Environment as a Threshold Variable: A Further Analysis

Abstract

It is often assumed in educational practice that the environment acts as a threshold variable in relation to the development of children's characteristics. The assumption was tested by examining relations between the learning environment of the family and measures of children's arithmetic achievement, English achievement, intelligence, self-esteem and educational and occupational aspirations. The sample included 2,400 English school children with approximately 800 in each of three age-cohorts. Measures were taken at two time points, four years apart. At the end of the study, the average ages of the cohorts were 11,12 and 15. Squared, cubic, exponential and logarithmic relations, as well as linear relations, were investigated. In general, the environment accounted for as much of the variance in the cognitive and affective scores, when the relation was expressed in a linear form, as when the relation was in a curvilinear form. The results failed to provide support for a threshold hypothesis and thus replicated the findings of an earlier study.