Influence of Dress on Perception of Intelligence and Scholastic Achievement in Urban Schools with Minority Populations

Photographs of five clothing styles were manipulated in this investigation of perceived behavior, academic potential and intelligence of high school students. Teacher and student subjects from three urban secondary schools with 97%, 56% and 30% minority enrollments participated in the study. A repeated measures analysis of variance as well as a post hoc test were used for data analyses. Independent variables were clothing styles, sex of the model, school and race. Dependent variables were perception of intelligence, scholastic ability and school related behavior. Student and teacher subjects perceived differences in behavior, academic potential and intelligence of the models based on clothing worn. Differences for behavior and academic potential were significant for clothing style and sex of the model. There were significant interactions for academic potential by sex of the model and style, for school and style, as well as for style, school and race.