An exploratory analysis of American Indian children's cultural engagement, fluid cognitive skills, and standardized verbal IQ scores.

Abstract

This exploratory cross-sectional study examined fluid cognitive skills and standardized verbal IQ scores in relation to cultural engagement amongst Tohono O'odham children (N = 99; ages 7 to 12 years). Guardians with higher socioeconomic status engaged their children in more cultural activities, and participation in more cultural activities contributed to higher standardized verbal IQ scores. Mean cognitive skill scores varied as a function of age and Tohono O'odham language knowledge. Children who understood and/or spoke Tohono O'odham started out with lower average scores than did children with no language knowledge, but mean scores generally increased in the older age groups such that they were equal to or higher than those of nonspeakers by age 9. Children with higher fluid cognitive skill scores had higher standardized verbal IQ scores than did children with lower scores.

Factor Structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children-Fourth Edition Among Referred Native American Students

“…American performance on cognitive measures (Beiser & Gotowiec, 2000;TannerHalverson et al, 1993;Tsethlikai, 2011).…”

“…Thus far, such efforts to understand the respective roles that social, cultural, and linguistic factors have on the normative development of Native American children have identified English language skills (Beiser & Gotowiec, 2000;Dauphinais & King, 1992;Tsethlikai, 2011), cultural practices (Dauphinais & King, 1992;Tsethlikai, 2011), and school readiness (Hibel et al, 2008) as factors contributing to the educational experiences of Native American children.…”

The Cultural Patterning of Cognitive Development

“…Of primary concern to my work in indigenous communities in the United States is the impact that colonization and cultural genocide have had on indigenous children's learning. My research explores what happens to children's learning when the rich intellectual heritage that has evolved across generations is main- Color version available online tained rather than replaced by Western ways of teaching [e.g., Tsethlikai, 2010Tsethlikai, , 2011Tsethlikai & Rogoff, 2013]. As cited by Allen and Lalonde, my work has found that American Indian children who are actively culturally engaged are more likely to learn through watching others and listening in on activities even when they are not directly involved [Tsethlikai & Rogoff, 2013].…”

Relations between executive function and emotionality in preschoolers: Exploring a transitive cognition–emotion linkage

“…This method, which is becoming more widely known by developmentalists (e.g., Brody et al, 1994; Cowan et al, 1996; Marjoribanks, 1997; Davies and Cummings, 1998; Isley et al, 1999; Denham et al, 2002, 2003; Bronstein et al, 2005; Tsethlikai, 2010, 2011), also allows exploration of hypothesized relations among constructs without some of the restrictions of LISREL structural modeling techniques. In particular, PLS is appropriate for use with relatively small groups of participants, although it does require a reasonable LV: participant ratio (e.g., 10 times the number of manifest variables for the LV with the largest number of manifest variables, or 10 times the largest number of paths directed at a LV; Henseler et al, 2009).…”

“…In particular, PLS is appropriate for use with relatively small groups of participants, although it does require a reasonable LV: participant ratio (e.g., 10 times the number of manifest variables for the LV with the largest number of manifest variables, or 10 times the largest number of paths directed at a LV; Henseler et al, 2009). Further advantages include its lack of stringent assumptions such as those regarding observational independence and normality of residuals (Marjoribanks, 1997), as well as error-free measurement (Tsethlikai, 2011). …”