Category: Racial Issues

Overturning more than 40 years of accepted practice, new research proves that the tools used to check tests of "general mental ability" for bias are themselves flawed. This key finding from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business challenges reliance on such exams to make objective decisions for employment or academic admissions even in the face of well-documented gaps between mean scores of white and minority populations.

The study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, investigated an amalgam of scores representing a vast sample of commonly used tests, including civil service or other pre-employment exams and university entrance exams.

"Test bias" means that two people with different ethnicity or gender, for example, who have the same test score are predicted to have different "scores" on the outcome (e.g., job performance); thus a biased test might benefit certain groups over others. Decades of earlier research consistently found no evidence of test bias against ethnic minorities, but the current study challenges this established belief.

"For generations, important decisions have been made about life-changing opportunities in employment and education based on results of these tests — but we can no longer say with certainty they are unbiased," said Herman Aguinis, professor of organizational behavior and human resources and director of the Kelley School's new Institute for Global Organizational Effectiveness.

He led the study, which was co-authored by Steven A. Culpepper at the University of Colorado Denver and Charles A. Pierce at the University of Memphis.

"Our findings are significant because we proved that bias can be present but not be detected by even the top experts in the field, which could result in inaccurate prediction of outcomes such as job and academic performance for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of individuals," Aguinis said.

To reach these conclusions, Aguinis and his co-authors created the largest simulation of its kind — using nearly 16 million individual samples to yield more than eight trillion pairs of individual test/outcome scores. They built bias into most samples to resemble real-world results and used newly available super computing technology and power to check tens of billions of scores. They found the procedures in use today overwhelmingly and repeatedly missed the bias inserted in the data.

Few topics in human resource management have generated more public attention than bias in pre-employment and academic-admissions exams.

"The belief in the fairness of the tests and the accuracy of the gauges to check them has been so deeply engrained that to challenge them would be akin to questioning the sun as center of the solar system," said Aguinis, a nationally recognized expert who was also a co-author of an amicus brief in the landmark Ricci v. DeStefano Supreme Court case regarding employment testing.

"The irony is that for 40 years we have been trying to assess potential test bias with a biased procedure, and we now see that countless people may have been denied or given opportunities unfairly," he added. "From an ethical standpoint it may be argued that even if only one individual is affected this way, that is one too many. The problem is obviously magnified when we are dealing with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of individuals taking standardized tests every year."

Prelude to a New Era?

Given the weight placed on such testing and the polarizing nature of the underlying racial/ethnic achievement gap, the authors expect the study will spur considerable controversy among the public and the academic, legal and policy communities, all of which will question the long-held belief that tests are unbiased.

They also anticipate a significant impact on the multi-billion dollar testing industry but made clear that they are not saying that any organization is deliberately using biased tests. However, as a preliminary step while more research is conducted, it is likely that many organizations will examine their existing tests and perhaps create new ones.

"While the academic community has demonstrated repeatedly that different racial or ethnic groups' cultural frames of reference and identity may play a role in affecting test scores, we have not used that knowledge to sufficiently advance testing processes," he said. "We sincerely hope that this research opens doors to thoughtful and important analysis that will allow us to legitimately assign scores that predict a job well done."

— In a comprehensive new study of mental health status and the use of mental health services by Californians, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that nearly one in five adults in the state — about 4.9 million people — said they needed help for a mental or emotional health problem.

In addition, approximately one in 25, or more than 1 million, reported symptoms associated with serious psychological distress (SPD), which includes the most serious kinds of diagnosable mental health disorders.

Of those adults with either "perceived need" or SPD, only one in three reported visiting a mental health professional for treatment, a factor potentially attributable to fear of stigmatization, as well as lack of insurance coverage, the researchers said.

The study draws on data from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), which is administered by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

"There's a lot of need, but also a lot of obstacles connecting those in need to the services that can help them," said David Grant, the study's lead author and director of the CHIS. "Part of the problem may be stigma. It's hard for many Californians to acknowledge they need help — to their family, friends or their doctor. The challenge for policymakers and providers is to both target appropriate services to those with needs and to reduce fear."

Grant noted that since the data was collected, the state has suffered an economic downturn, resulting high unemployment.

"The recession has created even more stress for people," he said. As a result, the study "is probably an underestimate of the true level of mental health need in California right now."

Among the findings:

Women at risk

Women were nearly twice as likely as men (22.7 percent vs. 14.3 percent) to say they needed help for a mental or emotional health problem ("perceived need"), such as feeling sad, anxious or nervous.

Working-age adults at risk The prevalence of perceived need was twice as high for adults under 65 as for those 65 and older (20.2 percent vs. 9.2 percent).

Income a significant factor

The poorest adults — those living below 100 percent of the federal poverty level — were much more likely to report symptoms associated with SPD than those with incomes that were even just slightly higher. The poorest were more than five times as likely to report SPD as those living at or above 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

Distress pervasive regardless of race or ethnicity

Although racial and ethnic disparities in mental health were found in the study, those differences diminished when adjusted for income. These findings suggest that mental health status is more closely related to socioeconomic status than ethnicity or place of birth.

Insurance coverage improves access to services

Adults with health insurance coverage were almost twice as likely to have received mental health services during the previous 12 months as adults without health insurance.

Stigma, cultural factors may impede access to services

Men, adults aged 65 or older, and Latino and Asian immigrant groups were far less likely to seek help with a mental health professional than other groups. The authors note that these findings suggest that stigma and cultural factors may pose a significant barrier to care.

Read the policy brief, "Mental Health Status and Use of mental Health Services by California Adults."

The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) is the nation's largest state health survey and one of the largest health surveys in the United States.

Given that Whites are the majority population in the United States, drinking trends for this group tend to determine overall trends in drinking for the country and simultaneously minimize trends and possible risks among Black and Hispanic populations. A study of trends in drinking patterns and amounts drank among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics from 1992 to 2002 has found a rise in the proportion of drinkers across all three ethnic groups and both genders.

Results will be published in the October 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

"Trend analysis is an important part of epidemiological monitoring of drinking and problems in the general population," said Raul Caetano, professor of epidemiology and regional dean (Dallas) at The University of Texas School of Public Health, as well as the study's corresponding author. "However, different population groups, such as ethnic groups, can present different trends in drinking and problems and so it is important to investigate trends in different groups and not only in the U.S. general population as a whole."

"This is the first cross-ethnic alcohol trend analysis to … examine whether alcohol consumption — such as use and heavy drinking — has increased, decreased, or remained stable among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics in the U.S. from 1992 to 2002," noted Rhonda Jones-Webb, associate professor in the division of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

"Alcohol studies on racial/ethnic minorities such as this are much needed," Jones-Webb added. "Blacks and Hispanics live in communities where alcohol availability is higher, where there is more exposure to outdoor alcohol advertising, where they have been targeted by special advertising of higher alcohol content beverages — all with fewer personal and community resources to respond to these challenges. Additionally, Blacks and Hispanics are at greater risk for alcohol-related problems such as homicide, which is on the rise in some cities."

Researchers used data from the 1991-1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (n=42,862) and the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions (n=43,093); both surveys selected respondents 18 years of age and older from the U.S. household population.

"Whites increased their mean number of drinks while Blacks and Hispanics did not," said Caetano. "There was also a rise in drinking five or more drinks in a day across all three ethnic groups and drinking to intoxication among Whites and Blacks, but this was limited to those reporting such drinking at least once a month. This suggests a polarization in drinking between the two surveys, with those who drank more in 1992 reporting an increase in their drinking in 2002."

"The results also suggest that while the proportion of Black and Hispanic drinkers increased, the amount of alcohol consumed did not increase among Blacks and Hispanics across the 10-year period," added Jones-Webb.

"Trends in drinking are linked to a complex web of factors that include how individual drinking is influenced by the drinking of the group to which the individual belongs, as well as personal and other societal changes," said Caetano. "Changes in the sociodemographic composition of the population such as aging, the influx of immigrant groups, and a decline in mean income level because of economic recessions can all influence trends in drinking and problems."

In addition, said Jones-Webb, norms regarding drinking seemed to have become more liberal during the 10-year period examined. "This might explain why groups that traditionally do not drink — for example, women and African Americans — may have started to do so."

"The results in the paper provide a detailed view of how drinking and binge drinking changed in the U.S. between 1992 and 2002," said Caetano. "National studies such as this are important because they provide information that serves as a backdrop against which the results of other national or local studies can be compared, aiding in the interpretation of findings from these other studies. Trend analyses at the national level can also alert health professionals at the federal level to trends developing in the country, providing a 'broad-stroke' national level picture against which many other trends … can be viewed and understood."

"While there are more drinkers in the population, the rise in the proportion of drinkers does not seem to be triggering a rise in the mean number of drinks consumed per month, at least among Blacks and Hispanics," added Jones-Webb. "This finding suggests that a diversity of public-health policies are needed to reduce alcohol-related problems among Blacks and Hispanics, including restrictions on alcohol advertising, limiting the overconcentration of liquor stores in poor and minority neighborhoods, regulating high alcohol content beverages, increasing taxes on alcohol, as well as treatment and brief interventions."

The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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Journal Reference:

1. Caetano et al. Sociodemographic Predictors of Pattern and Volume of Alcohol Consumption Across Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites: 10-Year Trend (1992-2002) : ALCOHOL AND ETHNICITY. Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research, 2010; DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01265.x

New research from the University of Michigan reveals racial and ethnic differences in the emotional attitudes of caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients.

James McNally of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, part of the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), found significant variations in the emotional reactions of blacks, whites, and Hispanics to both caring for and grieving for Alzheimer's patients. McNally presented his research at a meeting of the Alzheimer's Association's International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Honolulu.

The findings could point to improvements in support services for caregivers of Alzheimer's patients.

"For those caring for a family member with Alzheimer's, the process of bereavement often begins long before the family member's physical death," McNally said.

"These results bring into sharper focus some distinct social and cultural responses to the bereavement process, and help increase our understanding of the emotional costs of Alzheimer's. This understanding can help to inform and improve culturally competent resources to help caregivers not only throughout all stages of their loved one's illness, but also in finding a healthy resolution to grieving."

Considerable research has looked at how responses to deaths from Alzheimer's vary by gender of the caregiver and relationship to the care receiver, but less work has looked at differences between ethnic groups. McNally's research examined data from the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) project lead by Richard Schulz of the University of Pittsburgh's Institute on Aging.

The Bereavement Component of REACH studied more than 600 caregivers in three racial/ethnic groups: Blacks, whites, and Hispanics. McNally found marked differences across these groups in a number of measures, including expressions of relief, anger and emotional acceptance.

Whites and Hispanics, for example, are three to five times more likely than blacks to report a sense of emotional relief at the death of the Alzheimer's sufferer.

McNally said that fits with existing research that shows blacks have more stressors in their lives than other racial groups. Whereas white and Hispanics tend to find some sense of relief after caregiving duties end, blacks have no such respite. "Blacks are not getting a break," he said.

McNally emphasized that his research does not predict any individual reactions to Alzheimer's, but instead presents big-picture trends.

Other findings of the study show that whites are twice as likely to report emotional acceptance at the death as blacks and Hispanics.

Also, Hispanic caregivers were only half as likely as blacks to report feelings of anger toward the deceased. But white caregivers were considerably more likely to report anger than the other two groups.

McNally said Hispanics' lack of anger and difficulty accepting the loss of a loved one points to the tight support network often found in Hispanic families.

"Those findings are fairly consistent with the existing research on family support," he said.

Factors such as relationship to the Alzheimer's patient, the emotional and physical health of the caregiver, and sociodemographic background moderated those differences, but variance still remained between ethnic and racial groups.

These results can inform the support services offered for Alzheimer's caregivers, McNally said. For example, blacks may need to address the ongoing other stressors in their lives, but Hispanics could need to focus on separation issues with the deceased.

"If you're thinking about support services, you want to come at it in different ways," McNally said.

The REACH study was established in 1995 through a multi-institution grant from the National Institutes on Aging. Data was collected at by six institutions: University of Alabama-Birmingham; the Research and Training Institute of the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged in Boston; University of Tennessee — Memphis; University of Miami; Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University; and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

A second wave, REACH II, was completed between 2001-2004.

McNally's research used REACH II in order to include caregivers that have been tracked over a longer period of time and to access data specifically on bereavement.

African-American women's beliefs about depression and depression care are consistently and systematically influenced by racism, according to a new study conducted at Oregon Health & Science University.

The results are published online in the American Journal of Public Health.

To be eligible for the study, participants had to be 18 or older, consider themselves African-American, have a score of 15 or higher on Patient Health Questionnaire Depression scale and have experienced intimate partner violence at some time in their lives. Thirty women participated in four private focus groups facilitated by African-American female community members of the research team.

Study participants were asked about their experiences and beliefs surrounding the relationship between violence and health in general, mental health, depression, and depression treatments. They also were asked to discuss their recommendations for improving depression care. The researchers found one issue dominated discussions about depression care — the participants' deep mistrust of what they perceived to be a "White" health care system.

"These women were extremely wary of most depression treatments and providers they associated with 'White' systems of care. Although they acknowledged that violence, depression and substance abuse adversely affected their health, discussions about health care revolved around their perceptions of racism," said Christina Nicolaidis, M.D., M.P.H., principal investigator and an associate professor of medicine (general internal medicine and geriatrics), and public health and preventive medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine. "Based on our findings, we recommend health and mental health providers endeavor to better understand and acknowledge how racism informs the experiences and perceptions of their patients."

The expectation of being a "strong Black woman" also was a significant barrier to recognizing depression and seeking care. Co-investigator S. Renee Mitchell has used this finding to launch a campaign asking: "Strong Black woman — what are you burying, your feelings or the myth?" The research team also has organized several community depression and violence awareness events titled "Redefining the Blues." An additional event is planned for the fall.

Study participants expressed a desire for community-based depression programs that addressed violence and drug use and are staffed by African-Americans with "real-life experiences." In response to this request, the research team used their study data to create a community-based, culturally tailored depression-care program, which they currently are pilot-testing at Bradley-Angle House's Healing Roots Center, a drop-in center for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

The researchers make clear that their results aren't reflective of all African-American depressed women, especially those who live in places with larger African-American populations, those with higher incomes and those who have not experienced intimate partner violence.

"Future study is needed to test the generalizability of our findings, as well as the effectiveness of culturally specific interventions in reducing depressions severity and improving depression care among African-American women," the researchers concluded.

The research team comprised Nicolaidis; Vanessa Timmons, Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Portland; Mary Jo Thomas, Multnomah County Department of Mental Health and Addiction, Portland; A. Star Waters and S. Renee Mitchell, Interconnections Project community partners at large, Portland; Stephanie Wahab, School of Social Work, Portland State University; and Angie Mejia, OHSU Department of Medicine.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, and the Northwest Health Foundation Kaiser Permanente Community Fund.

When people witness or imagine the pain of another person, their nervous system responds in essentially the same way it would if they were feeling that pain themselves. Now, researchers reporting online on May 27th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have new evidence to show that that kind of empathy is diminished when people (black or white) who hold racial biases see that pain is being inflicted on those of another race.

The good news is that people continue to respond with empathy when pain is inflicted on people who don't fit into any preconceived racial category — in this case, those who appear to have violet-colored skin.

"This is quite important because it suggests that humans tend to empathize by default unless prejudice is at play," said Salvatore Maria Aglioti of Sapienza Università di Roma.

In the study, conducted in Italy with people of Italian and African descent, participants were asked to watch and pay attention to short films depicting needles penetrating a person's hand or a Q-tip gently touching the same spot while their empathetic response was monitored. (The researchers specifically measured a feature known as sensorimotor contagion, as indicated by changes in the corticospinal reactivity assessed by transcranial magnetic stimulation.) The results showed that people watching the painful episode responded in a way that was specific to the particular muscle they saw being stimulated when the film character was of the same race. But those of a different race didn't evoke that same sensorimotor response.

In further studies, the researchers tested individuals' responses to pain inflicted on models with violet hands. Under those circumstances, participants' empathetic responses were restored.

"This default reactivity of human beings implies empathy with the pain of strangers (i.e., a violet model) if no stereotype can be applied to them," said Alessio Avenanti of the Università di Bologna. "However, racial bias may suppress this empathic reactivity, leading to a dehumanized perception of others' experience."

The new findings expand on previous studies that have primarily looked at the neural underpinnings of racial bias based on facial expressions, thus emphasizing people's emotional reaction to the pain of others, the researchers said.

"To the best of our knowledge, our study is the only one that has tested the reactivity to hands and thus hints at the existence of general processes for separating the self from the others that may be largely independent from specific emotions," the researchers explained.

Based on the findings, the researchers suggest that methods designed to restore empathy for people of other races might also help in dealing with racial prejudice.

The researchers include Alessio Avenanti, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy, Universita` di Bologna, Bologna, Italy, Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Polo Scientifico-Didattico di Cesena, Cesena, Italy; Angela Sirigu, UMR 5229, CNRS, Bron, France; and Salvatore M. Aglioti, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy, Sapienza Universita` di Roma, Roma, Italy.

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Journal Reference:

1. Alessio Avenanti, Angela Sirigu, and Salvatore M. Aglioti. Racial Bias Reduces Empathic Sensorimotor Resonance with Other-Race Pain. Current Biology, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.03.071

— When people are under chronic stress, they tend to smoke, drink, use drugs and overeat to help cope with stress. These behaviors trigger a biological cascade that helps prevent depression, but they also contribute to a host of physical problems that eventually contribute to early death.

That is the claim of University of Michigan social scientist James S. Jackson and colleagues in an article published in the May 2010 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The theory helps explain a long-time epidemiological puzzle: why African Americans have worse physical health than whites but better psychiatric health.

"People engage in bad habits for functional reasons, not because of weak character or ignorance," says Jackson, director of the U-M Institute for Social Research. "Over the life course, coping strategies that are effective in 'preserving' the mental health of blacks may work in concert with social, economic and environmental inequalities to produce physical health disparities in middle age and later life."

In an analysis of survey data, obtained from the same people at two points in time, Jackson and colleagues find evidence for their theory. The relationship between stressful life events and depression varies by the level of unhealthy behaviors. But the direction of that relationship is strikingly different for blacks and whites.

Controlling for the extent of stressful life events a person has experienced, unhealthy behaviors seem to protect against depression in African Americans but lead to higher levels of depression in whites.

"Many black Americans live in chronically precarious and difficult environments," says Jackson. "These environments produce stressful living conditions, and often the most easily accessible options for addressing stress are various unhealthy behaviors. These behaviors may alleviate stress through the same mechanisms that are believed to contribute to some mental disorders — the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortical axis and related biological systems."

Since negative health behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, drug use and overeating (especially comfort foods) also have direct and debilitating effects on physical health, these behaviors — along with the difficult living conditions that give rise to them — contribute to the disparities in mortality and physical health problems between black and white populations.

These disparities in physical health and mortality are greatest at middle age and beyond, Jackson says. Why?

"At younger ages, blacks are able to employ a variety of strategies that, when combined with the more robust physical health of youth, effectively mask the cascade to the negative health effects," Jackson said. "But as people get older, they tend to reduce stress more often by engaging in bad habits."

Black women show heightened rates of obesity over the life course, he points out. In fact, by the time they are in their 40s, 60 percent of African American women are obese.

"How can it be that 60 percent of the population has a character flaw?" Jackson asks. "Overeating is an effective, early, well-learned response to chronic environmental stressors that only strengthens over the life course. In contrast, for a variety of social and cultural reasons, black American men's coping choices are different.

"Early in life, they tend to be physically active and athletic, which produces the stress-lowering hormone dopamine. But in middle age, physical deterioration reduces the viability and effectiveness of this way of coping with stress, and black men turn in increasing numbers to unhealthy coping behaviors, showing increased rates of smoking, drinking and illicit drug use."

Racial disparities in physical illnesses and mortality are not really a result of race at all, Jackson says. Instead, they are a result of how people live their lives, the composition of their lives. These disparities are not just a function of socioeconomic status, but of a wide range of conditions including the accretion of micro insults that people are exposed to over the years.

"You can't really study physical health without looking at people's mental health and really their whole lives," he said. "The most effective way to address an important source of physical health disparities is to reduce environmentally produced stressors — both those related to race and those that are not. We need to improve living conditions, create good job opportunities, eliminate poverty and improve the quality of inner-city urban life.

"Paradoxically, the lack of attention to these conditions contributes to the use of unhealthy coping behaviors by people living in poor conditions. Although these unhealthy coping behaviors contribute to lower rates of mental disorder, over the life course they play a significant role in leading to higher rates of physical health problems and earlier mortality than is found in the general population."

The work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health..

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Journal Reference:

1. J. S. Jackson, K. M. Knight, J. A. Rafferty. Race and Unhealthy Behaviors: Chronic Stress, the HPA Axis, and Physical and Mental Health Disparities Over the Life Course. American Journal of Public Health, 2009; 100 (5): 933 DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.143446

British Indian children have substantially better mental health than British Whites, new research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine shows.

Anna Goodman, the report's lead author from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says: "Most research into ethnic differences focuses on issues where minority ethnic groups are doing worse than average. We believe it is also important to investigate areas where minority groups have an advantage, and use this understanding as a way to improve the health of the whole population."

In this study, researchers used data from the 1999 and 2004 British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Surveys, which took a nationwide sample of 5-16 year olds living in England. The proportion of Indian children with any mental health disorder was 3.7%, the lowest of any major ethnic group and substantially lower than the 10.0% proportion in White children. This Indian mental health advantage was driven by Indian children having fewer behavioural problems (e.g. aggressive or antisocial behaviour) and fewer hyperactivity problems. This pattern was reported by parents, teachers and children alike, suggesting that it reflects a real difference and is not the result of chance or biased reporting.

Part of the Indian mental health advantage was explained by the fact that Indian children were more likely to live in two parent familes and had higher academic abilities. Most of the advantage, however, was not explained by the major known risk factors. In addition, Indian children did not show the strong socio-economic gradient in behavioural and hyperactivity problems which was observed in Whites.

Anna Goodman says: "Child mental health problems have grown more common in Britain in the last 50 years, and are much more common in children from poorer families. Indian children suffer fewer problems and the socio-economic gradient is much less marked. Understanding why this particular group of British children is doing so well could therefore hold important clues for improving both child mental health and also child mental health equity in all ethnic groups."

This research will be published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

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Journal Reference:

1. Anna Goodman, Vikram Patel, David A. Leon. Why do British Indian children have an apparent mental health advantage?Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2010; DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02260.x

— Immigrant Latinos display strong parenting practices and raise socially agile children, but these early gains are likely to be eroded by mediocre schools and peer pressure in poor neighborhoods, according to findings published by the American Psychological Association.

In a special section of the journal Developmental Psychology, a team of researchers examines how no-nonsense parenting practices — especially Latino traditions of strict discipline, respect for adults and strong family bonds — shape children's social and cognitive growth and their assimilation into mainstream culture.

"Immigrant kids begin school with surprisingly good social skills, eager to engage teachers and classroom tasks, even though many are raised in poor households," said Bruce Fuller, PhD, of the University of California at Berkeley, who co-edited the special section. "This stems from tight families and tough-headed parenting. Our findings shatter the myth that immigrant or low-income parents necessarily produce troubled children."

One study, based on 19,500 kindergartners nationwide, found that Latino children engaged in classroom activities and displayed cooperative skills at levels equal to those of white non-Latino children, despite vast differences in family income between the groups. In addition, Latino children's social skills contributed to their learning about numbers and mathematical concepts during this first year of school, the researchers found.

But children's social agility and classroom enthusiasm often wanes by middle school, according to the researchers. "These children benefit from a strong foundation against outside negative forces, which contributes to their early school achievement but fades over time, especially during adolescence," said Cynthia García Coll, PhD, of Brown University, co-editor of the special section. "Assimilation places many children at risk of losing tight bonds to family and [experiencing] school failure."

The national study of Latino kindergartners included teacher reports of five social competencies: engaged approaches to learning, self-control, interpersonal skills, internalized problem behaviors (anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem) and externalized problem behaviors (propensity to argue, get angry, act impulsively). "Those Latino children who were the best at focusing on learning tasks showed the steepest learning curves in math," said Claudia Galindo, PhD, a University of Maryland professor who co-directed the study.

The scientists discovered wide Latino-white gaps in 5-year-olds' knowledge of numbers and mathematical concepts. But the children's social skills and eagerness to take on classroom tasks were just shy of being statistically equal to those of their white non-Latino peers. In the first year of school, children raised in bilingual homes displayed more concentrated learning, after taking into account a variety of family background factors.

Children from African-American homes did not show comparable levels of classroom engagement and social agility. "Poverty alone does not explain the strength of parenting or the social assets that children bring to school," Fuller said. "Culture and language growth play a huge role in boosting achievement, which we now see benefit many Latino children."

Children from Puerto Rican families, in contrast to those of Mexican heritage, showed disparities in social competence when compared to white non-Latino children. Children of Cuban or South American descent (whose parents had higher education levels, on average) showed equal competence when compared to white non-Latino children.

Two additional studies in the journal's special section show how early gains for Latino children can be undercut during adolescence through peer pressure, weak schools and the perception of ethnic discrimination. In the first study, Latino teens who pulled away from parents and their ethnic identity displayed weaker school engagement (Umaña-Taylor and Guimond). When teens perceived ethnic or racial discrimination, they tended to retain stronger family ties that strengthened their ethnic identity, the researchers found.

The second study — tracking 294 older Latino and Asian immigrant children — found that those attending highly segregated or violent schools went downhill in their own school achievement (Suárez-Orosco and others). The rising rate of single-parent families in many immigrant communities is associated with a drop in children's school performance.

Other findings include:

• Young Latino children's enthusiasm and agility in classrooms stems from warm yet firm parenting practices (Livas-Dlott and others). Researchers observed 25 Mexican-American 4-year-olds inside their homes and found that mothers on average were clear and direct when children misbehaved or failed to complete an assigned task. This tough-love parenting occurred within a supportive climate, nurturing cooperative children who expressed mutual obligations to family members, researchers said.
• Another study shows how strong customs from one's native country can promote learning by teaching children to pay attention to what is going on in front of them (Lopez and others). Researchers gave instructions to 38 6- to 11-year-old siblings in order to examine differences in learning processes between those raised under Mexican traditions and those raised by parents who practiced American customs. Children paid more attention to their siblings' activities and learned a novel task more readily when living in homes where Mexican customs were practiced. Children paid less attention to their siblings, and learned less, when living in homes where Western traditions and individualistic practices prevailed.
• Researchers surveyed 15,362 African-American, Latino and Asian tenth- graders from 752 schools about their understanding of how racial and socioeconomic barriers affect their expectations for well-paying jobs (Diemer and others). Two years later, the researchers asked the students about their extracurricular activities, school achievement, community participation and vocational expectations. Reading and math achievement had the strongest effect on the students' expectation of winning high-paying jobs, while awareness of racial and economic barriers had the strongest effect on the value that students placed on work.

Special Section: "Latino Children and Families: Development in Cultural Context," Developmental Psychology, Vol. 46, No. 3.

Minority children often encounter racism in their daily lives, and those who experience discrimination more often have more symptoms of depression, according to a study presented May 2 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

"Unfortunately, minority children perceive discrimination often in their lives," said Lee M. Pachter, DO, co-author of the study and professor of pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. "Fifty-five years after Brown v. Board of Education and the civil rights movement, racism is still common in their lives."

Dr. Pachter and his colleagues surveyed 277 minority children ages 9-18 years to determine the contexts in which they perceive racism and the relationship between discrimination, depression and self-esteem. Participants filled out questionnaires that included 23 scenarios in which they might perceive discrimination, such as being followed by a store security guard, getting poor service in a restaurant or being accused of doing something wrong at school.

About two-thirds of the children were Latino or African American, and 19 percent were multiracial.

Results showed that 88 percent had at least one experience with racism, and nearly 12 percent had experienced racial discrimination in at least half of the situations described in the survey. The most common forms of discrimination were racial remarks, being called insulting names and being followed by security guards in stores. Experiences were similar for Latinos and African Americans, boys and girls, and younger and older children.

"Not only do most minority children experience discrimination, but they experience it in multiple contexts: in schools, in the community, with adults and with peers." Dr. Pachter said. "It's kind of like the elephant in the corner of the room. It's there, but nobody really talks about it. And it may have significant mental and physical health consequences in these children's lives."

Researchers also administered the Child Depression Inventory and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Questionnaire to 52 minority children. They found a significant correlation between perceived racism and depression, self-esteem and depression, but not between racism and self-esteem.

The next step is to look at whether discrimination creates stress that leads to racial/ethnic disparities in physical and mental health, Dr. Pachter said.