Effect of Socio-Economic Status on Learning Ability of Bengali (Indian) Primary School Children

Abstract

Socioeconomic status is strongly associated with the cognitive ability and achievement during childhood. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of age and socioeconomic status (SES) on learning ability among 5-10 years school going boys. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 322 school going boys from different districts of West Bengal state, India. The socio-economic status of the participants was evaluated by modified Kuppuswami scale. Learning ability of the participants was evaluated by Ray's auditory verbal learning test (RAVLT). The subjects were divided into lower, middle, upper SES groups. The results revealed that the 5 years old boys recalled significantly lesser words on each of the learning trials and showed significantly lower learning score compared to that of older boys. Age was significantly (P<0.001) and positively correlated with RAVLT performances. The participants belonged to the lower socioeconomic group recalled significantly lesser words on each of the learning trials and possessed significantly small¬er learning score compared to that of middle and upper socioeconomic groups. Correlation analysis demonstrated that socioeconomic status had significant and positive correlation with RAVLT performances. On the contrary, age and socioeconomic status had significant negative correlation with forgetful speed. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that even after controlling for the effect of the age, socioeconomic status had strong significant impact on learning of trials (LOT) and recognition (REC).