Chronic Reading Problems Linked with Depression
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Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 4/4/2007
The long-suspected link between reading problems and depression appears to be valid. According to a new study from researchers at the University of Delaware and West Chester University of Pennsylvania, children who can't read by the fifth grade become anxious and withdrawn–a scenario that contributes to the growing school dropout rate. The researchers reported their findings in the March-April issue of the journal Child Development.
"In the long run you want to find out why these kids turn off in the seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades," says Brian Ackerman, a University of Delaware professor of psychology and the study's lead author, who believes there are two main reasons why students drop out of school: Their reading and math skills are deficient, and they are emotionally devastated by their learning disabilities. "Imagine trying to do something over and over and over, and you just can't do it," he says.
The researchers examined 104 Delaware kids ages 4 to 12 years old. What was distressing, Ackerman says, is that although these kids had been in reading augmentation and enrichment programs for years, their reading skills were "abysmally low, even by fifth and seventh grade."
It's at those upper grades that emotional distress really sets in, Ackerman explains. "Their strong sense of self and incompetence and helplessness really merges by fifth grade," he says, adding that, according to the research findings, "There's a sense here that earlier failures don't feel so bad as later failures, or chronic failures." These kids display their distress by becoming anxious and withdrawn. Luckily, however, they're not aggressive, Ackerman says.
What's the solution? "It's clear that whatever you're going to do to reduce the emotional impact of failure has to be done earlier than first and third grade," Ackerman says. If remediation isn't in place by then, Ackerman says, educators can expect an emotional backlash by the fifth grade.
