Do These Co-Twins Really Live Together? An Assessment of the Validity of the Home Index as a Measure of Family Socio-Economic Status1

Abstract

In a study of 400 pairs of same-sex twins, ages 10-16, in the Philadelphia area, the Home Index was used as a measure of SES. Because there were numerous disagreements between co-twins, analyses were done of each item. The Home Index was then rescored using only the 10 items that reached a criterion level of 75% twin agreement. Two scoring methods were used on the 10-item Home Index: one treating "don't know" as equivalent to a blank (yes = 2, no = 1, don't know = 0) and the other being a variation on that scoring method by giving additional weight to "don't know" responses (yes = 2, no = 0, don't know = 1). By correlating the three scorings (the original scoring of 24 items and the two scorings of 10 items) of the Home Index with each other, with census tract data, and with five cognitive measures used in the study (Raven Standard Progressive Matrices, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Columbia Mental Maturity Scale, Benton Revised Visual Retention Test, and a Paired-Associate Test), it was determined that the original Home Index was a more valid measure for white subjects than for black subjects. It could not, however, be recommended as a highly valid measure of SES in either group.

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References

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