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Abstract: We suggest that an over-arching ‘fitness factor’ (an index of general genetic quality that predicts survival and reproductive success) partially explains the observed associations between health outcomes and intelligence. As a proof of concept, we tested this idea in a sample of 3654 US Vietnam veterans aged 31–49 who completed five cognitive tests (from which we extracted a g factor), a detailed medical examination, and self-reports concerning lifestyle health risks (such as smoking and drinking). As indices of physical health, we aggregated ‘abnormality counts’ of physician-assessed neurological, morphological, and physiological abnormalities in eight categories: cranial nerves, motor nerves, peripheral sensory nerves, reflexes, head, body, skin condition, and urine tests. Since each abnormality was rare, the abnormality counts showed highly skewed, Poisson-like distributions. The correlation matrix amongst these eight abnormality counts formed only a weak positive manifold and thus yielded only a weak common factor. However, Poisson regressions showed that intelligence was a significant positive predictor of six of the eight abnormality counts, even controlling for diverse lifestyle covariates (age, obesity, combat and toxin exposure owing to service in Vietnam, and use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs). These results give preliminary support for the notion of a superordinate fitness factor above intelligence and physical health, which could be further investigated with direct genetic assessments of mutation load across individuals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents information on a report which says that racial gaps in academic performance are large at all levels of social class in the United States. The average reading scores have been listed by the report for whites, blacks and Hispanics on the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test. Blacks and Hispanics whose parents were high school dropouts points lower than did the same race whose parents had graduated from college. It is also found that non-Asian minority students do not perform well.

Focuses on developments related to the use of employment testing and job performance for African Americans. Provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; Consideration of employment test that had an adverse effect on blacks as discriminatory; National Academy of Sciences' (NAS) report.

Discusses disparate impact or racial imbalance in employee selection. Constitution of prima facie evidence of unlawful discrimination; Guarantee of disparate impact by valid and unbiased selection procedures; Existence of racial disparities in job-related skills and abilities; Compromise of personnel selection science in the effort to reconcile contradictory legal demands.