Between-race Differences Research Articles

The Development of In-Group Pride in Black Canadians

Age differences in attitudes of kindergarten and third-grade Black children from a majority-Black school in a Canadian city toward Blacks, Whites, and Amerindians, were examined on both the single-response Preschool Racial Attitudes Measure (PRAM) and a new multiple-response measure. On both measures, third graders were more pro-Black than kindergartners. Pro-Black biases were much stronger on the multiple-response measure. Despite this general finding, there was a great deal of heterogeneity in racial preferences. Self-identification scores indicated little confusion about racial labels even in preschoolers. Pro-Black biases were stronger in children with higher Black self-identification and racial constancy. Perception of racial differences increased with age, but reconciliation of these differences also increased. Conservation and reconciliation were not associated with racial attitudes. However, constancy and perceptions of within- and between-race differences were. Strongly biased attitudes toward either Whites or Blacks were associated with perceptions of greater between-race differences, whereas attitudes toward Amerindians were associated with self-identification, constancy, and perceptions of within-race differences. Advantages of the new multiple-response measure of attitudes were discussed.

Individual and aggregate influences on the age at first birth

This study examines the role of both individual adolescent expectations of market and nonmarket income and aggregate influences on first birth timing for Blacks and Whites and for three birth cohorts of American women. Using two panels of the National Longitudinal surveys, results suggest that between-race differences in age at first birth result from differences in individual expectations about market and nonmarket income. Cohort differences in age at first birth result from relationship differences in both individual and aggregate influences, with aggregate influences differentially altering the role of individual expectations on first birth timing. These results suggest that employment policies that reduce poverty and increase wages would effectively delay childbearing. For Blacks, since early childbearing results from lower expectations about future economic success, similar fertility timing patterns between the races would result if Blacks had White employment and wage levels. Over time, these employment and wage policies will not only alter individual expectations about economic success but also will alter the impact of expectations on fertility timing.

Racial Differences in Criminal Processing: The Consequences of Model Selection on Conclusions About Differential Treatment

This study examines the impact of model selection on substantive conclusions about racial differences in presentence and sentencing practices. Using a statewide sample of convicted felons, an additive model is estimated to assess the direct and indirect effects of race on various dispositional decisions. Then, separate models for blacks and whites are estimated to evaluate within- and between-race differences. A comparison of the results from each specification illustrates how the standard additive approach used in past studies can mask and suppress racial differences in criminal processing. The findings of race-specific models are then discussed in terms of their implications for further research on racial disparity in the application of criminal sanctions.

Articulate statistics and educational equity

Policy research on educational equity from 1965 to 1975 challenged the ‘conventional wisdom’ about schools. Apparently families, not schools, produce education, and the black-white achievement gap is not explained by school differences. But these counter-intuitive conclusions are drawn from studies of individual differences in achievement, and the radical political perspective articulated by that mode of analysis belittles and distorts relationships that moderates find significant. A moderate-style statistical articulation, that focuses primarily on between-race and between-status differences, is available. It produces findings that are largely consistent with the “conventional wisdom” when applied to data from Coleman's (1966) study of schools. Despite measurement problems, schools and other environmental variables statistically explain the bulk of the black-white achievement gap.