Research supports the hypothesis that field dependence explains the poorer school achievement of Mexican-American children compared to Anglo-American children. To test that hypothesis, multiple regression and path analyses were used to interpret the relationships between culture, field dependence, and school achievement among 134 2nd-, 4th-, and 6th-grade Anglo-American and Mexican-American children. Results indicate that Mexican-Americans were significantly below Anglo-Americans in reading and math achievement, field independence was significantly correlated with both reading and math achievement, and Mexican-Americans were significantly more field dependent. Field dependence explains the cultural difference in math achievement but does not fully explain the cultural difference in reading achievement. Implications for understanding both field dependence and the nature of the observed cultural differences are discussed. (32 ref)

This experiment tested the hypothesis that the less competitive orientation of Mexican-American children is related to their lower school achievement. A sample of 230 Anglo-American and Mexican-American children attending kindergarten, Grades 1-2, 4, and 6 of a semirural low-income school were administered individual measures of competition, individualism, field independence, and school achievement. Results indicated significant effects of culture, sex, and age, but competition and individualism were not significantly correlated with each other and were not consistently related to field independence and school achievement. Results support the general conclusion that the less competitive social orientation of Mexican-American children as measured by experimental games is not necessarily a disadvantage with regard to school achievement.

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The effects of hierarchical relationships and physical arrangements on face-to-face communication in an office environment were investigated. Mutual exposure, physical distance between offices, chain-of-command distance, and status distance were compared as predictors of communication time. A path model was developed using exposure as a mediating variable between the distance measures and communication time. Exposure was a sufficient predictor of communication. Chain of command, status, and office distance all related to exposure, with chain-of-command distance having the strongest association with exposure. Distance between offices was primarily associated with chain-of-command distance, with status distance having a smaller but significant effect. Results suggest ways in which organizations might manage exposure in order to influence face-to-face communication.

No abstract