The influence of race on 3-year-old children's performance on the Stanford-Binet: Fourth edition

Abstract

This study examines the influence of race on performance on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition (SB:FE; Thorndike, Hagan, & Sattler, 1986) for European American and African American children matched on age, gender, birth order, and maternal education. A significant difference in mean IQ, favoring European American children, was found indicating that racial group differences in IQ could be demonstrated at 3 years of age. The magnitude of difference was approximately 1 SD. The African American children scored lower on each subtest administered. However, the degree of disparity in performance between the groups was disproportionately associated with particular subtests. The greater the subtest's loading on the first principal factor, the greater the disparity in scores between the two racial groups ( r = .71). Thus, our findings confirm the Spearman hypothesis as early as 3 years of age.