174 ROGER C. THWEATT, JOHN E. OBRZUT, HENRY D. TAYLOR

REFERENCES RBNDER, L. A Viswll Motor Gestalt Test and its clinical use. New York: American Orthopsychiatric

BILLINGSLEA, F. Y. The Bender-Gestalt : an objective scoring method and validating data. Journal

GRAHAM, F. K., BERMAN, P. W., & ERNHART, C. B. Development in pre-school children of the ability

Hum, M. L. A tentative guide for the administration and interpretation of the Bender-Gestalt Test.

KICLLER, J. E. The use of the Bender-Gestalt Motivation Level Scoring System with mentally handi-

KELLEY, T. L., MADDEN, R., GARDNER, E. F., & RUDMAN, H. C. The Stanford Achievement Test.

KITAY, J. I. The Bender-Gestalt Test as a projective technique. Journal of Clinical Psychology,

KOPPITZ, E. M. The Bender-Gestalt Test and learning disturbances in young children. Journal of

KOPPITZ, E. M. The Bender Gestalt Test for young children. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1964. LAMPARD, D. M. Early diagnosis of reading disability. In Reading and inquiy, International Reading

Association Conference Proceedings, 1965,10, 191-193. LOVELL, K., SHAPTON, D., & WARREN N. S. A study of ~ o m e cognitive and other disabilities in

backward readers of average intehgence as assessed by a non-verbal test. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1964,34, 58-64.

PASCAL, G. R., & SUTTELL B. J. The Bender-Gestalt Test: its quantification and validity for adults. New York: Grune & btratton, 1951.

PYEK, R. M., & QUAST, W. A scoring system for the Bender-Gestalt Test. Hastings, Minn.: Author, 1951. SI~VER, A. A., & HAQIN, R. Specific reading disability: delineation of syndrome and relationship

to cerebral dominance. Comparative Psychiatry, 1960, 1 , 126234.

Association, Research Monograph, 1938.

of Clinical Psychology, 1948,4,1-27.

to copy forms. Child Development, 1960,31, 339-359.

U. S. Army Adjutant General’s School, 1945.

capped children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1955, 66, 563-573.

New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964.

1950,6, 170-174.

Clinical Psychology, 1958, 14, 292-295.

ETHNIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND ACHIEVEMENT SCORES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN’

RALPH SCOTT AND JAMES E. SMITH

Unwersity of Nar tha Iowa Boone County Intermediate School District

Recent studies suggest that when home background factors are controlled schools as they presently function make very little impact on students’ I& or achievement patterns (Coleman, Campbell, Hobson, McPartland, Mood, Wein- feld, & York, 1966; National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1968; U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1967). In general, educators have drawn one of two major conclusions from this. Either compensatory programs should be discontinued, or sustained efforts are needed to understand better the dynamics that may lead to more viable programs of home-school-community collaboration.

If more effective educational procedures are to be impIemented, it appears that educationally relevant family variables must be identified. Several experi- ments appear to have demonstrated a relationship between children’s IQs and parental I& and education. In a comparison of the IQs of Afro-American, Latin-

‘The research reported herein was supported by grants from the United States Office of Education Contract No. 0-8-055780-2927, the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Project # 6-8526, and the Office of Research, University of Northern Iowa, Project # 302-56.

. . ~

ETHNIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND ACHIEVEMENT SCORES 175

American and Anglo-American preschool children, Rieber and Womack (1968) concluded that income and educationaI level of parents were related significantly to students’ IQs. In a multi-racial Hawaiian study, Werner (1969) reported sta- tistically significant relationships between parental I&, education and socioeco- nomic status, although the highest observed correlations were obtained on edu- cational stimulus measures based on Wolf’s (1963) environmental process variables (press for academic achievement, press for language development, provision for general learning). Unfortunately, neither of these studies grouped Ss by race, and the reported relationships between conventional socioeconomic indices (parental income, education and IQs) and children’s IQs actually may stem from the common variance that possibly links race, income, education, and I& (Scott, 1970). F.:

When traditional socioeconomic measures are assessed within-race, their predictive value has been shown to decline precipitously, Thus Golden and Birns (1968) administered the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale and a Piagetian object permanence scale at 12, 18 and 24 months to Afro-American infants who represented three social classes based on income and parental education and found no statisti- cally significant differences between Afro-American Ss who represented the three social classes. This is consistent with Van den Daele’s (1971) citation of those studies that suggested little if any relationship between Afro-American student IQs and parental education. Wolf (1963) studied the I& patterns of 60 Anglo- American fifth-grade Ss on three environmental process variables ; in a somewhat similar study Dave (1963) evaluated the achievement scores of 60 fourth-grade Anglo-American Ss on an environmental index similar to Wolf’s. The studies of both Wolf and Dave found parental education and occupation only tangentially related to students’ school success. Bloom, who supervised both studies, concluded “it is what the parents do in the home rather than their status characteristics which are powerful determiners in the home environment . . . [1964, pp. 124-251.’’

In another within-race experiment, Goldstein, Cary, Chorost, and Dalack (1970) studied emotionally disturbed Anglo-American boys from 6 to 12 years of age and reported that socioeconomic status based on parental education and occu- pation failed to be associated significantly with students’ I& or achievement. They also concluded that family process variables, rather than parental income, education, or occupation, are the primary shapers of students’ learning. In a comparison of their results with somewhat contradictory findings reported by other investigators, Goldstein, et al. aver that while family variables are central to chil- dren’s learning progress, those variables probably operate as a function of the subject population. It is precisely at this point that educators find the bridge from school to home broken. With which children, at what time, and under what cir- cumstances are specific educational procedures conducive to achievement growth?

If disadvantaged children do not necessarily come from poor homes, if their parents are not necessarily of limited education or I&, and if the effect of home circumstances is dependent upon the child’s response to those circumstances, then if attention shifts to assessment of a child’s initial and subsequent gain scores during the crucial early years perhaps more effective educational strategies are feasible. Such an approach seems consistent with the findings of Honzik, Mac- Farlane, and Allen (1970), who reported that children from unstable homes obtained the most marked test-score fluctuations. Honzik also noted that changes in mental

176 RALPH S C O W AND JAMES E. SMITH

test scores tend in the direction of parental education and socioeconomic status. This in itself does not securely associate social class to greater I& gains on repeated measures ; other possible explanations include the possibility that conditions within individual middle-class and lower-class homes may account primarily for higher gain scores that Honzik, et al. obtained on repeated test measures with Anglo- American children.

In accordance with this line of reasoning, McCall (1970) secured 11 scores for predominantly Anglo-American Pro test ant (1 3% non-Pro testant ; 1 % non-Cau- casian) Ss from 3 to 12 years of age in order to ascertain sequential I& changes. The results of McCall’s longitudinal study indicate that change scores show less heritability than single scores and are more likely to reveal ways in which non- genetic factors contribute to cognitive developmental trends. Such studies promise to reveal procedures through which cumulative achievement gains can be brought about by sequencing for each child a series of “educational matches” (Hunt, 1969, p. 42).

In distinguishing between fluid and crystallized intelligence (Gf and Gc) Cattell (1963) has stressed the significance of sequential and cumulative learning, much of which depends upon the adaptation of educational procedures to the child. Gc, believed to be more closely dependent on environmental circumstances and oppor- tunities, consists of a supply of acquired knowledge and skills, whereas Gf is seen as a basic ability to function adaptively and to understand quickly new relation- ships. Although Gf is thought to be more closely associated with heredity the original acquisition of Gc partially depends upon Gf, and therefore there is a high relationship between Gf and Gc (Jensen, 1970).

There is some evidence that the lower predictability and the generally lower academic achievement of disadvantaged Ss with initially low school-readiness scores (Scott, 1970) may not be attributable to limited Gf, as Jensen (1970) has suggested, but a t least partly to a narrow base of Gc, as the result of a paucity of appropriate experiences, which makes it difficult for a substantial number of de- prived but capable children to develop and manifest Gf potentialities. The high failure-ratio within the classroom that stems from an inadequate fund of Gc (Hirshoren, 1969) may introduce adverse attitudinal and motivational factors that so often characterize the disadvantaged child’s approach to classroom learning. Moreover, basic psycholinguistic deficits in the auditory reception-verbal ex- pression area also may make it even more difficult to accumulate an adequate fund of crystallized intelligence; the child may lack the basic skills even to profit from the experience he does have.

The present experiment was concerned basically with the early years of learning and the extent to which the mothers’ verbal I& and leveI of education, as well as certain family environmental process variables (FEPV), may foster or inhibit ongoing intellectual development of preschool disadvantaged children. If learning is cumulative, we should expect the 2- to 3-year-old child’s initial test performance to reveal the extent to which the environment has or has not enabled him to de- velop his cognitive capabilities and interest in learning (McCall, 1970). Moreover, and despite the acknowledged limitations of change scores, the child’s gain scores 5 months after initial testing should reveal to some extent whether the environment facilitates cognitive growth as he participates in an early educational intervention program.

ETHNIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND ACHIEVEMENT SCORES 177

Specifically, it was hypothesized that: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Maternal verbal I& is associated significantly with the initial test achieve-

The change score of disadvantaged children on a preschool achievement-

Maternal level of education is associated significantly with the initial

The change score of disadvantaged children on a preschool achievement-

The FEPV within a child’s home are related significantly t o the initial

The FEPV within a child’s home are related significantly to the gain scores

ments of 2- t o 3-year-old disadvantaged children.

oriented instrument is related significantly to maternal verbal I&.

achievement of 2- to 3-year-old disadvantaged children.

oriented instrument is related significantly to maternal educational level.

test achievement of 2- to 3-year-old disadvantaged children.

of‘ 2- to 3-year-old disadvantaged children.

METHOD Xubjects

8s were 38 children (28 Afro-Americans; 10 Anglo-Americans) who participated in Home Start I, a 3-year home-centered preschool program, and who were tested twice on the same achievement-oriented instrument before they reached 3 1/2 years of age. At the time of initial testing, the mean CA for Afro-American Ss was 30.6 months; for Anglo-Americans Ss it was 30.1 months. All participating families reside in four racially integrated “target” attendance centers of Waterloo, Iowa, which have been designated by the Office of Economic Opportunity as economically depressed areas.

Procedures To assess Ss’ learning patterns, the authors utilized the Iowa Tests of Yre-

school Development (ITPD), which has been described in previous research (Scott, (1971) and which consists of two levels. Level I is used with children from 2 to 3 1/2 years of age; Level I1 is for children from 3 1/2 to 5. This experiment assessed only the test performance of children under 3 1/2 and therefore presents results secured only on Level I of the ITPD. The ITPD consists of four subtests: Language, Visual-Motor, Memory and Concepts. Within the subtests, measures are secured on visual, auditory and tactual input, integration of input stimuli and motor and verbal expression. Test results are used to guide individualized, home-based edu- cational intervention and also yield information about the child’s intrinsic moti- vation.

The ITPD was administered individually within the child’s home or, when conditions within the home did not provide reasonably favorable conditions, at a nearby social center funded through the Office of Economic Opportunity. The present study reports the 8s’ original scores and their attainments on the ITPD 5 months later. Admittedly, problems arise in the assessment of gain scores, but the authors concur with Bloom that “Where the environment is relatively constant over long periods of time we have hypothesized that a relevant human character-

178 RALPH SCOTT AND JAMES E. SMITH

istic will be far more stable than when the environment is more changeable. . . . [1964, p. 1991.” The present inquiry sought to determine whether gain scores are useful guides by which to identify children whose environments are, or are not, enabling them to develop their potentialities.

Maternal verbal IQ was obtained when the mothers enrolled their children in Home Start, at which time a certified social worker administered the verbal scale of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) ; the WAIS responses were scored by the qualified psychological examiner who had trained the social worker to administer the WAIS. At about the same time, each S was administered the Stanford-Binet (LM) by a qualified psychological examiner. The social worker obtained information as to maternal educational level during the intake interviews with individual mothers prior to Ss’ enrollment in Home Start. Only three mothers (one white, two black) refused to disclose their level of education.

The FEPV of the home were ascertained through anecdotal records of a Home Start staff member who visited the home weekly and conferred with the mother or mother surrogate (regular baby sitter, grandmother, etc.) in order to ascertain how the child’s interest in ongoing learning could be facilitated. Home Start staff members were urged to include in their anecdotal records observations on parental involvement and interest in children’s activities, parental aspirations for the child, methods employed in rewarding and disciplining, intra-family expressions of affection and aggression, general structure within the home with respect to hours governing meals, sleeping and TV, behaviors that might reveal how the home was organized or disorganized, family-oriented activities and work habits. Four uni- versity professors of education rated the homes as either fostering or inhibiting the child’s cognitive growth. Agreement of three of four raters was required before the FEPV of a child was considered “positive” or “negative.)’

RESULTS General Demographic Findings

For both races the highest correlations obtained between Stanford-Binet and the ITPD Language subtest (Anglo-Americans .65, Afro-Americans .63).2 For Afro-Americans, but not Anglo-American Ss, significant correlations were secured between the Stanford Binet and all four ITPD subtests.

The mean scores of Anglo-Americans Ss were higher on three of the four subtests, but statistically significant differences ( p < .05) appeared only on Con- cepts. Anglo-American Ss secured greater gains on all four subtests, but none of these differences in gain scores was statistically significant.

Maternal IQ Whereas IQs of Anglo-American mothers and Ss are practically identical,

Afro-Americans Ss obtained IQs 13 points higher than their mothers. No statisti- cally significant correlations were secured on maternal IQs and Ss’ initial ITPD scores, although it is probable that a larger sample would have produced a sig- nificant relationship between maternal verbal IQ and Anglo-American 8s’ Visual- Motor scores.

2Statistical tables we available upon request from the senior author.

ETHNIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES ANI) ACHIEVEMENT SCORES 179

The correlations between maternal I& and Ss’ ITPD gain scores reveal a significant negative relationship between maternal IQ and Afro-American Ss’ gains on the Concepts subtest. Since Concept gain scores of Afro-American Ss were correlated positively with their Stanford-Binet IQs (r = .36), which in turn were correlated positively with maternal I& (r = .26), a first-order partial corre- lation between the Afro-American mothers’ WAIS Verbal IQs and Afro-American Ss’ Concept gain scores was obtained, controlled for the effect of maternal and Ss’ IQs. The resultant first-order partial correlation (r = .15) was not statistically significant. The findings indicate that only the low N of Anglo-American Ss pre- cluded a significant negative correlation between Language gain scores of Anglo- American Ss and maternal I&. For both Afro-American and Anglo-American Ss, positive but statistically insignificant correlations were secured with respect to maternal I& and Ss’ Visual-Motor gain scores.

Maternal Edueatim Of the 35 mothers (26 Afro-Americans, 9 Anglo-Americans) for whom edu-

cational level could be ascertained, 20 have at least a twelfth-grade education and were designated as Group I ; the 15 mothers with less than a twelfth-grade education were designated as Group 11. There were 12 Afro-American and 8 Anglo-American mothers in Group I; Group I1 consisted of 14 Afro-Americans and 1 Anglo-American. The resultant Chi square (2.76) was not statistically significant (.05 = 3.84).

There were no significant differences between Group I and Group I1 mothers’ IQs, while the children of Group I mothers secured IQs significantly higher ( p < .001) than their group I1 counterparts. Ss of Group I1 mothers obtained higher initial scores on all four ITPD subtests, but none of these differences was of sta- tistical significance. Ss’ gain scores revealed that Group I and Group I1 Ss all secured greater gains on two of the four subtests, but that none of the differences was statistically significant.

Family Environmental Process Variables ( F E P V ) There was unanimous interrater agreement on ratings of 10 homes at3 positive

FEPV, 13 as negative FEPV. Six of the positive FEPV homes were Afro-American, 4 Anglo-American. Ten of the negative FEPV homes were Afro-American, 3 Anglo-American. A chi-square tested the independence of race and FEPV rating, with statistically insignificant (x2 = .IS) results. Four of the positive and 6 of the negative FEPV homes had mothers with at least a twelfth-grade education; 6 of the positive FEPV and 7 of the negative FEPV homes were judged as negative. The resultant chi-square, which tested independence of maternal educational level and FEPV ratings, was not statistically significant (x2 = .17). Ratings of the FEPV were also independent of maternal IQs; the mean I& of mothers who represented positive FEPV homes was 88.6; mean IQ of mothers from negative FEPV homes was 88.69. On the other hand, Ss from positive FEPV homes secured IQs 15 points higher than their counterparts from negative FEPV homes (103.10 us. 88.08;

Significant initial ITPD differences between Ss from positive and negative FEPV homes were noted on all four tests. The gain scores of Ss indicated that Ss from positive FEPV homes made greater gains on three of the four ITPD subtests,

p < .Ol).

180 RALPH SCOTT AND JAMES E. SMITH

but that statistically significant differences, which favored Ss from positive FEPV homes, were secured only on Concepts. Since Concepts gain scores had been demon- strated t o be correlated significantly with 8s’ IQs (r = .42), an analysis of co- variance was performed to determine whether the difference in Concepts gain scores might be related to Ss’ IQs when they entered Home Start program. The resulting analysis of covariance, obtained on Concepts gain scores of the two groups and with IQ scores as covariant, yielded an F-Ratio (12.60)) which indicates that when initial effects of I& differences between the two groups are controlled, Ss from positive FEPV homes still made significantly greater Concepts gain scores than did Ss from negative FEPV homes.

The Mann-Whitney U-Test was used to test whether positive FEPV and nega- tive FEPV Anglo-American groups were drawn from the same population with regard to the Concept gain score. The resulting value of U (12.00) was not sig- nificant. The same procedure was used to test possible differences between positive and negative FEPV Afro-American groups, and the resulting vdue of U (1.00) was statistically significant (p < .002). While the magnitude of the differences between the means of the positive and negative groups was larger for Anglo-Ameri- can than for Afro-American Ss, the difference was apparently significant only for Afro-American Ss because of the small N of Anglo-American Ss.

The Mann-Whitney U Test also was used to test the hypothesis that positive FEPV Anglo-American and Afro-American groups were drawn from the same population with regard to Concept learning score. The resulting U (7.50) was not statistically significant. Similarly, it was found that there were no statistically significant differences between the negative Anglo-American and Afro-American groups. These results appear to indicate that the racial differences previously noted in favor of Anglo-American 8s on Concept learning scores disappear when the effect of the FEPV is controlled.

DISCUSSION The major finding of this study was that FEPV, and not maternal I& and

education, were related to initial IQs and ITPD attainments as well as to gain scores in Concepts. This seems particularly significant in view of the fact that there were no I& differences between mothers of “positive” and “negative” FEPV Ss. The obtained results, therefore, cannot be explained solely on the basis of heredity and appear to support Bloom’s (1964) view that parental behavior within the home is a primary influence on I& and achievement patterns of young children.

Results with respect to FEPV may be compared with findings concerning the impact of maternaI education, since children of more highly educated mothers secured significantly higher IQs, but actually achieved somewhat lower, but not statistically significant, initial subtest scores on the ITPD than did Ss whose mothers had less formal education. This may indicate that, a t least within eco- nomically depressed areas, more highly educated mothers are less inclined to pro- vide their preschool children with sequential and stimulating experiences. On the other hand, these results may indicate that the preschool experience was more needed by children with poorly educated mothers and that they responded favorably to intervention procedures. Further research seems indicated to explore the possi- bility that the discrepancy between a preschool child’s achievement and gain

ETHNIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND ACHFEVEMENT SCORES 181

attainments is clinically useful to identify those home circumstances that are, or are not, conducive to general development, including cognitive growth. In any event, the findings reported here strongly underscore the likelihood that intra- family attitudes and behaviors significantly determine the outcome of compensatory education programs.

A recurrent theme of these findings is that deprived children would profit from experiences that enabled them to build up a reservoir of overlearned facts including mastery of key concepts that might be equated with crystallized intel- ligence. The only significant racial difference noted on initial ITPD scores was on the Concepts subtest. The statistically significant Concept subtest gain of Ss from positive FEPV homes indicates that these Ss, irrespective of maternal edu- cation or I&, are developing a solid base of Gc that should enable them to actualize Gf potentialities.

The statistically significant but negative relationship observed between ma- ternal I& and Afro-American ss’ gains on the Concepts subtest may indicate that some bright Afro-American mothers are inclined to find little satisfaction in the maternal role and hence do not stimulate their children as effectively as some less intelligent black mothers. The same dynamics may explain the high negative (but because of the low N, statistically insignificant) correlation between Anglo- American Ss’ gain in the Language subtest and maternal I&. For both Afro- American and Anglo-American Ss, relatively high but statistically insignificant correlations were secured between maternal I& and Ss’ Visual-Motor capabilities, irrespective of language and concept enrichment. Such a finding is consistent with Miller’s (1969) view that adult language and interest in a child’s development shapes prelinguistic perceptual learning.

SUMMARY The present findings suggest that FEPV, as well as Ss’ gain scores on the

Concepts subtest of the ITPD, are particularly sensitive measures than can be employed to identify children who are, or are not, profiting from cognitive-enrich- ment programs. The results also indicate that maternal I& and education are not particularly useful indices to assess the probable value that a child may derive from intervention procedures.

Educational Clinic University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Ia. 50613

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Educational Psychology, 1963, 64, 1-22. COLEMAN, J. S., CAMPBELL, E. Q:, HOB SON,^^. J., MCPARTLAND, J., MOOD, A. M., WEINFELD,

F. D., & YORK, R. L. Equalzty of educatzonal opportunity. Washington, D. C.: Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1966.

DAVE, R. H. The identification and measurement of environmental process variables thRt are related to educational achievement. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, 1963.

GOLDEN, M., & BIBNS, B. Social class and cognitive development in infancy. MerrilLPalmer Quart- erly, 1968, 14, 139-149.

182 RALPH SCOTT AND JAMES E. SMlTH

GOLDSTEIN, K. M., CARY, G. L., CHOROST, S. B., & DALACK, J. D. Family patterns and the school performance of emotionally disturbed boys. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1970, 3, 12-17.

HIRSHOREN, A. A comparison of the redictive validity of the Revised Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Illinois Test of Wyclolinguistic Abilities. Exceptional Children, 1969,36,517-521.

HONZIK, M . P MACFARLANE, J. W., & ALLEN, L. The stability of mental test performance between two and Gghteen years. In R. G. Kuhlen and George Thompson (Eds.), Psychological stvdierr of human development. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1970, 293-302.

HUNT, H. McV. The challenge of incompetence and poverty. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1969. JENSEN, A. R. Another look at culture-fair testing. In J. Hellmuth (Ed.), Disadvantaged child. (Vol.

MCCALL, R. B. Intelligence quotient pattern over age: comparisons among siblings and parenkchild

MILLER, J. 0. Review of selected intervention research with young children. Urban&, Ill. : ERIC Clearing-

National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Report. New York: Dutton, 1968. RIEBER, M., & WOMACK M. The intelligence of preschool children as related to ethnic and demo-

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AN INDIRECT MEASURE OF SELF-ESTEEM AND IMPULSE CONTROL IN ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL CHILDREN’

JAN LONEY

College of Medicine, University of Iowu

Elementary-school educational programs typically have as a central goal the elevation of children’s self-esteem; the assumption is that heightened self-esteem facilitates learning. When such programs are evaluated objectively, the need to measure self-esteem often collides with concern about the child’s privacy, since many self-concept measures strike parents as intrusive. Further, few self-concept instruments are simple enough for children in the earlier grades, and their com- plex’ties tend to reduce their enjoyability for children in all grades.

Studies of children’s self-concepts (e.g., Spaulding, 1965) indicate with some regu ‘t arity that self-esteem decreases with age. When the child emerges from the family circle, he finds that teachers and peers deal in academic and social skills. He compares himself to other children on all sorts of dimensions. He meets failure.

'This study waa made possible by the collaborative efforts of Donald Swenson, Elizabeth Rogers, aud Joseph Cullen, to whom the author is most grateful.