Intra- and Extracultural Perceptions of Competence in Rural African American Youth

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the extent to which adults' ratings of cognitive and social competence among rural African American children converge. Hypotheses about the conditions under which intracultural and extracultural raters perceive children's competencies similarly were also tested. Mothers, fathers, relatives, family friends, and teachers independently assessed cognitive and social competence for a sample of 91 rural African American children. The data supported predictions that ratings of cognitive competence would be more similar across raters than would ratings of social competence, and that parents' involvement in their children's schools would be associated with more similarity in parents' and teachers' ratings of child competence. Identification of the processes that help African American children to function well in both intracultural and extracultural settings is important.