Race and socio-economic-status in child psychopathology

Graduation date: 1978The effects of race and socio-economic-status on behavior\ud disorders in 362 black and white clinic boys between the ages\ud of six and twelve, were investigated using the Child Behavior\ud Check List. Precision matching and a representative distribution\ud of socio-economic-status was used in order to adequately study\ud both the interaction and individual of each variable.\ud Significant race effects showed whites scoring higher than\ud blacks on the depression and aggression scales, and blacks scoring\ud higher than whites on the hyperactive scale. All significant\ud interaction effects of race and socio-economic-status on the\ud behavior problems scales reflected two patterns: white high\ud socio-economic-status subjects scoring higher than black high\ud socio-economic-status and black low socio-economic-status scoring\ud higher than white low socio-economic-status. These patterns\ud reflect more pathology in white high socio-economic status subjects\ud on the depression, social withdrawal and aggression scale\ud than in the matched black group, and more pathology in black low\ud socio-economic-status subjects on the uncommunicative and hyperactive\ud scale than in the matched white group