MENTAL ABILITIES OF CHILDREN FROM DIFFERENT CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS IN ISRAEL

The present study examined the pattern of mental abilities, as demonstrated on tests of verbal, reasoning, number, and spatial skills, exhibited by 320 first-grade, Israeli-born children whose parents emigrated from Europe, Iraq, North Africa, and Yemen. The results showed that the four groups of culturally different children tended to exhibit four different patterns of cognitive abilities. The findings clarify those of Lesser, Fifer, and Clark (1965), who found that children in New York City of Jewish, Chinese, Afro-American, and Puerto Rican backgrounds differed in pattern of mental abilities, but left open the question of whether there was a single pattern characteristic of all Jewish children (or of any other cultural group). It was concluded that the historical-cultural background of a Jewish, or other, population has a significant effect on pattern of mental abilities. © 1990, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.