Socioeconomic disparities on reading performance are mediated by reading anxiety – a study with Brazilian children

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been consistently associated with reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension across cultures (Cheng & Wu, 2020; Noble, Farah, & McCandliss, 2006; Piccolo et al., 2016). Research on mechanisms underlying SES disparities on reading frequently focuses on the quantity and the quality of language exposure in the home, while child emotional factors have not been extensively explored. Some children experience negative emotions associated with reading, including feelings of tension and fear, and other cognitive, affective, physiological, and behavioral symptoms of anxiety. Reading anxiety (RA) has been associated with low motivation to read, feeling of inability to complete reading tasks, and, consequently, to low reading performance (Jalongo & Hirsh, 2010; Ramirez et al., 2019). Notably, no study has ever investigated the impacts of SES on RA and whether RA mediates the effects of SES on child reading performance. This study investigates the association between SES, home language environment, RA, and reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension in school-age Brazilian children.
Participants: Participants were 134 children 8 to 10 years old (M=8.73; SD = .69), from 2nd to 4th grade from public and private schools in Southern Brazil, with no history of developmental, neurological, or psychiatric disorders reported by the parents, and performance ≧ 25th percentile in Raven's Colored Progressive Matrix Test (Table 1).
Method: This cross-sectional observational study was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (2008/067). Parents responded to an SES survey (ABEP, 2015), questions about home language environment (support for reading non-school books and shared reading frequency), and child general development questionnaire developed for this study. RA was measured by the Reading Anxiety Scale (RAS-20) validated for Brazilian children (Piccolo et al., 2020). Children were tested on reading tasks measuring decoding skills (Leitura de Palavras Isoladas-LPI; Salles, Piccolo & Mina, 2016), word reading fluency (Tarefa de fluência de leitura-TFL; Justi & Roazzi, 2012), as well as textual reading fluency and comprehension (Avaliação de Fluência de Leitura-AFLeT; Basso, Mina, Piccolo & Salles, 2018).
Results: Linear regression models adjusted for child's age and gender indicated that low-SES was associated with low scores on all reading tasks, consistent with previous research (Cheng & Wu, 2020; Noble et al., 2006; Piccolo et al., 2016; Troyer et al., 2019). In addition, low-SES (β=-.44, p=.002) and not being encouraged to read non-school books (β=.29, p=.03), were associated with high RA. Furthermore, high RA was associated with low performance in decoding skills (β=.-29, p=.05), as well as word (β=-.46, p<.001) and textual (β=-.33, p=.007) reading fluency. Mediation models adjusted for child's age and gender showed statistically significant indirect effects of SES through RA on all reading measures except for reading comprehension (indirect effects: LPI=.12; TFL=.20; AFLeT =.14, all p<.05). The total proportion of SES effects on reading mediated by RA was 10% on average.
Conclusion: This study provides insight into the emotional factors underlying SES disparities in reading. Our findings suggest that interventions targeting RA may be a means to reduce SES adverse impacts on child development.

Authors

• Luciane da Rosa Piccolo, New York University School of Medicine
  Presenting Author

• Melina Lima
  Non-Presenting Author

• Fabiane Puntel Basso
  Non-Presenting Author

• Franciele Beria
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jerusa Fumagalli de Salles, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
  Non-Presenting Author