Differences between black and white women: One of the central interests of this blog is to examine racial differences. The Longitudinal Study of Violence Against Women asked 1,537 female college students about how well a list of statements described themselves. Answers ranged from "not at all like me" (=1) to "very much like me" (=5). I present below the mean scores for blacks and whites, along with the difference between the two groups as a proportion of the measure's standard deviation.
Mean scores and mean differences as a proportion of the standard deviation
Nervous
Whites 2.34
Blacks 2.03
.26 SD difference
High-strung
Whites 2.80
Blacks 2.38
.33 SD difference
Jumpy
Whites 1.85
Blacks 1.52
.29 SD difference
Flustered
Whites 2.20
Blacks 1.91
.24 SD difference
Moody
Whites 2.52
Blacks 2.24
.23 SD difference
Feels like crying
Whites 3.05
Blacks 2.81
.18 SD difference
Down in the dumps
Whites 2.07
Blacks 1.85
.18 SD difference
Feels peaceful
Whites 3.04
Blacks 3.26
.19 SD difference
Wakes up rested
Whites 2.43
Blacks 2.59
.13 SD difference
Take charge kind of person
Whites 2.84
Blacks 2.68
.15 SD difference
Very emotional
Whites 3.48
Blacks 3.13
.28 SD difference
Gives in easily
Whites 4.11
Blacks 4.53
.44 SD difference
Brags a lot
Whites 1.46
Blacks 1.28
.25 SD difference
Busy and active
Whites 3.76
Blacks 3.38
.36 SD difference
Likes to do for other people
Whites 4.21
Blacks 3.78
.47 SD difference
Doesn't have a lot of nerve
Whites 2.02
Blacks 1.68
.30 SD difference
Comfortable in the background
Whites 1.75
Blacks 1.39
.39 SD difference
Greedy
Whites 1.61
Blacks 1.45
.18 SD difference
Needs the approval of others
Whites 2.73
Blacks 3.36
.31 SD difference
Feelings are not easily hurt
Whites 1.96
Blacks 2.22
.25 SD difference
Nags other people
Whites 2.06
Blacks 1.82
.24 SD difference
Indecisive
Whites 3.02
Blacks 3.23
.16 SD difference
Gives up easily
Whites 4.24
Blacks 4.41
.24 SD difference
Doesn't trust others
Whites 2.25
Blacks 2.54
.26 SD difference
Must think of oneself first
Whites 1.95
Blacks 2.48
.50 SD difference
Out for revenge
Whites 1.42
Blacks 1.69
.35 SD difference
Tries to understand others' feelings
Whites 4.39
Blacks 4.22
.21 SD difference
Gives in to please people
Whites 2.01
Blacks 1.51
.48 SD difference
Plays it safe
Whites 3.35
Blacks 2.91
.40 SD difference
Trustful so easily fooled
Whites 2.54
Blacks 1.83
.57 SD difference
Doesn't know what to do in a tough spot
Whites 3.49
Blacks 3.71
.21 SD difference
This is a very long list, so let's summarize. First, none of the differences here are as large as the black-white IQ gap. (Some of this might be due to more measurement error in these single items). The take-home message is not that these differences are insignificant; it is that the IQ gap is huge.
Compared to black women, white women are more high-strung, moody, depressed, nagging, unassertive, thin-skinned, greedy, busy, persistent, decisive, empathetic, altruistic, trusting, easily duped, risk-averse, and less vindictive and in need of approval.
If we limit the differences to the large ones, white women are more altruistic and trusting and less assertive.
While far from perfect, one way to boil this down is to say that white women are less masculine.
Men are next.
Are gun owners mentally ill?
Some anti-gun people think owning a gun is a sign of some kind of mental abnormality. According to General Social Survey data, gun owners ...
How can you rely on self-reporting data for a question like this? We know that blacks usually show higher self-esteem despite a lower level of objective achievement. I would think that means they are likely to overrate their own tendency toward certain qualities if those qualities are socially valued. You need some way of weeding out the personal bias of the respondent if you really want to describe behavior -- rather than just self-perception of behavior.
ReplyDeleteAlso, black women in college is a highly self-selected group. White women in college, not so much so, but still you are comparing apples and oranges.
Most of those are almost word-for-word items from a good personality test like the Big Five's NEO-PI. The ones having to do with moodiness, emotions, self-consciousness, etc. are about Neuroticism. The ones about trust, empathy, altruism, compliance, etc. are about Agreeableness. The remainder are about Extraversion: busy and fast-paced life, assertive, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo, it looks like White women are higher in N and A. It turns out that in all cultures females score higher than males on N and A -- these personality traits show the largest sex diffs.
So you're right: White females have more female-typical personalities.
Correction: in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, there is a slight reversal of the sex diff pattern, e.g. males being more Extraverted. It's a slight reversal, but still, you don't see anything like it among White countries.
ReplyDeleteCheck Neuroticism among Jews, I bet it's higher.
ReplyDeleteThe five factors are Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience. Agnostic, can you come up with some good proxies in the GSS?
Black woman gestation time 39 weeks
ReplyDeleteWhite Woman gestation time 40 weeks
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/33/1/107