Two aspects of psychological functioning in undergraduates with a history of reading difficulties: anxiety and self-efficacy

Reading difficulties have been associated with problems in psychological functioning, including challenges in both anxiety and self-efficacy. This study was designed to determine whether such psychological functioning problems are specific to the academic sphere or more global. First-year undergraduate students with and without a history of reading difficulties (n = 40 and 46, respectively) completed standardized questionnaires on general and academic anxiety, and social and academic self-efficacy. Students with a history of reading difficulties reported higher academic anxiety, but comparable general anxiety, relative to those with no such history. Students with a history of reading difficulties also reported lower academic self-efficacy, but comparable social self-efficacy, relative to those with no such history. These findings suggest that students with a history of reading difficulties, as compared to those without such history, experience academic-specific mental health symptoms involving heightened anxiety and low self-efficacy as they enter university. These results point to the need for focused and targeted assessments to be able to capture difficulties they experience with anxiety and self-efficacy and interventions to help them cope with these difficulties. More broadly, the findings have implications for how universities assess academic vulnerabilities and provide access to specific course accommodations.

Automated summary

This study found that students with a history of reading difficulties experience higher levels of academic anxiety and lower academic self-efficacy compared to those without such a history, indicating specific mental health symptoms in the academic sphere for this group of students.