Racial Socioeconomic Situation

Abstract

The scale associated with the Racial-Socioeconomic Situation study, developed by Thomas Howell Hawkes and Norma Fields Furst in 1970, was primarily utilized to assess levels of anxiety in upper elementary school children. While the title reflects the contextual variables—race and socioeconomic status (SES)—the instrument itself appears to measure generalized worry, fear, and psychological distress. The research aimed to determine how background factors (race, SES) correlated with academic achievement, IQ, and teacher-rated behavior, using the assessment of psychological distress as a key dependent variable.

Keywords

Anxiety, Socioeconomic Status, Racial Factors, Elementary Education, Worry, Psychological Measurement, Educational Research, Child Psychology

Authors

Thomas Howell Hawkes, Norma Fields Furst

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Purpose

The fundamental purpose of the use of this instrument, within the context of the 1970 study by Hawkes and Furst, was to quantify the self-reported levels of anxiety experienced by children from varying racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. By measuring distress, the researchers sought to explore the differential impacts of social environment and economic disadvantage on the psychological well-being and academic performance indicators (such as IQ and achievement) of the subjects. The scale was designed to capture common manifestations of worry and nervousness relevant to the school and home environments of young students.

Construct

The primary psychological construct measured by the items presented is Generalized Anxiety and Worry. The questions tap into several facets of anxiety commonly found in children, including social anxiety (e.g., “I get nervous when someone watches me work”), physical manifestations of worry (e.g., “funny feeling in your stomach”), academic distress (e.g., “worry about how well I am doing in school”), and specific fears (e.g., fear of the dark or accidents). The scale operationalizes anxiety as a collection of cognitive, somatic, and behavioral indicators of apprehension and distress.

While the items themselves are highly correlated with established measures like the Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS), their application within the “Racial-Socioeconomic Situation” framework specifically aimed to understand how these distress levels varied across different demographic groups defined by race and SES. Thus, the construct is anxiety viewed through a sociological lens.

Validity

Specific, detailed information regarding the psychometric validity (e.g., construct, criterion, or content validity) of this particular scale iteration is not explicitly provided in the excerpt. Given that the items strongly resemble existing, validated scales measuring childhood anxiety, it is likely that the instrument possesses high content validity for measuring generalized worry. The validity of the instrument in the context of the Hawkes and Furst study is primarily supported by its use in correlating anxiety scores with established external measures such as IQ scores, achievement test results, and teacher ratings of behavior, suggesting a focus on concurrent validity. Further validation details would be necessary from the full 1970 research paper.

Reliability

As with validity, the specific reliability coefficients (such as internal consistency, measured via Cronbach’s alpha, or test-retest reliability) for the Racial-Socioeconomic Situation scale are not detailed in the source content. Standard practice for instruments of this nature requires demonstrating high internal consistency, ensuring that all items measure the same underlying construct (anxiety). Researchers utilizing this scale would have typically reported reliability data within the associated journal publications or conference proceedings to confirm the instrument’s stability and consistency across the diverse populations being studied.

Factor Analysis

The provided item list is extensive and covers a broad range of anxiety symptoms. A formal factor analysis would typically be employed to determine if the scale measures a single, unitary construct of anxiety or if it breaks down into distinct subscales (e.g., physiological anxiety, worry/overconcern, or social anxiety). While the source does not detail the factor structure, the original research likely performed factor analytic techniques to confirm whether the items loaded onto a single factor of general distress or multiple factors related to the academic and social pressures highlighted in the study’s title.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Psychological Scale (Likert or Yes/No response format)

Format: Questionnaire consisting of approximately 40 distinct items (based on the numbered list provided, including duplicates and skipped numbers).

Language Available: English (Original research context)

Population Group: School-age children

Age Group: Upper Elementary School Children (typically ages 9–12)

Population Details: The original study focused on children stratified by racial and socioeconomic factors to examine group differences in anxiety levels.

Test Methodology: Group administration of a standardized survey instrument, likely administered in a classroom setting.

Keywords

Academic Distress, Child Development, Psychological Assessment, Achievement Gap, Socioeconomic Status, School Performance

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source materials.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source materials.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source materials. Correspondence would have historically been directed through the authors’ institutional affiliations (circa 1970).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1970

Permissions & Fee: Given the age of the instrument and its appearance in academic conference papers published through ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center), the scale is likely in the public domain or freely available for non-commercial academic research.

Reference’s

The primary references related to the development and use of this instrument include:

• Hawkes, Thomas Howell; Furst, Norma Fields. 1970. Racial-Socioeconomic Situation, Achievement, I.Q., and Teacher Ratings of Behavior as Factors Relating to Anxiety in Upper Elementary School Children: A Follow-up Study. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Minneapolis, Minn.

• Hawkes, Thomas H. and Koff, Robert H. Social class differences in anxiety of elementary school children. Paper presented at AURA, 1969. Will appear in Psychology in the Schools in Spring, 1970.

• The original PDF containing the instrument and related research context can be downloaded here: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED040254.pdf

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Items of the Racial-Socioeconomic Situation

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

• 2. I get nervous when someone watches me work.

• 4. When you are in bed at night trying to go to sleep do you often find that you are worrying about something?

• 5. Are you sometimes frighten when looking down from a high place?

• 6. Do some of the stories on radio or television scare you?

• 7. Do you think you worry more than other-boys and girls.

• 8. Do you worry that you might get hurt in some accident?

• 10. Do you get scared when you have to go into a dark room?

• 11. It is hard for me to keep my mind on anything.

• 11. Do you sometimes get the feeling that something bad is going to happen to you?

• 12. At times I feel like shouting.

• 13. I wish I could be very far from here.

• 14. Others seem to do things easier than. I can.

• 15. I am secretly afraid of a lot of things.

• 16. I feet-that others do not like the way I do things.

• 17. I feel alone when there are people around me.

• 18. I have trouble making up my mind.

• 19. I get nervous when things do not go the right way for me.

• 20. I worry most of the time

• 21. I worry about what my parents will say to me.

• 22. I get angry easily.

• 23. Other children are happier than I am.

• 24. I worry about what other people think of me.

• 25. I have worried about things that did not really make any difference latter.

• 26. My feelings get hurt easily.

• 27. I worry about doing the right things.

• 28. I worry about what is going to happen.

• 29. I worry about how well I am doing in school.

• 30. My feelings get hurt easily when I am scolded.

• 31. I feel someone will tell me I do things the wrong way.

• 32. I am afraid of the dark.

• 33. It is hard for me to keep my mind on school work.

• 34. I worry when I go to bed at night.

• 35. I often do things I wish I had never done.

• 36. I often worry about what could happen to my parents.

• 37. I get tired easily.

• 38. I have bad dreams.

• 39. Without knowing why do you sometimes get a funny feeling in your stomach.

• 39. I often worry about-something bad happening to me.

• 53. I feel I have to be best in everything.

• 58. Do you ever worry about what other people think of you?

• 59. Do you ever worry about knowing your lessons?

• 61. Do you every worry that you won’t be able to do something you want to do?

• 65. Have you ever had a scary dream?

• 66. When you were younger were you afraid of getting hurt?

• 72. Have you ever been afraid of getting hurt?

• 77. Has anyone been able to scare you?

• 82. Do you ever worry about something bad happening to someone you now?

• 87. Are you ever unhappy?

• 92. Do you ever worry about what :c going to happen?

• 96. Do you ever worry?