Journal of Pediatric Psychology 4(4) pp. 353-362, 1979
© 1979 Society of Pediatric Psychology
research-article |
Social Class Bias in Psychologists' Evaluations of Children1
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Iowa
2All correspondence should be addressed to Donald K. Routh, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242.
Psychologists experienced in the clinical evaluation of children were asked to examine case materials relating to boys 9 and 10 years of age, with IQs in the low-average range. The cases varied factorially in social class, classroom behaviors described by the children's teachers, and academic achievement. As expected, the psychologists judged children with poor achievement levels or negative behaviors as more likely to need special educational help, as requiring a higher proportion of their time in a resource room rather than in their regular classroom, and as likely to have lower levels of academic achievement over the long run. However, psychologists judged the children of higher socioeconomic status families more likely than those of lower status to be in need of special educational assistance and judged them to require a larger proportion of their time in a resource room. Possible explanations of this somewhat paradoxical social class effect are discussed.