A COMPARISON OF WHITE AND NEGRO NINTH GRADE STUDENTS' READING INTERESTS.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES, BY RACE AND SEX, OF SPECIFIC STUDENTS ENROLLED IN TWO RECENTLY INTEGRATED HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES IS REPORTED. SUBJECTS WERE 264 NINTH-GRADE PUPILS--140 NEGROES AND 124 CAUCASIANS. TO MEASURE READING INTERESTS AND CHOICE OF MATERIALS, A 40-ITEM QUESTIONNAIRE WAS CONSTRUCTED. SIX ITEMS MEASURED SOURCE OF READING, 34 ITEMS MEASURED READING INTERESTS. ANSWERS WERE CHOSEN FROM SIX CHOICES WHICH RANGED FROM LIKE VERY, VERY MUCH TO DISLIKE VERY, VERY MUCH. THE CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY, SHORT FORM, LEVEL 4, AND THE CALIFORNIA READING TEST, ADVANCED-FORM, WERE ADMINISTERED TO ALL PUPILS. CHI SQUARE WAS USED TO DETERMINE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ORDER OF THE RANKS. THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VERBAL INTELLIGENCE AND READING VOCABULARY IN FAVOR OF THE CAUCASIAN STUDENTS. EIGHTEEN ITEMS ON THE QUESTIONNAIRE DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY. RESPONSES OF NEGROES APPEARED TO BE HEAVILY WEIGHTED IN POSITIVE-CHOICE CATEGORIES. CAUCASIAN RESPONSES WERE MORE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED. NEGRO PUPILS EXPRESSED STRONGER CHOICES FOR READING CURRENT MATERIAL AND STRONGER INTERESTS IN SOCIAL RELATIONS, ROMANCE, TEEN-AGE PROBLEMS, HUMOR, AND OCCUPATIONAL AREAS. OTHER FINDINGS, TABLES, CONCLUSIONS, AND REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (BK)