On average, black students typically score one standard deviation below white students on standardized tests--roughly the difference in performance between the average 4th grader and the average 8th grader. Historically, what has come to be known as the black-white test-score gap has emerged before children enter kindergarten and has tended to…

Objective: This study examined African American college students' perceptions of psychosocial factors that influence racial disparities in health. Methods: We conducted focus groups in two Alabama Black Belt Counties from June to August 2005. Data were collected using a standardized discussion guide, augmented by prompts for clarification.…

This chapter analyzes whether Hispanics and Hispanic immigrants in the City University of New York system have the same levels of access and achievement as other racial and ethnic populations. (Contains 3 tables.)

Financial assistance that parents give to their young adult children is part of the bundle of flows that constitutes intergenerational support. Are there racial and ethnic differences in this financial assistance, and if so, why? Wave 2 data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 17,996) suggest group differences in both the incidence and…

Purpose: Residents in rural communities in the United States, especially ethnic minority group members, have limited access to primary and specialty health care that is critical for diabetes management. This study examines primary and specialty medical care utilization among a rural, ethnically diverse, older adult population with diabetes.…

It is often noted that the vast majority of students in pre-service teacher preparation programs may be poorly equipped to teach in urban schools because, in great part, they are disproportionately White, female and middle-class (Darling-Hammond, 1997 and 2001; Delpit, 1995; Sleeter, 2001). Typically, these students arrive at the university with…

This research examines the extent to which a mother's ethnicity, social class, and immigration status, singly or in interaction, are associated with her beliefs about how best to prepare her child for kindergarten. One hundred and fifty-six lower- and middle-class Euro-American, African-American, non-immigrant Latina, and immigrant Latina mothers…

Using authentic materials, this study compared the oral reading miscues of 20 university students with reading related learning disabilities to 20 controls matched for age, gender, ethnicity, college GPA, reading achievement score, and college of major. All participants orally read two passages with different text structures from a college…

The achievement gap in mathematics between African American and Caucasian students has been observed for several decades, though previous research has been unable to fully explain why the gap exists. Using a sample of 56 kindergarten and first grade students, this study examined the role that cognitive developmental level plays in the achievement…

Reported rates of recreational drug use among gay and bisexual men are currently rising. Although there has been much empirical research documenting current trends in drug use among gay and bisexual men, little research has empirically contrasted differential rates across urban epicenters, while even less has addressed racial or ethnic variation…

The primary objective of this study was to determine the degree to which academic motivation predicted the executive help-seeking, instrumental help-seeking, perceived benefits of help-seeking, and avoidance of help-seeking of high school students enrolled in computer science (n = 314). Task goals were positively associated with instrumental…

The issue of racial/ethnic and gender differences in intelligence and academic abilities is fiercely and frequently debated, yet the examination of these differences in creativity is less studied. Our goal in this study was to use the Consensual Assessment Technique, in which experts judge a product's creativity, to examine differences in…

Midwest Central University has a population of 3,500 students, predominantly working class and 95 percent White. The racial composition of the university suggests, and rightly so, that the students have minimal contact with Asians, Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, Indians, Middle-Easterners, and people of mixed race, even though there is a predominantly…

Objective: To determine factors influencing the use of outpatient mental health services provided by mental health professionals (OMHS) for children in foster care using a national probability sample in the United States. Method: As part of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being, detailed survey data were collected on 462 children,…

This article reports the findings of a research project which examines the reasons why minority ethnic trainees withdraw from teacher training courses. It highlights a number of issues, the most significant of which is that withdrawal is a process and not an event. The most common causes of withdrawal were "personal" and…