Abstract
The effects of socio-economic status, fathers’ absence, family size, and birth order on the preference for conceptual style of Grade 6 elementary school children in Jamaica, West Indies, were examined. The 206 boys and 212 girls were from 5 urban schools. The Conceptual Style Test and a questiononaire were administered. Analytic conceptual style was significantly and positively correlated with socio-economic status for girls but not for boys. The relations between preference for conceptual style and the other variables were nonsignificant.
The relation between preference for conceptual style and other variables, cognitive and physical, has received some attention (Satterly, 1976; Robinson & Gray, 1974). The present investigation examined the relationships between conceptual style preference and social variables, in particular socio-economic status, fathers’ absence, family size, and birth order.
Conceptual style preference is a dimension of cognitive style which refers to the type of conceptual relationships among objects typically formed by the child (Kagan, Moss, & Siegel, 1963). Kagan and his associates identified three cognitive styles based on subjects’ grouping of common pictorial stimuli. The descriptive-analytic style is based on the similarity of a part of each stimulus, e.g., the ears. The inferential-categorical style is typified by some inferred quality or language convention; each stimulus being an independent example of the conceptual label, e.g., “women,” “animals.” The relational-contextual style is typified by the association of a whole stimulus with another whole stimulus on the basis of functional relationships which may obtain between them, e.g., the woman wears the dress. The Conceptual Style Test was employed by Kagan and his associates to identify these response preferences. Kagan's group concept of style can be used in a bicategorical system, analytic style versus non-analytic.
Cognitive styles give information about the way individuals perform on perceptual and intellectual tasks. The importance of the social variables to intellectual activity has been demonstrated by several researchers: on socioeconomic status (Miller, 1970), on father's absence (Santrock, 1972), on family size (Thouless, 1967), and on birth order (Breland, 1974).
This study hopes to answer the following questions: (1) What is the relation between socio-economic status and conceptual style preference? (2) Is conceptual style preference related to father absence? (3) Does a relation between family size and conceptual style preference exist? (4) Is there a relation between conceptual style preference and birth order?
Method
The sample of Grade 6 children, 206 boys and 212 girls, attended five urban elementary schools in Jamaica. The Conceptual Style Test and a questionnaire were administered. The Conceptual Style Test had a Kuder-Richardson reliability coefficient of .9.
The analysis utilized simple regression; Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used.
Socio-economic status was assessed using Miller's (1967) Occupational Coding Scheme. The distribution for socio-economic status of the sample was: professional and managerial—32% of boys and 29% of girls; skilled and semiskilled—51% of boys and 57% of girls; and unskilled—17% of boys and 14% of girls.
Results
The correlation between analytic conceptual style preference and socioeconomic status was .133 (p < .01) for the sample; .092 for boys and .183 (p < .01) for the girls. Hence for girls, but not for boys, socio-economic status has a significant positive correlation with analytic conceptual style.
The non-significant correlations between analytic conceptual style and father's absence were .017 for the sample, -.005 for boys and .032 for the girls.
For family size, non-significant correlations with analytic conceptual style were -.078 for the sample, -.129 for the boys and -.017 for the girls. The non-significant correlations between analytic style and birth order were -.030 for the sample, -.060 for the boys, and .008 for the girls.
Discussion
Witkin, Dyk, Faterson, Goodenough, and Karp (1962) have reported separate autonomous functioning of the child to be related to his degree of analytic ability. Several studies (Miller, 1970) have found that in homes of low socio-economic status there is a very low degree of autonomy. This however may be more so for girls than for boys. In part, this result may be a consequence of lower-class Jamaican girls receiving many chores at home as their mothers are out earning the family income. Middle-class homes on the other hand usually employ a maid thus giving the middle-class girls greater freedom to explore their environment. Indeed, the finding that boys of low socio-economic status are as analytic as boys of high socio-economic status suggests that the former experience as much autonomy at home as the latter.
While no relation was found between fathers’ absence and conceptual style preference at the Grade 6 level, a relationship may exist for younger children. It is more in the earlier years that father plays a more substantial role than peers do in the child's psychological development (Santrock, 1972). For older children fathers’ absence may be cushioned by reliance on peer attachment.
Family size and birth order have no significant effect on conceptual style preference. The spacing between the ages of siblings of Jamaican families represented in the sample may be so small that perhaps children receive similar training at home and consequently develop similar cognitive styles. The Jamaican family is usually large with siblings close in age.
The findings suggest further studies of the effects of social variables on conceptual style preference where spacing between siblings is taken into account. An investigation which examines the domestic chores and activities of the subjects should further elucidate the relationship between socio-economic status and conceptual style preference.