Preschool Racial Attitude Measure II

Abstract

The earlier version of the Preschool Racial Attitude Measure (PRAM I) has been found to be a useful measure in attitude development and modification studies of young children. This paper describes the lengthened and otherwise revised version of this procedure—PRAM II. Standardization data are reported for 252 Caucasian and 140 Negro children, ranging in age from 37 to 85 months (mean = 64 months), who were tested by Caucasian and Negro examiners. Analyses of the racial attitude scores revealed that the measure had good internal consistency (r = .80), and satisfactory test-retest reliability (r = .55, over a one-year interval). It was demonstrated that the test may be divided into two equivalent short-forms, for test-retest purposes. Other findings were that the racial attitude scores were found to vary systematically with race of subject, but not with sex of subject, IQ, or age. Evidence regarding race of examiner effects was inconclusive. It was concluded that PRAM II provides a reliable index of racial attitudes, and that the same rationale could be employed in the assessment of other attitudes at the preschool level. Theories of racial attitude development are discussed.

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