Abstract
Psychological tests at 8 months and at 4 years of age were administered to 129 children of interracial (Negro-white) matings in the Collaborative Study. These interracial children were divided into two groups, depending on whether the mother was the white or the Negro partner. Stanford-Binet IQs of the 4-year-old children of white mothers averaged approximately 9 points higher than those with Negro mothers (p<0.01). The only behavioral difference on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 8 months of age was in favor of the interracial children of Negro mothers (p<0.05). The results are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that postnatal environmental factors make a very substantial contribution to racial differences in intelligence test performance.
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From the Collaborative Study supported by NINDS, NIH. It has the following participants: Boston Lying-in Hospital; Brown University; Charity Hospital, New Orleans; Children's Hospital of Buffalo; Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Children's Medical Center, Boston; Columbia University; Johns Hopkins University; Medical College of Virginia; New York Medical College; Pennsylvania Hospital; University of Minnesota; University of Oregon; University of Tennessee; Yale University; and the Perinatal Research Branch, NINDS. Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
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Willerman, L., Naylor, A.F. & Myrianthopoulos, N.C. Intellectual development of children from interracial matings: Performance in infancy and at 4 years. Behav Genet 4, 83–90 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066706
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066706