Race, Gender, and Maternal Education Differences on Three Measures of the Early Screening Profiles

Abstract

The records of 979 preschool children were used to determine if differences in early childhood development can be accounted for by differences in performance on three measures of the Early Screening Profiles. A 2 × 2 × 3 (Race × Gender × Maternal education) MANOVA design was used for analysis with Cognitive/Language, Self-Help/Social, and Motor Profile standard scores as the three dependent variables. No statistically significant multivariate three-way or two-way interactions were observed. Univariate follow-ups to statistically significant main effects for race and maternal education that yielded statistically significant F values (a = .01) produced the following: (a) children classified as white scored significantly higher than children classified as black on both the Cognitive and Motor Profiles; (b) children for whom mothers reported high or medium levels of formal education scored higher than children for whom mothers reported low levels of formal education on the Cognitive Profile; and (c) children for whom mothers reported medium levels of formal education scored significantly higher than children for whom mothers reported low levels of formal education on the Motor Profile.