Beyond “just reading”: the relationship between childhood reading difficulties and mental health

Contemporary research has underlined the relationship between reading difficulties (RD) and the potential for poorer mental health (e.g., anxiety, low self-esteem). However, this relationship does not present universally, suggesting some individuals have a higher capacity to cope and are therefore more resilient. From a dynamic systems theoretical orientation, exogenous protective factors are those that are external to the person and are thought to offset risks. Several of these factors proposed to offset mental health risks associated with RD were selected, namely social support and socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood. Data was collected using an online selfreport survey composed of multiple-choice and short-answer questions, and analyzed using moderation analyses. It’s hypothesized that individuals who self-identify as having struggled with reading during childhood will report overall poorer mental health, but the presence of more exogenous protective factors (e.g., higher SES and social support) in childhood will moderate this relationship. Contrary to this, childhood RD and SES were not significantly correlated with any outcome variables. However, childhood social support significantly predicted several outcome variables suggesting higher psychological health. Notably, a high degree of social support in childhood predicted higher resiliency in adulthood. Results support the importance of more work exploring how we can improve outcomes for individuals with RD through exogenous protective factors, particularly through facets of social support.