Differences in the Ability to Concentrate in First-Grade Israeli Pupils of Low and High Socioeconomic Status

In this study, we sought to determine whether differences exist between low and high socioeconomic status (LSES and HSES) first-grade pupils’ ability to concentrate. We also explored the relationship between concentration and academic achievement. We tested 80 first graders (40 LSES and 40 HSES pupils) on reading and arithmetic skills, selective attention, sustained attention, and attentional capacity. The results of our study indicated that the LSES pupils scored significantly lower than the HSES pupils on academic achievement and on all of the concentration measures. The results of our study suggest that it is possible to distinguish between proximal ability to concentrate and distal performance on attention tasks. Furthermore, although the LSES pupils exhibited poorer proximal attending than the HSES pupils, the LSES pupils did not appear to have inferior distal concentration ability.