What is the average IQ for African-American women
Executive summary
There is no single, definitive published figure in the supplied reporting that gives an average IQ specifically for African‑American women; the sources present population averages for African Americans (commonly cited in the mid‑80s to low‑90s) and indicate only small sex differences within racial groups, implying that African‑American women’s mean IQ would be similar to the overall African‑American mean within a few points [1] [2] [3]. The literature also stresses large overlap between groups, substantial environmental influences on scores, and contentious debates about causes and interpretation of group averages [4] [5] [6].
1. What the major surveys report about African‑American averages
Multiple reviews and datasets cited in the reporting put the average IQ for African‑descended people in the United States in a range roughly from the mid‑80s to about the low‑90s: some syntheses and older reviews commonly cited an African‑American mean around 85 (mirroring global figures sometimes reported for African‑descended populations), while other tabulations and more recent standardization samples place Black Americans nearer to about 90–91 [7] [1] [2] [8]. These are averages across large, heterogeneous populations and many different test batteries, and different authors and compilations report somewhat different point estimates depending on the samples and methods used [1] [7].
2. Sex differences: small, inconsistent, and not the same as group gaps
The sources that examine sex within racial groups find only small average differences between males and females, with some classic analyses reporting that Black girls on average score about three IQ points higher than Black boys, while patterns in other groups vary and are often small relative to racial group differences [3]. Because the reported sex gap is only a few points, and because the bulk of the literature reports mean scores by race rather than by race×sex cells, the best inference from the supplied material is that African‑American women’s mean IQ would be very close to the African‑American population mean — within a handful of points — but no direct, widely cited figure for African‑American women alone is provided in these sources [3] [1].
3. Why averages vary: measurement, environment, and interpretation
Reported group means depend heavily on test type, historical period, sampling and standardization, and social context; the “IQ gap” has narrowed over decades and shows sensitivity to environmental change (Flynn effects and cohort gains), and studies adjusting for poverty and home environment report large reductions in group differences, indicating environmental drivers for much of the mean gap [9] [10] [5]. Psychologists emphasize the large overlap between distributions — i.e., many African‑American individuals score above the white mean and many white individuals score below the African‑American mean — so average differences say little about individuals [4] [1].
4. The controversies and the stakes behind the numbers
The reporting includes authors and works with sharply divergent views and sometimes troubling intellectual histories: some influential authors in this literature (and historically linked measures) have roots in eugenics debates and contested methods, and a number of scholars have criticized biological interpretations of group means as politically and scientifically fraught [6] [7]. At the same time, authoritative panels and reviews have recognized persistent average differences on many cognitive tests while warning about bias, environmental confounds, and the sociopolitical consequences of misinterpreting averages as immutable biological facts [4] [6].
5. Bottom line for the specific question asked
The supplied sources do not provide a single peer‑agreed numeric “average IQ for African‑American women”; they do provide population‑level African‑American averages typically cited between about 85 and about 91, and they report only small sex differences (around ± a few points), which implies African‑American women’s mean would fall very near the African‑American overall mean though an exact number for women alone is not given in these sources [1] [7] [2] [3]. Any precise claim beyond that—such as a definitive point estimate for African‑American women—would require locating a dataset or study that reports race×sex‑specific means, which the provided reporting does not supply.