Comparability of GATB scores for immigrants and majority group members: Some Dutch findings.

Abstract

The central question addressed in this article is whether the test scores of immigrants and majority group members reflect the same dimensions. Use was made of scores on the Dutch version of the General Aptitude Test Battery on first-generation immigrants (N = 1,322) and majority group members (N = 806) who applied for blue-collar jobs in the Netherlands. The group differences with respect to the construct validity were small. Spearman's hypothesis that general intelligence is the predominant factor determining the size of the differences between 2 groups was borne out significantly. The test can be put to good use for comparisons within culturally homogeneous groups of non-nativeborn, non-native-language minorities. Use of the test for comparisons between immigrant and majority group members, however, requires supplementary research. The currently most widely used standardized tests of mental ability-IQ, scholastic aptitude, and achievement tests-Jan te Nijenhuis and Henk van der Flier,

Spearman's hypothesis tested comparing Libyan secondary school children with various other groups of secondary school children on the items of the Standard Progressive Matrices

“…Support for Spearman's hypothesis was found in samples of adults (te Nijenhuis & van der Flier, 1997, secondary school children (te Nijenhuis, Evers, & Mur, 2000) and young children (te Nijenhuis, Tolboom, Resing, & Bleichrodt, 2004). In South Africa comparisons were made of Blacks, Whites, and Indians (Lynn & Owen, 1994).…”

The relation between fluid intelligence and the general factor as a function of cultural background: A test of Cattell's Investment theory

“…This method has been widely adopted as a method for investigating factors associated with the g-factor, and it has been applied to test if the Spearman hypothesis can account for performance differences between other groups, such as non-immigrant and immigrant groups. Using the method of correlated vectors te Nijenhuis & van der Flier (1997, 2003 concluded that performance differences between immigrants and non-immigrants in the Netherlands can be explained by the Spearman hypothesis in combination with language bias in tests with a strong verbal component.…”

Investigating Spearman's Hypothesis by Means of Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis

“…A mean (Spearman's rho) correlation of .59 (sd .12), obtained using this procedure, has been reported on the basis of 11 studies (Jensen, 1985). For other applications of Jensen's test, see Naglieri and Jensen (1987), Lynn and Owen (1994), te Nijenhuis and van der Flier (1997), and Rushton (1999).…”