PEER-REVIEW RESEARCH PAPERS
The sources and manifestations of stress amongst school-aged dyslexics, compared with sibling controls.
Alexander-Passe, N. (2008a).The sources and manifestations of stress amongst school-aged dyslexics, compared to sibling controls. Dyslexia, 14: 4, 291-313. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17910007.
All school children experience stress at some point in their school careers. This study investigates whether dyslexic children, by way of their educational and social difficulties, experience higher levels of stress at school. The School Situation Survey was used to investigate both the sources and manifestations of stress amongst dyslexic children and non-dyslexic sibling controls. Samples were broken down by gender, age and the size of families. Results suggest significant differences between the groups, with dyslexics in academic years 3-5 experiencing the highest stress levels, specifically in interactions with teachers, worries over academic examinations (SATs) and performance testing, causing emotional (fear, shyness and loneliness) and physiological (nausea, tremors or rapid heart beat) manifestations. Results also suggest that dyslexics in larger families (3-4 sibling families) experience greater stress in interactions with their peers, than those in smaller families (two sibling families)--possibly from unfair sibling comparison. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
How Dyslexic Teenagers Cope: An investigation of self-esteem, coping and depression.
Alexander-Passe, N. (2006). How Dyslexic Teenagers Cope: An investigation of self-esteem, coping and depression. Dyslexia, 12: 4, 256-275. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17152342.
Research into how dyslexics cope and the effects of their coping has received little attention in the 100 years since dyslexia has been recognized. Why is this? Well it is not an easy area to investigate, partly as most qualitative studies have looked only at coping strategies of specific dyslexics. These are individual and are unsuitable for generalizations to larger populations. This study takes a different approach to the problem. By using three standardized tests for self-esteem, coping and depression, a picture is painted of how teenage dyslexics cope and whether this affects their self-esteem and depression. Results strongly suggest gender differences, with females using more emotional and avoidance-based coping, resulting in lower percentile scores in general and academic self-esteem and moderate depression. Males tend to use more task-based coping resulting in normal percentile self-esteem levels and minimal depression. This study takes the view that coping and the effects of coping by dyslexic children at school should not be underestimated. It also suggests that such issues will aid educationalists in the remedial process. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
