Author: Joseph Lowman

Publisher: Institute for Research in Social Science University of North

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13:

This study reports on levels of achievement among rural black and white Southerners of relatively low socioeconomic status. The 262 persons who were the objects of the study were reared in Millfield, North Carolina. They were first studied by Baughman and Dahlstrom (1968) in the early 1960s when they were in the eighth grade. Ten years later, this study located and, through interviews, collected data from 175 or 67% of the 262 eighth-grade subjects. Conclusions include the following. Performance on the eighth grade standardized tests of intellectual and academic ability was found to be clearly related to subsequent achievement, both educational and economic. Although there was a lack of racial differences in educational attainment, black subjects achieved significantly lower job statuses and earned significantly lower incomes than white subjects. The study found a strong association of the family size cluster with achievement. This finding is consistent with population theorists' arguments about how having many children or having children close together creates burdens on a family system which often reduce opportunity. Few significant relationships were found between migration and achievement. In fact, most of the Millfield eighth graders did not move very far away from home. However, living away from Millfield, even if only for a brief period of time, was associated with greater achievement. For comparison purposes, the study also presents findings from major longitudinal studies of similar psychological characteristics. Trends in social change in this area of the South are also described to give the reader a feel for the people and the times in which they matured. (Author/RM).