Separation of home intellectual environment and maternal IQ as determinants of child IQ.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure the separate contributions of maternal IQ and home environment as they predict child IQ. Both parental IQ and child IQ were measured with Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. These tests were adminstered to 80 mothers, 35 fathers, and 80 children (mean age 12 years). Home intellectual environment was assessed through a 2-hour interview with the mother. Multiple regression analyses showed that for each IQ test and for the two scores combined, the addition of home environment ratings to the regression equations did not add a significant increment to the prediction of child IQ from that provided by maternal IQ, whereas the addition of maternal IQ to the regression equation did add a significant increment to that provided by home environment ratings. Thus it was clearly demonstrated that the correlation of home environment and child IQ is considerably overestimated when maternal IQ is allowed to covary. When maternal IQ was statistically controlled, the correlation between home environment ratings and child IQ was attenuated to nonsignificance.The major goal of this study was to assess the relative influences of maternal intelligence and home environment on the intelligence of the child. There are few studies that have measured these two influences independently. Instead, the usual procedure is to measure only home environment (and indirectly at that) by simply obtaining an index of socioeconomic status (SES) and determining the relationship between parental SES and child IQ. The typical correlation is around .40. Vernon (1979) described the typical conclusion:It is usually taken for granted by most American psychologists that the superior IQs of upper-and middle-We thank Paul Games, Arthur R. Jensen, Lee Willerman, and two anonymous referees for their comments on an earlier version of this article. We would also like to express appreciation to Longstreth's entire class of Intellectual Development, Spring 1979, for its involvement in planning and preliminary interviewing. The class members were

Predictors of Home Environment and Cognitive Competence During Early Childhood in Pakistan

“…As expected, all the SES variables were positively related to each other. Consistent with other studies (Longstreth et al, 1981;Luster, 1985;Yeates etal., 1983), the mothers' level of education was positively correlated with fathers' level of education, even though the mean level of education differed markedly for mothers and fathers. Because only mothers were interviewed and observed, and mothers' and fathers' education were highly correlated, a decision was made to use only mothers' education in the subsequent analysis.…”

“…First, level of education is likely to influence parents' ideas about the nature of development (Sameroff & Fiel, 1985), and their beliefs about how they contribute to favorable developmental outcomes (Luster, Rhoades & Haas, 1989). Secondly, mothers' level of education is typically positively related to mothers' level of cognitive ability; several studies have shown that more intelligent mothers, on average, tend to provide relatively supportive environments to their children (Longstreth et al, 1981;Luster & Dubow, 1992;Scarr, 1985). Third, mothers who have achieved more years of schooling tend to be more aware of what it takes to be successful in school, and consequently provide experiences in the home that prepare children for success in the cognitive domain (Laosa, 1980).…”

Genetic and environmental influences on human psychological differences

“…; cf. Longstreth et al, 1981) and his/her IQ, is too numerous to discuss here. Plomin (1994) provides a comprehensive treatment of this problem, pointing out that such environmental measures themselves are often somewhat heritable.…”

Behavioral Control Dynamics and Developmental Outcomes in Infants Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine

“…Observed maternal-interaction characteristics are both cross-sectionally and longitudinally related to cognitive ability in preschool-and schoolaged children. Further, these associations hold even when maternal background factors such as maternal IQ, socioeconomic status ͑SES͒, and life stressors have been controlled for ͑Kelly Longstreth et al, 1981;Scarr, 1985͒. High levels of warmth, responsivity, sensitivity, verbal interaction ͑Hann et al, 1996; Klein, Wieder, & Greenspan, 1987;Olson et al, 1984͒ and low levels of maternal directiveness and control ͑Klein et al, 1987;Murray & Hornbaker, 1997;Olson et al, 1984͒ have been linked to later cognitive competence.…”