Baughman Frank D, Cook Sally A, Treasure Simone K, Morley Amy, Dauer Evan, Haywood Darren
Neurocognitive Developmental Laboratory, School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Human Performance Research Centre, INSIGHT Research Institute, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Aust J Psychol. 2024 Dec 9;77(1):2435318. doi: 10.1080/00049530.2024.2435318. eCollection 2025.
Research indicates that socioeconomic status (SES) influences developmental outcomes, particularly in language, executive functions, and intelligence, though findings have been mixed. This study examines the relationship between academic, cognitive and intellectual abilities in a cross-section of children at two age levels in low-SES vs. high-SES schools.
We administered a computerised battery of tests to 46 children in Grade Two (youngest 6.9 years old) and 67 children in Grade Six (oldest 12.4 years old) across four primary schools from low-SES and high-SES neighbourhoods. The test battery comprised two academic ability tests, five cognitive ability tests, and two intelligence tests.
In Grade Two, the low-SES group showed disadvantages on all measures except the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and Choice Reaction Time. In Grade Six, while academic differences persisted between SES groups, cognitive differences were limited to the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, where the high-SES group performed better than the low-SES group.
Though our results pertain to cross-sectional data using neighbourhood indices of SES, our findings contrast with previous research showing broad and pervasive disadvantages associated with lower SES. Future research should further examine the potential differences and similarities in developmental outcomes across SES groups using longitudinal methods.
研究表明社会经济地位（SES）会影响发育结果，尤其是在语言、执行功能和智力方面，不过研究结果并不一致。本研究考察了低社会经济地位学校与高社会经济地位学校中两个年龄层儿童的学业、认知和智力能力之间的关系。
我们对来自低社会经济地位和高社会经济地位社区的四所小学的46名二年级儿童（最小6.9岁）和67名六年级儿童（最大12.4岁）进行了一系列计算机化测试。测试组合包括两项学业能力测试、五项认知能力测试和两项智力测试。
在二年级，低社会经济地位组在除威斯康星卡片分类任务和选择反应时之外的所有测量指标上都表现出劣势。在六年级，虽然社会经济地位组之间的学业差异仍然存在，但认知差异仅限于威斯康星卡片分类任务，高社会经济地位组在该任务上的表现优于低社会经济地位组。
尽管我们的结果涉及使用社会经济地位邻里指数的横断面数据，但我们的发现与先前显示低社会经济地位存在广泛且普遍劣势的研究形成对比。未来的研究应该使用纵向方法进一步考察不同社会经济地位组在发育结果方面的潜在差异和相似之处。
