INFLUENCE OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ON CHILDREN'S CLASSIFICATION AND FREE RECALL

Developmental and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in classificatfon
styles indicate that young and low SES children are more likely
to sort objects nontaxonomically whereas older and middle SES children
are more likely to sort taxonomically. When children establish stable
organizational schemes (taxonomic or nontaxonomic), memory performance
is usually enhanced. Eighty-five kindergarten and first grade subjects
were divided into three socioeconomic groupings and given two sort/recall
tasks. For whites, recall was greater when subjects sorted to a
criterion of two identical sorts than it was when they sorted only
once, and white College subjects were more apt to sort the items
taxonomically than were children of other SES groupings. No significant
effects were found for blacks. Because the results revealed no
consistent differences in performance as a function of SES, it was
concluded that children of all SES levels can generate and use
organizational schemes to guide retrieval.