Aptitude, Achievement, and Intelligence Scores (Young Men's Cohort Only)

Aptitude, Achievement, and Intelligence Scores (Young Men's Cohort Only)

Scores from various aptitude and intelligence tests were collected for respondents in the Young Men cohort during the 1968 survey of high schools. Designed primarily to gather information on the characteristics of the secondary school most recently attended and on respondents' academic performance, the survey also collected information on the names of the most recent scholastic aptitude or intelligence test (R01711.-R01718.) taken by those respondents who were subjects of the survey. A composite score is available that combines the results from such tests as the Otis/Beta/Gamma, the California Test of Mental Maturity, and the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test, as well as the PSAT, SAT, and ACT college entrance examinations. The composite score is referred to as the 'IQ Score' (R01711.) and is described in the appendix to Kohen (1973). Table YM1 lists each test and the number of respondents for whom data are available. Additional information on this survey can be found in the "High School & College Surveys" section.

Table YM1. Aptitude & Intelligence Tests: Young Men School Survey

Aptitude/Intelligence Test Value in R01712. # of Respondents with Scores
American College Testing Program (ACT/ACTP) 11 44
California Test of Maturity (CTMM/CMM) 2 625
Differential Aptitude Test (DAT) 9 64
Henmon-Nelson Test (HNTMA) 4 216
Iowa Test of Educational Development (ITED) 8 97
Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test 3 169
National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) 12 20
Otis/Beta/Gamma 1 848
Preliminary &Scholastic Aptitude Tests (PSAT/SAT/CEEB) 7 223
Primary Mental Ability Test (PMA/PMAT) 6 34
School and College Ability Test (SCAT) 10 165
Test of Educational Ability (TEA) 5 42

One assessment, the "Knowledge of the World of Work" scale (R00297.-R00325.), was directly administered to the Young Men in 1966. The first part of this scale asked respondents to pick one of three statements that best described the duties of each of ten jobs commonly held by men. For each of these jobs, the respondent then stated how much education was required (i.e., less than a high school diploma, high school diploma, some college, college degree). Finally, the respondent was presented with eight pairs of occupations and asked which of each pair had higher average wages. Several subscores and a total score (R00616.-R00619.) were calculated by survey staff; derivations for these scores are provided in the codebook.

User Notes

IQ scores were constructed using scores from the tests available from school records (Kohen 1973). While there may be psychometric problems in constructing an IQ measure from a variety of test forms, these constructed variables assist the user who wishes to construct a unified score from having to repeat the work involved in pooling scores. Similar information is available for respondents in the Young Women cohort.

Survey Instruments: The separate instrument called the Young Men and Women School Survey (1968) collected the test score information. The Knowledge of the World of Work scale is located in the "Knowledge of the World of Work" section of the 1966 questionnaire.

Documentation: Appendix 9 in the Young Men Codebook Supplement contains useful background information on the 1968 school survey and details certain variable creation procedures.

Reference

Kohen, Andrew I. "Determinants of Early Labor Market Success Among Young Men: Race, Ability, Quantity and Quality of Schooling." Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1973.