The Measurement of Environments: A Follow-up Study

Abstract

An earlier study on the development of measures of the home environment of elementary school students reported high levels of relationship between scores on these measures and students' performance on standardized ability and achievement tests. Since that report, considerable work has occurred in the area. A number of replications have been carried out in various locations with different groups. The results obtained in those studies agree closely with those obtained in the initial investigations. This article investigates another aspect of the study of home environments in a four-year follow-up of the original sample and reports that the relationships between the initial home environment measures are still highly predictive of measured scholastic ability and achievement four years later. INTRODUCTION An earlier article (Wolf, 1966) reported on the development of new instruments to measure aspects of the home environment of children. The article received a considerable amount of attention for two reasons. First, it reported on a new way of conceiving of and measuring the home environments of children. Second, my use of these new measures yielded stronger relationships between the home environment, measured scholastic aptitude, and school achievement than had previously been reported with measures of social status or economic well-being. This attention led to a number of studies that attempted to replicate the original findings with diverse groups of children in various locations. The new measures of home environment differed from previous ones such as social class measures in several distinct ways (Dave, 1963; Wolf, 1964). Following Bloom (1964), the new approach to the measurement of home environments was characterized by conceiving of specific environments for the development of particular characteristics. It was also characterized by attempting to measure environmental variables believed to be directly related to the development of specific characteristics and to summarize and relate environmental measurements to individual measurements. The first step in the development of new environmental measures was to compile a list of conditions and processes in the home environment that theory and previous research indicated were likely to influence the development of the characteristics of interest, namely, general intellectual ability and academic achievement. Separate lists of environmental process variables were developed for each characteristic. The home environment variables that were identified as likely to be related to general ability were: stimulation provided for intellectual growth, opportunities provided for and emphasis on verbal development, and provision for general types of learning in a variety of situations. The home environment variables identified as likely to be related to academic achievement were: the climate created for achievement motivation, opportunities provided for verbal development, the nature and amount of assistance provided in overcoming academic difficulties, the activity level of significant individuals in the home environment, the level of intellectuality in the home, and the kinds of work habits that were expected of the individual. Each environmental variable was further defined in terms of a number of environmental process characteristics. These traits consisted of specific behaviors of parents and others in the home that were likely to be related to general mental ability and academic achievement. For example, the environmental variable, which encompasses the climate for achievement motivation, was further defined by the parents' aspirations for their children's education, the parents' own aspirations, parental concern for academic achievement, parental emphasis placed in the home on academic achievement, the rewards accorded academic achievement, parents' knowledge of the educational progress, and the preparations made by parents for the achievement of their children's educational goals. …