Understanding the relation between reading and anxiety among upper elementary students with reading difficulties

• In Event: Understanding and Addressing Mechanisms Within Reading Instruction Toward Mindfulness-Based Interventions, Anxiety Reduction, and Improved Attention

Abstract

While a negative relation between anxiety and reading achievement has been identified, the relation is complex and there is a scarcity of research in this area. With many different reading outcomes and various domains of anxiety, there is a lot to disentangle to better understand these relations for students with reading difficulties. Therefore, in this study, data from a sample of upper-elementary students with reading difficulty was analyzed to determine the relation between various domains of anxiety and reading achievement.

Objective
This presentation aims to present findings from an unconditional quantile analysis investigating if different domains of anxiety were differentially related to word reading accuracy and fluency, text reading fluency, or reading comprehension based on the severity of their reading difficulties. The goal of this study was to better understand these relations to help inform future efforts to support students who have reading difficulties.
Methodology
Using a sample of upper-elementary students with reading difficulties from the United States (n = 536), we first explored how various self-reported anxiety measures were related to each other utilizing a bivariate correlation matrix. Next, to determine how each anxiety domain relates to different reading achievement outcomes, separate models regressed five reading outcomes on the three anxiety domains. An analysis of how the strength of the prediction varies as a function of reading ability on word reading, fluency, and comprehension measures was conducted. Traditional ordinary least squares regression (OLS) and unconditional quantile regression (UQR) was utilized to investigate the strength of this relation across the distribution of reading ability.

Key Findings
Results showed that the three anxiety measures were positively and statistically significantly related to each other (ranging from .51 to .56, p < .001). Ordinary least squares regression estimates yielded a negative and statistically significant relation between reading anxiety and word reading fluency, text reading fluency, and comprehension. Further analyses indicated that these relationships existed in students who fell in the middle and upper quantiles for reading but not the lowest quantile.

Implications for Practice
Findings from this study demonstrate that reading anxiety may be more related to reading outcomes in students with reading difficulties than general or test anxiety. For this reason, clinicians, school psychologists, teachers and counselors might consider attending to students’ reading anxiety and screening for reading anxiety in students with reading difficulties, in order to then address the individual’s symptoms. There is evidence that anxiety management techniques (e.g., deep breathing, guided imagery, cognitive behavior therapy) have been found to be successfully delivered in schools by classroom teachers and school staff. Also, it may be worth considering that some students with reading difficulties may benefit from anxiety management supports specifically related to reading. However, the question remaining is: “for whom” should anxiety be addressed?
Conclusion
This study reveals the complexity of the relation between anxiety and reading achievement, and encourages greater efforts to support the academic and emotional wellbeing of students with reading difficulties to help them reach their potential.

Author

• Sarah Fishtrom, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa