Many children who experience reading challenges develop co-occurring mental health difficulties, such as reading anxiety. The current study tested the relationships between specific reading skills (decoding, fluency, and comprehension) and reading anxiety symptoms. Participants were 230 twins between 8 and 13 years old. Multi-level linear regression models were used to account for family relationships and covaried for age and sex. Age was positively associated and sex was not associated with reading anxiety. Lower decoding (β = -0.19, p < .001), reading fluency (β = -0.22, p < .001), and reading comprehension skills (β = -0.22, p < .001) were significantly associated with higher reading anxiety symptoms. When testing whether each reading skill contributed to reading anxiety after controlling for others, reading comprehension (β = -0.15, p = .010) remained significantly associated with reading anxiety symptoms, whereas decoding (β = 0.01, p = .90) and reading fluency (β = -0.13, p = .08) were no longer significant. Model comparisons followed a similar pattern indicating that reading comprehension (and to a lesser extent fluency) accounted for significant variance in reading anxiety over and above other reading skills, while decoding did not. Secondary analyses covarying for clinical anxiety and ADHD symptoms showed that the association between reading skills and reading anxiety could not be accounted for by these co-occurring symptoms. This study is among the first to examine relationships between specific reading skills and reading anxiety symptoms and highlights the need for improved identification and treatment of reading anxiety symptoms in struggling readers.
Abstract Prior literature using twin pairs in the same or different classes found classroom effects accounted for between 8% and 2−3% of the variability in literacy achievement depending on the method, grade, or measure used. The current study examines whether this effect could be greater (or less) than this depending on a child’s levels of inattention and hyperactivity. The sample comprised 758 identical and same-sex fraternal twin pairs from an international longitudinal twin study of early literacy development. The study used scores on word reading, spelling and reading comprehension, and parent ratings on the Disruptive Behaviour Rating Scale (DBRS) for children in kindergarten (aged x overbar x ¯ $\bar x$ = 6.2, s = 0.3), Grade 1 and Grade 2. Contrary to predictions, the results failed to support the prediction, indicating that classroom-level effects are independent of the behavior issues measured in this study.
چکیده: پژوهش‌های پیشین که از جفت‌های دوقلو در کلاس‌های یکسان یا متفاوت استفاده کرده‌اند، نشان داده‌اند که اثرات کلاس بین ۸٪ و ۲ تا ۳٪ از واریانس در پیشرفت سوادآموزی را بسته به روش، پایه یا ابزار مورد استفاده، تبیین می‌کنند. مطالعه حاضر بررسی می‌کند که آیا این اثر می‌تواند بسته به سطوح بی‌توجهی و بیش‌فعالی کودک، بیشتر (یا کمتر) از این مقدار باشد یا خیر. نمونه شامل ۷۵۸ جفت دوقلوی یکسان و دوقلوی هم‌جنس ناهمسان از یک مطالعه طولی بین‌المللی درباره رشد سوادآموزی اولیه بود. این مطالعه از نمرات خواندن واژه، املا و درک مطلب و همچنین ارزیابی والدین بر اساس مقیاس ارزیابی رفتارهای مخرب (DBRS) برای کودکان در مهدکودک (میانگین سنی $\bar x$ = ۶٫۲، انحراف معیار s = ۰٫۳)، پایه اول و پایه دوم استفاده کرد. برخلاف پیش‌بینی‌ها، نتایج از فرضیه مورد انتظار حمایت نکرد و نشان داد که اثرات سطح کلاس مستقل از مشکلات رفتاری اندازه‌گیری‌شده در این مطالعه هستند.
