Assessment of taxonomic encoding categories in different populations.

Assessed the degree of taxonomic category encoding in 160 low-socioeconomic status (SES) Black and middle SES White children. D. D Wickens's (see record 1970-04540-001) release from proactive interference task was used to index categorical encoding of animal and clothing items. Build-up and release from proactive interference was observed for each population at 2 different grade levels (2nd and 4th). The degree of proactive interference build-up and release was not affected by either population membership or grade level. These results provide conclusive evidence of the availability of taxonomic encoding categories in the groups sampled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Black English phonology and learning to read.

Tested the hypothesis that phonological differences between standard and Black English interfere with the ability of beginning readers to learn sound–spelling correspondences in reading. 15 1st graders in each of 3 groups—low-socioeconomic status (SES), Black and White and middle-SES White—were asked to match spoken and written words. Mismatches were created by deleting final spoken consonants or by deleting initial consonants. The hypothesis that Black-English-speaking children of low SES would tend to make a match when final spoken consonants were deleted, whereas the White children of low and middle SES would not, was not supported. Decoding errors revealed that the 3 groups differed in word-attack strategies. (31 ref) (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)     

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)     

Evaluative race–class stereotypes by race and perceived class of subjects.

80 Black and 74 White college students assigned traits, from a list of 80, to the Black lower class, Black middle class, White lower class, and White middle class. Each S rated the 5 or fewer traits that he or she had chosen as being most typical of the respective race–class groups from –5 (unfavorable) to +5 (favorable) for the given groups. Ss also assigned themselves to 1 of 4 classes: lower class, working class, middle class, or upper class. On the basis of these judgments, the Ss within each racial group were classified as perceiving themselves to be above or below the median of their own race's distribution. White Ss assigned more favorable characteristics to the middle than to the lower class and did not rate Blacks lower than Whites. Black Ss made a similar, but smaller, social class distinction and, in addition, generally perceived Blacks more favorably than Whites. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race, class, and the attributional process.

Two experiments examined the process and content of attributional thinking in Black and White children who differed in socioeconomic status (SES). In Exp I, 171 7th graders subdivided into middle-SES Black, middle-SES White, low-SES Black, and low-SES White groups imagined that they succeeded or failed at an examination, with the cause of the outcome specified. Their perceptions of the dimensional properties of causes (locus, stability, and controllability), expectancy for success, teacher evaluation, and affective reactions were reported. Similar judgments were made in Exp II, with 148 of the Ss from Exp I, in response to actual rather than hypothetical success and failure, and Ss' causal attributions for their performance were reported. Analyses revealed that Blacks did not display a less adaptive attributional pattern than did Whites following actual performance, and no differences existed in Ss' understanding of the meaning (dimensional placement) of causes. A linkage between the locus of causes and affect also was documented in all race?×?SES groups. In contrast, race and class differences occurred in Ss' perceptions of predicted stability–expectancy and controllability–evaluation causal linkages. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictive validity of readiness tests for middle and lower socioeconomic status Anglo, Black, and Mexican American children.

Administered the Metropolitan Readiness Tests, Slosson Intelligence Test, Slosson Oral Reading Test, Clymer-Barrett Prereading Battery, and Language and Concepts subtests of the Tests of Basic Experiences to 411 Anglo, Black, and Mexican-American first-grade children from middle and lower socioeconomic status (SES) homes. Criterion variables consisted of measures of intelligence at 2nd grade and achievement at 2nd and 4th grades. 77% of the correlations were statistically significant for the total sample. However, important differences existed between the 3 racial-ethnic groups and 2 social classes. The readiness tests tended to be most valid for Anglos and least valid for Blacks. Within each racial-ethnic group, the tests tended to be more valid for middle than for lower SES Ss. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child-rearing reports of White, Black, and Mexican-American families.

Compared child-rearing practices of 29 White, 30 Black, and 31 Mexican-American families with a 5-yr-old Head Start child. Results indicate that the techniques used to socialize children among the 3 cultural groups were similar; only their desired ends differed. Mexican-American parents were most consistent in their use of reward and punishment methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examiner observations of children's WISC—R test-related behaviors: Possible socioeconomic status, race, and gender effects.

White examiners completed test observations on 311 children between ages 7 and 14 following the administration of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC—R). The children differed by race (White, Black, and Mexican American), social class (middle and lower), and gender. Test observation ratings were employed to predict WISC—R Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs. All 63 correlations between test observations and WISC—R IQs were statistically significant and were reasonably equivalent across gender, social class, and racial groups. Differences in regressions were statistically significant for 23 of the 36 analyses. Although gender differences were not significant, race and social class differences are significant for intercepts, but not for slopes. Thus, given children of the same IQ, White examiners generally observe higher degrees of cooperation, attention, and self-confidence among Black and Mexican American (compared to White) children and among lower-class (compared to middle-class) children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental and population comparisons of taxonomic and thematic organization in free recall.

Assessed taxonomic and thematic clustering in free recall in 240 7- and 10-yr-olds from Black and White and low- and middle-SES backgrounds. Materials were pictures that were cross classifiable by taxonomic and thematic categories. A free study condition, in which Ss studied the pictures any way they wished, tested the hypothesis that taxonomic clustering would increase with age and thematic clustering would decrease with age. This condition also tested A. R. Jensen's (see record 1969-09740-001) prediction of population differences in clustering and recall. Two conditions were also included that determined whether constraining Ss to sort taxonomically or thematically during the study period would raise recall and clustering. Results for the free study condition indicate that recall and taxonomic clustering increased with age but thematic clustering was low for both ages. This pattern of performance did not vary with ethnicity or SES. The constrained taxonomic condition raised taxonomic clustering for all children but had no effect on recall for either age group. The constrained thematic condition generally raised thematic clustering for all Ss, but the beneficial effect of the constrained thematic condition on recall was limited to the 10-yr-olds. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teachers' interactions with middle- and lower SES preschool boys and girls.

Compared 9 preschool and 17 Head Start teachers' interactive behaviors with children of middle and lower socioeconomic status (SES). Observation data indicate that teachers of lower SES children had fewer verbal communications with them and more interactions with older adults. Data indicate that teachers of middle-SES children had higher rates of positive–neutral teacher initiation to children and higher rates of positive–neutral child initiation to teachers. Teachers of middle-SES children had a higher rate of negative initiation to boys than to girls. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural comparison of American Indian, Black, and White inpatients on the MMPI and presenting symptoms.

Studied personality differences among 97 Black, 454 White, and 36 American-Indian psychiatric inpatients, aged 16–70 yrs. Comparisons were made both on the total samples and on matched samples of Black–White and American-Indian–White patients according to SES. Data included presenting complaints, diagnoses, demographic information, and the MMPI. Results show that Black inpatients, in both representative and matched comparisons, had significantly higher scores than both other groups on the Validity, Paranoia, Schizophrenia, and Hypomania subscales of the MMPI. Results may reflect actual symptomatic differences between the groups rather than supporting the conclusion that the MMPI "overpathologizes" for Black patients. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of experimentally imposed noise on task performance of Black children attending day care centers near elevated subway trains.

Investigated whether an experimentally imposed 80 db (A) noise differentially affected the psychomotor, serial memory words and pictures, incidental memory, visual recall, paired associates, perceptual learning, and coding performance of 109 predominantly Black, low socioeconomic status (SES) 5-yr-old children attending daycare centers near and far from elevated subways. Ss were administered psychomotor tasks at the beginning and end of a noisy or quiet play condition and cognitive and perceptual tasks during a noisy or quiet test condition. Factorial analyses revealed that only psychomotor performance was significantly impaired by the 80 db (A) noise. A significant interaction between daycare center environmental noise level and test was found on the coding task, with Ss from relatively noisy daycare centers performing best under noisy test conditions and their counterparts under quiet conditions. Findings suggest that noise does not have a universal effect on children's performance, but the effects vary as a function of the nature of the task and previous exposure to noise. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Socioeconomic status, race and life expectancy in Arkansas, 1970-1990

Earlier research found that high socioeconomic populations in Arkansas experienced an increase in mean life expectancy over low socioeconomic populations between 1970 and 1990. The possibility that these findings are spurious because of race is tested in this paper. Using multivariate analysis in conjunction with estimates of life expectancy by race and socioeconomic status (SES) we find that between 1970 and 1990: (1) Black populations with high SES gained more than three additional years of life expectancy over Black populations with high SES; and (2) White populations with high SES gained more than .5 years of life expectancy over White populations with low SES. These findings support earlier findings that SES plays an instrumental role in differential life expectancy. They also suggest that the effects of SES on life expectancy are moderated differentially for Blacks and Whites.     

Attention and achievement exhibited by middle- and lower-class Black and White elementary school boys.

In-class behaviors of 80 7-8 yr old boys equally divided by race (Black and White) and social class (middle and lower) were recorded. Ss were administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices, and the Test of Basic Experience. The 3 observers compiled and used a list of behaviors judged to be all-inclusive of what occurs in normal classroom activity. No differences were found between groups in percentage of time attending. Although there were social class and race differences in achievement and intelligence test scores, no relationship was found between attending and these variables. Finally, there was a significant correlation between the intelligence and achievement test scores but no evidence that the relationship was different for the different groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

More on the sex?×?race interaction on cognitive measures.

A. R. Jensen (1971) proposed a Sex * Race interaction in cognitive ability to account for similar differences on measures influenced by ability. Recently, L. G. Humphreys et al (1976), analyzing one data source, concluded that sex differences themselves may account for a Sex * Race interaction. The Humphreys et al study, however, involved a possibly biased sample with limited ranges of socioeconomic status (SES), an important element in Jensen's proposal. The present investigation analyzed 3 sources of data: (a) the standardization sample for the WISC-R (1,870 White and 305 Black 6-16 yr olds); (b) Project TALENT (3,371 White and 208 Black 9th graders); (c) Educational Quality Assessment of the State of Pennsylvania (152, 944 5th, 8th, and 11th graders--95% White). Analysis failed to reveal a Sex * Race or Sex * SES interaction. It is suggested that Sex * Race differences in income, education, and so on could be the result of racially related sex role expectations or cultural prejudice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Media effects on prose learning in two populations of children.

Assessed prose learning in 84 high-socioeconomic status (SES) White and 84 low-SES Black 4th graders as a function of presentation media, test-item structure, and response methods. The 7 presentation conditions included both single media--oral, print, and pictures--and combined media. The learning of intra and intersentence relations was tested by means of assertion-verification, short-answer, and free recall methods. While all of these variations contributed to performance differences, major emphasis was given to discrepancies in the media effects observed in the 2 populations. For low-SES Black Ss, performance in the combined media conditions, especially in oral plus pictures, was superior to that in single-media conditions, whereas among high-SES White Ss combinations of media were of little benefit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pupil behaviors and interactions in desegregated urban junior high activity-centered science classrooms.

Pupil classroom behavior was observed in 26 Black and 26 White 8–9th graders from 14 activity-centered science classes in 4 urban junior high schools. Classroom behaviors were observed for 10 6-min periods each over 3 mo. 19 behavior categories were coded and later combined to form categories labeled learning, attending, and nonattending. Interpersonal interactions were coded as cross- or within-race and on- or off-task. Entering California Achievement Test mathematics and reading scores (CAT-M and CAT-R, respectively) and final grades were obtained from school records. No significant race differences were found in in-class behavior, few hostile interactions were observed, there were more within- than cross-race interactions, and cross-race interactions were more apt to occur during learning than during nonattending. Reading and math scores were correlated with final grade for both groups. Learning behavior accounted for significant variance in final grade, after removing effects of CAT-M and CAT-R, for Black but not for White Ss. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer preferences and social interaction among third-grade children in an integrated school district.

Assessed social interaction among Black and White 3rd-grade children in 9 classrooms. The children were in integrated schools since kindergarten. Two methods were employed: a roster-and-rating sociometric technique and a classroom behavioral observation procedure using sequential time sampling. Sociometric data were obtained for 179 White and 48 Black children. Observational data were obtained for 39 White and 39 Black children. Both race and sex were found to be significant determinants of sociometric ratings for play and work. Omega-squared analyses, however, indicated that sex accounted for 43.2% of the variance on play and 35.2% on work, while race accounted for only about 1% of the variance on each measure. The observational data indicate a positive pattern of classroom interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)