PERFORMANCE OF NEGRO AND WHITE CHILDREN AND PROBLEM AND NONPROBLEM CHILDREN ON T H E STANFORD BINET SCALE

JULIA R. VANE JONATHAN WEITZMAN AND ADRIAN P. APPLEBAUM

Hojatra University Port o j New York Authority Bwrd o j Cooperdive Educational Services, Patchoque, N. Y.

PROBLEM This study investigated the Stanford Binet performance of matched groups

of (a) white and Negro children, and (b) problem and nonproblem children, t o determine whether the subtest items would show significant differences between the respective groups. I n addition, Stanford Binet results of white suburban children stratified according to socioeconomic status were collected to determine whether the mean IQ of this group would differ significantly from the theoretical Stanford Binet Mean IQ of 100. Stanford Binet results of Negro suburban children stratified according to socioeconomic status were collected to compare these with the Stanford Binet results of 1800 Southern Negro children tested by Kennedy, Van De Riet and White

PROCEDURE White and Negro Children. Records of 110 white and 110 Negro children were

selected from a sample of Stanford Binet L-M tests administered in a suburban New York school district as part of a survey of school intelligence. Children with behavioral problems, severe retardation or brain damage were not included.

Records of 76 problem children, all of whom had displayed problem behavior severe enough to warrant referral to a dis- trict psychological center, were selected from the files of a suburban New York school system. Records of 76 nonproblem children were chosen from the same school district from which the white and Negro samples had been drawn, and 49 of the nonproblem children were included in the sample of 220 white and Negro children. Those with severe retardation or brain damage were not included.

The white and Negro children and the problem and nonproblem children comprised pairs matched within three months for mental and chronological age. The great majority were also matched for sex. All pairs were in the same socio- economic category as measured by occupation of the father. The children ranged in age from 6 to 10 years. The groups selected were not representative for, in order to obtain close matches, many white children with superior IQs, many Negroes from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and many problem children with below average IQs could not be included.

Records of 113 white children were drawn so that representation in each socioeconomic category, as defined by occupation of the father, was proportional to the 1960 United States Census figures for urban whites. Direct comparison with the Stanford Binet standardization population was not possible, because Terman and Merrill (8 * 9 , report only combined percentages for urban and rural children. There were 32 six and 32 seven year olds and 49 eight year olds, as compared to the Terman and Merrill sample of 100 children at each of these age levels.

Normative Negro Group. Records of 100 Negro children were selected so that representation in each socioeconomic category was proportional to the 1960 United States Census figures for occupations of urban Negroes. There were 33 six, 33 seven and 34 eight year olds.

Problem and Nonproblem Children.

Normative White Group.

RESULTS White and Negro Children. Table 1 indicates that the white group was superior

to the Negro with respect to Vocabulary Age. There was a significant difference

432 JULIA R. VANE, JONATHAN WEITZMAN AND ADRIAN P. APPLEBAUM

between the white and blue collar groups with respect to test scatter, which was measured by counting the number of subtest items from the first failure up to and including the last success.

Table 2 shows significant differences in favor of the white group on Vocab- ulary (VI-1), Analogies (VI-5), Copying a Diamond (VII-3) and Vocabulary (X-1). When the white collar group was compared with the blue collar group there were differences significant a t the .05 level, in favor of the blue collar group on Compre- hension (VII-4), Comprehension (VIIId), and Memory for Designs (XI-1). No differences were found between boys and girls as a whole, but the 54 white boys were superior to the 48 Negro boys on Analogies (VI-5) and Memory for Designs (XI-1). The 56 white girls were higher than the 62 Negro girls on Vocabulary (VI-1), but the Negro girls were superior on Absurdities (VIII-3) and Similarities (XI-6). All these subgroup differences were significant a t the .05 level.

Problem and Nonproblem Children. Table 1 indicates that although the two larger groups were closely matched, the boys had a significantly higher I& and lower chronological age than the girls, and the white collar group had a significantly

AGE' AND SCATTER AND MEAN SOCIOECONOMIC INDEX^ OF WHITE AND NEGRO CHILDREN AND PROBLEM AND NONPROBLEM CHILDREN

TABLE 1. MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF I&, CHRONOLOGICAL AGE, VOCABULARY

Group N I& CA VA Scatter SEI Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean

Whites 110 108.8 13.0 90.4 11.2 93.9* 17.1 9.4 5.1 3.8 Negroes 110 107.5 14.4 89.6 10.9 87.1* 19.8 9.2 5.2 3.8 Boys 102 108.6 12.5 89.6 11.4 90.5 16.5 9.1 3.7 3.9 Girls 118 108.2 14.4 90.3 10.7 90.8 20.4 9.4 5.5 3.7 Whitecollar 74 107.9 12.7 87.7 11.1 89.5 18.7 8.4** 5.1 2.2* Bluecollar 146 108.7 13.3 91.2 10.9 91.3 17.9 9.9** 5.0 4.6*

Problem 76 104.9 14.5 88.4 11.5 91.9 21.8 9.1** 4.9 3.8 _ ~ _ . . Nonproblem 76 105.1 14.5 88.4 11.3 87.9 19.4 7.4** 4.7 3.9 Boys 113 106.3* 15.3 87.5* 10.8 88.9 19.1 8.4 4.9 3.9 Girls 39 100.9' 10.9 91.0, 12.5 92.7 24.7 8.1 4.8 3.8 Whitecollar 46 113.1* 12.3 86.4 10.5 94.5** 18.7 7.0** 4.5 1.8* Bluecollar 106 101.4* 13.9 89.2 11.6 87.9** 21.3 8.9** 4.8 4.7* -

*Difference significant at the .Ol level; ** at the .05 level. 'Method developed by Cureton (2) for determining Vocabulary Age. Bocioeconomic index based upon U. S. Census Occupational categories and classified as: 1. professional, technical; 2. managers, owners; 3. sales, clerical; 4. craftsmen, foremen,operatives, semiskilled; 5. service; 6. laborers, unskilled. White collar: categories 1, 2, 3; Blue collar: categories 4, 5, 6.

higher mean I& than the blue collar group. The problem children showed sig- nificantly greater scatter than their nonproblem matches, and the blue collar group showed significantly greater scatter than the white collar group.

Table 2 shows significant differences in favor of the nonproblem children on Vocabulary (VI-1) and Digits Forward (VII-6), and in favor of the problem children on Copying a Diamond (VII-3) and Vocabulary (VIII-1). The same differences in the same direction were found between the 56 problem boys and the 57 non- problem boys. In addition, the nonproblem boys were significantly higher on Com- prehension (VIII-4). The 20 nonproblem girls were significantly higher than the 19 problem girls on Absurdities (VIIIS), but the problem girls were higher on Comprehension (VIII-4). All subgroup differences were significant a t the .05 level. No figures were computed for the white and blue collar groups or for the total boys and girls, because significant differences in I& between these groups made comparisons meaningless.

PERFORMANCE ON T H E STANFORD B I N E T SCALE 433

TABLE 2. PERCENTAGE OF DIFFERENT GROUPS PASSING EACH SUBTEST ITEM

Subtest White Negro Problem Nonprob. White Negro Negro Norm Norm Southern

VI-1 VI-2 VI-4 VI-5

VII-2 VII-3 VII-4 VII-6

VIII-1 VIII-3 VIII-4 VIII-5

IX-3 IX-4 IX-5 IX-6

x-1 x-3 x-5 X-6

XI-1 XI-2 XI-3 XI-6

XII-1 XII-2 XII-5 XII-6

XIII-1 XIII-2 XIII-4 XIII-5

99* 96 97 94**

77 85** 85 75

80 42 62 66

38 60 35 30

26** 22 27 29

10 7 5

24

1 9 3 7

6 2 3 3

90* 95 95 85**

75 74** 85 75

70 48 63 66

28 58 32 33

15** 20 27 31

6 6 8

25

5 9 3 5

2 2 6 2

88** 93 91 89

67 86** 83 55**

75** 29 51 51

29 41 26 24

21 13 21 21

9 9 5

20

4 8 1 1

3 1 3 0

96** 93 93 92

68 74** 79 68**

64** 39 54 51

29 46 30 25

21 16 17 12

8 7 5

17

1 5 3 3

3 1 0 2

100 98 97 90

76 86 90 77

78 46 64 67

36 63 33 32

26 19 27 29

13 8 7

25

1 15 4 7

7 2 4 4

90 95 92 85

67 74 83 69

59 41 52 59

20 49 25 24

11 13 16 27

5 5 5

16

4 6 2 4

2 2 4 2

61 78 91 81

56 61 61 68

34 31 41 41

33 29 46 35

12 12 28 23

12 6 8

10

2 6 3 6

3 2 4 3

*Difference significant at the .01 level; ** a t the .05 level.

Despite the differences shown between the white and Negro groups and between the problem and nonproblem groups, Table 2 indicates that the patterns of both matched groups resembled one another closely, and there were more similarities than differences. A rank order correlation of + .95 was found between the per- centage of white and Negro children passing each subtest item, and a correlation of + .96 between the problem and nonproblem children.

When the percentages for all the groups passing each subtest item reported in Table 2 are compared, it is evident that all are similar and roughly comparable to the order established by Terman and Merrill(g). There were consistent excep- tions, however, which show that the Similarities item (VII-2) is more difficult than the two items following it, namely, Copying a Diamond (VII-3) and Compre- hension (VII-4). Absurdities (VIII-3) is more difficult than three items following it, namely, Similarities (VIII-4), Comprehension (VIII-5) and Rhymes (1X-4). Abstract Words (X-3) is more difficult than three items following it, namely, Word Naming (X-5), Digits Forward (X-6) and Similarities (XI-6). Similarities (XI-6) is easier than three itenis preceding it, namely, Memory for Designs (XI-l), Absurdities (XI-2) and Abstract Words (XI-3). Since these variations occurred

434 JULIA R. VANE, JONATHAN WEITZMAN AND ADRIAN P. APPLEBAUM

in almost every one of the seven groups reported, it would appear that the dif- ferences are characteristic of the test and not specific to the groups under study.

Test Scatter. The meaningfulness of test scatter as an index of emotional disturbance and/or inefficient intellectual functioning is di5cult to assess in view of the results obtained. Although the problem children, with a mean scatter index of 9.1, were more variable than the nonproblem children who had a mean scatter index of 7.4, the mean scatter index of the white and Negro groups was 9.4 and 9.2 respectively, and was 9.4 for the 113 children of the white normative group and 8.6 for the 100 children of the Negro normative group. The blue collar children consistently showed greater variability than the white collar children, but the mean scatter of the blue collar children was closer to that of the normative groups than was the mean scatter of the white collar children. It would appear that scatter as a diagnostic concept should be used with caution, a conclusion reached by Schnei- der and Smillie() who found no significant differences in scatter on the Stanford Binet Scale when they compared a group of 27 emotionally disturbed children with a matched group of 27 normal children.

Normative White Group. The mean I& of the 113 children in the normative white group was 112.7, SD 14.1. When the records of all the white children between six and ten years of age who had been tested for routine educational purposes were divided into white and blue collar groups, the mean I& for the 103 white collar children was 115.4, SD 16.4, and for the 109 blue collar children was 108.1, SD 15.2. If severely retarded and brain injured children had been included in the sample, the means of the groups might have been slightly lower, but not significantly so in view of the fact that according to Terman and Merrills data(g), children with IQs below 70 comprise only 2% of the population.

A major factor enabling the children in the normative sample to obtain a mean IQ considerably above the theoretical norm of 100 undoubtedly was residence in an area of higher than average income and educational level. This does not appear to be an isolated instance, for studies by Lehman(6) in Wisconsin, Mehlman(6) in Ohio, and Caplan and Siebert) in Ohio all indicate such a trend. The standard- izing group of Terman and Merrill@# p. a6) drawn from California showed mean I@ of 104.5 and 104.7. Although the authors attributed the higher than expected IQs to sampling bias, it is possible that the I& of 100 as applied to the population of the United States may no longer be valid and a mean I& closer to 105 is more likely to be appropriate. Even higher IQs might be expected in communities where superior educational and socioeconomic opportunities enhance the development of intellectual potential. Another interpretation is that as the result of increased public awareness of tests, schools and parents in communities that are strongly oriented toward achievement have been exposing their children to items similar to those that appear on intelligence tests.

Normative Negro Group. The mean I& of the 100 children in the normative suburban Negro group was 103.3, SD 15.2. This is comparable to the mean of the white standardizing group of Terman and Merrill (9). It is significantly higher than that of the southern Negro group of similar chronological age tested by Kennedy et a,?.(4), whose mean IQs ranged from 84.4 for the 227 six year olds to 80.1 for the 281 nine year olds. A direct comparison with this group is not valid, for although the occupation of the parent was used as a socioeconomic index, the southern sample included substantially more children from the lowest classes and from large families than was warranted by the census data. The fact that the mean I& of the southern Negro children in the highest occupational category was 105.0(~ P. 80) and 79.4 in the lowest occupational category suggests that the mean IQs would have been higher had a representative sample been used.

The influence of occupational status on the Stanford Binet results was also indicated by a study of Higgins and Sivers@). They found a mean I& of 90.6 for 440 white children and 90.3 for 349 Negro children from the lowest socioeconomic

PERFORMANCE ON THE STANFORD BINET SCALE 435

areas of a northeastern city. Although the results were low, the mean I& of the Negro children was considerably above that of the 1800 Negro children tested by Kennedy et al. ( I ) , suggesting that children of lower socioecomonic backgrounds may perform at a higher level in northern cities.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The results of the present study indicate that performance on the subtest

items of the Stanford Binet Scale by matched groups of white and Negro children and matched groups of problem and nonproblem children is very similar. A few subtest items differentiated the groups, but the overall picture was one of similar test patterning. Vocabulary was one of the subtests that tended to show differences between both sets of groups. Although Vocabulary is often considered to be one of the most reliable indicators of intelligence, it appears to be more vulnerable to the influence of cultural and psychological factors than some of the other subtests.

The results also suggest that a number of subtest items are placed incorrectly with respect to order of difficulty. This, combined with the contradictory results with respect to the variability of the different groups studied, suggest that Terman and Merrill(io~ p. 59) were correct in saying, Though many attempts have been made to attach diagnostic significance to scatter, we have never found evidence to justify its use as a diagnostic sign.

The results also indicate that it is possible that the general tested I& of children in the United States has risen somewhat above the theoretical mean I& of 100, and that particularly high levels of tested intelligence may be found in areas of widespread educational and cultural enrichment. Although this points to the strong influence of environment on tested intelligence, it is not felt that it renders the Stanford Binet or other intelligence tests invalid as measures of intellectual potent- ial. It indicates that results must be interpreted within a framework that includes an awareness of the environmental factors to which the child is exposed.

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KENNEDY, W. A., VAN DE RIET, V. and WHITE, J. C. A normative sample of intelligence and achievement of Negro elementary school children in the southeastern United States. Monogr. Soc. Res. Child Develpm. 1963,. $8, no. 6:

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