Selective Aspects of Migration Among Missouri High School Graduates

THE selective character of migration has long been a matter of interest to students of population. As pointed out by Dorothy Thomas, however, little is actually known about this problem, and much of the research in the area has been fragmentary, methodologically unsound and inconclusive. ' Particularly has this been true with respect to the study of intellectual differences between migrants and nonmigrants. In part the limitations of the research have grown out of the failure to repeat studies using different geographical areas or different time periods. It is in the hope of partially correcting these deficiencies that this research has been designed and carried out. The purpose of the investigation is to test the hypothesis that rural urban migration tends to be disproportionately selective of those with higher test intelligence and proficiency as measured by school achievement. This proposition appeared to be supported by the results of such investigations as those of Gist and Clark in Kansas in 1938,2 Mauldin in Tennessee in 1940,3 Gist, Pihlblad and Gregory in Missouri in 1943,4 and in Holland by Hofstee in 1952.5 Here, we have attempted to repeat the general design of some of these earlier studies but with somewhat improved techniques and with a more carefully chosen sample. The study has seemed worth while for several reasons. Migration during the past decade has been much more extensive than during the depression period covered in the authors' first study. It is possible that a "prosperity" migration may be quite different from a "depression" migration in its selective nature. Second, we have been able to secure intelligence test scores rather than school marks as a measure of ability. The former probably provide a more clear-cut measure of ability than do the latter and greatly simplify computation problems and comparability of different communities. Third, we have been able to select the sample for study in such a way as to be representative of different areas in the State with widely varying social and economic conditions. Thus it should be possible to relate migration patterns to differing social and cultural conditions. The data for this study consist of the records of 5011 persons who were members of the senior high school class in 116 Missouri communities during the years 19391940 and 1940-1941. The high school lists were supplied by the Director of the Missouri College Aptitude Testing Program who has been carrying on extensive testing programs in more than 400 Missouri communities since 1934 1935.6 For each high school senior we obtained the raw scores and centile ranking on the Ohio Psychological Test, together with the centile scholarship ranking based on seven semesters of high school work. Then, with the cooperation of school officials, teachers, and students, we obtained from parents, relatives and friends, or from school records, the following information about each subject: (1) marital status; (2) 1951-1952 community of residence; (3) 1951-1952 occupation; (4) oc1 Dorothy Swaine Thomas, Research Memorandum on Migration Differentials. 2 Noel P. Gist and C. D. Clark, "Intelligence as a Selective Factor in Rural-Urban Migrations," American Journal of Sociology, 44 (July, 1938), pp. 36-58. 3 W. Parker Mauldin, "Selective Migration from Small Towns," American Sociological Review, 5 (October, 1940), pp. 748-758. 4Noel P. Gist, C. T. Pihlblad and C. L. Gregory, "Selective Aspects of Rural Migrations," Rural Sociology, 6 (March, 1941), pp. 3-15; and Noel P. Gist, C. T. Pihlblad and C. L. Gregory, Selective Factors in Migration and Occupation, University of Missouri Studies, XVIII, No. 2. 5 E. W. Hofstee, "Some Remarks on Selective Migration," Publications of the Research Group For European Migration Problems, The Hague, 1952. 6W. R. Carter, "The Missouri College Aptitude Testing Program," University of Missouri Bulletin, Educational Series, No. 40, October 20, 1951.