differences were significant at or beyond the .05 level of confidence in the case of verbal subtests, while factor structures, which were similar, indicated a trend towards integration of abilities. The structures defined 2 main factors, identified as verbal and performance IQ, respectively. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High risk of lymphomas in children of Asian origin: ethnicity or confounding by socioeconomic status?

To examine the role of ethnic origin as a risk factor for paediatric lymphoma, a cancer registry-based analysis was undertaken in Yorkshire, UK. Children of Asian ethnic origin were found to have an odds ratio for lymphomas of 1.60 (CI 0.98-2.62), after adjusting for age and sex. After adjusting also for 'super profile group' as an indicator of socioeconomic status, the estimate became 1.99 (CI 1.08-3.68). Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas were analysed separately with similar results. Super profile group is an area-based measure and may not reflect the individual variation in living standards, especially among the Asian immigrants. Our results indicate that socioeconomic status does not confound the relationship between lymphomas and ethnic origin. However, there is a need for studies of ethnicity that include indicators of individual living standards or socioeconomic status.     

Long-term effects of Cesarean delivery on parents' beliefs and children's schooling.

This study looked for long-term effects of Cesarean birth, using a stratified mixed-race random sample of Baltimore school children who began first grade in 1982. There were no effects on children's California Achievement Test scores in the verbal or math domains at the start of Grade 1. There were also no effects on a personal maturity/temperament measure or on special problem status in Grade 1. Parents of Cesarean-born children, nevertheless, believed that their children had more ability to do schoolwork than did parents of other children, and the Cesarean-born children themselves expected higher marks in reading and math than did other children. These findings dove-tail with the limited prior research on short-term or long-term sociopsychological effects of Cesarean birth on children or on parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of communication encoding: Age, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability.

Assessed 144 7-, 8-, and 9-yr-olds in lower, middle, and upper socioeconomic status (SES) groups on 4 cognitive variables—classification, class inclusion, conservation of number, and conservation of substance—and on communication encoding effectiveness. It is shown that in addition to age and SES, general cognitive ability accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in communication encoding. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of parents' job insecurity on children's work beliefs and attitudes.

The authors hypothesized that children's perceptions of their parents' job insecurity mediate the effects of parental job insecurity and layoffs on children's work beliefs and work attitudes. Male and female undergraduate students (N?=?134; M age?=?18.9 years), as well as their mothers (M age?=?47.0 years) and fathers (M age = 49.1 years), participated voluntarily. With structural equation modeling as implemented by LISREL VIII, support for the proposed model was obtained, whereas no support was obtained for a competing model. Moreover, identification with fathers moderated the influence of perceived paternal job insecurity on children's humanistic work beliefs, but no comparable effect emerged for mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective social status, objective socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular risk in women.

Objective: Subjective perceptions of personal social status may relate to health beyond the effects of objective socioeconomic status (SES). The authors examined the relationship between subjective social status (SSS) and psychosocial, behavioral, and physical cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged women. Design: Ninety-two women (90.2% White) completed ladder-based, pictorial self-report measures of SSS relative to others in their community and in the United States. Psychosocial measures of depression, anxiety, pessimism, stress, and social support and behavioral risk factors of fruit and vegetable consumption, leisure physical activity, and body-mass index were obtained. In addition, women underwent measurement of clinic blood pressure and assessment of daytime ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP; DBP) over 2 consecutive days. Results: Community SSS was significantly inversely related to anxiety, pessimism, stress, and daytime ambulatory DBP after controlling for objective SES and U.S. SSS. Women with lower U.S. SSS showed less healthy dietary and exercise behaviors and, contrary to predictions, lower clinic and ambulatory DBP. Conclusion: This study provides additional evidence that perceptions of one's position in the social hierarchy could have important health implications beyond the impact of objective SES. Further, the cardiovascular risk implications of perceived community versus U.S. social status appear to be distinct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order, discrimination in admissions, and socioeconomic status.

Contends D. P. Campbell (see record 1972-11560-001) neglected an explanation for the finding that highly educated occupations have much higher proportions of firstborn children; this explanation could have been deduced from certain sociological generalizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of justice beliefs on cognitive appraisal of and subjective physiological, and behavioral responses to potential stress.

Investigated the moderating role of just world beliefs on stress and coping processes. Ss high and low in belief in a just world were asked to perform a potentially stressful laboratory task, which was repeated once. Cognitive appraisals and subjective, autonomic, and behavioral responses were recorded for each of the 2 tasks. The results supported a stress-moderating effect for just world beliefs. lndividuals high in just world beliefs had more benign cognitive appraisals of the stress tasks, rated the tasks as less stressful post hoc, had autonomic reactions consistent with challenge (vs threat), and outperformed Ss low in just world beliefs. Discussion centers on factors that moderate the experiences of challenge and threat in potentially stressful situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)