Reading, Mathematics, and Behavioral Difficulties Interrelate: Evidence from a Cross-Lagged Panel Design and Population-Based Sample of US Upper Elementary Students

Abstract

We examined three questions. First, do reading difficulties increase children’s risk of behavior difficulties? Second, do behavioral difficulties increase children’s risk of reading difficulties? Third, do mathematics difficulties increase children’s risk of reading or behavioral difficulties? We investigated these questions using a sample of 9,324 children followed from third to fifth grade as they participated in a nationally representative dataset, conducting multilevel logistic regression modeling and including statistical control for many potential confounds. Results indicated that poor readers in third grade were significantly more likely to display poor task management, poor self-control, poor interpersonal skills, internalizing behavior problems, and externalizing behavior problems in fifth grade (odds ratio [OR] range = 1.30 – 1.57). Statistically controlling for a prior history of reading difficulties, children with poor mathematics skills in third grade were also significantly more likely to display poor task management, poor interpersonal skills, internalizing behavior problems, and reading difficulties in fifth grade (OR range = 1.38 – 5.14). In contrast, only those children exhibiting poor task management, but not other types of problem behaviors, in third grade were more likely to be poor readers in fifth grade (OR = 1.49).

Academic and Social Functioning Associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Latent Class Analyses of Trajectories from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade

“…Specifically, children with ADHD who were impaired in reading were also likely to show similar low performance levels in math. This finding is consistent with prior research indicating a significant overlap in reading and math achievement for most students (Durand et al, 2005; Hecht, Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 2001), the significant influence of early reading skills on mathematic performance (Grimm, 2008), and the comorbidity of reading, math, and behavioral difficulties (Lin et al, 2013). Similar albeit less pronounced relationships were also evident between Math and Interpersonal Skill trajectory groups.…”

“…Poor reading achievement has been theorized to result in children experiencing increasingly generalized deficits in their socio-emotional adjustment (Stanovich, 1988), particularly as their lack of reading proficiency becomes evident to their peers thus leading to feelings of isolation and interpersonal hostility (Chapman, 1988). Although causal relationships cannot be established based on our correlational analyses, the obtained findings are consistent with prior work indicating a largely unidirectional pathway from reading to behavioral difficulties in the general population of U.S. schoolchildren (e.g., Lin et al, 2013; Morgan, Farkas, & Maczuga, 2012; Morgan, Farkas, Tufis, & Sperling, 2008) and indicate that poor reading may be predictive of impaired socioemotional functioning in children with ADHD.…”

Executive functioning deficits increase kindergarten children's risk for reading and mathematics difficulties in first grade

“…Specifically, less frequent behavioral self-regulation but not more frequent externalizing or internalizing problem behaviors is predictive of very low levels of academic achievement (e.g., Morgan et al, 2009; Lin et al, 2013). Our analyses of a population-based and longitudinal sample indicate that interventions designed to reduce the frequency of externalizing or internalizing problem behaviors may themselves be unlikely to reduce young children’s risk for learning difficulties.…”

Do School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, Not Exclusionary Discipline Practices

“…Exclusionary discipline practices can be defined as removing students from typical instruction (or social environment) for a period of time in response to unwanted student social behavior. Exclusionary practices include a range of intensities, including brief timeout from classroom instruction, cross-class ("buddy room") timeouts, sitting in the hall, reflection rooms, seclusion rooms, office discipline referral, detention, suspension, or expulsion (Lin et al, 2013).…”

“…Exclusionary practices are reactive in nature-they are implemented in response to unwanted behavior, not as a means of preventing it, and they do not teach students the behaviors to use in place of unwanted behavior. When using exclusionary practices, experts recommend including more proactive, instructional approaches to complement them (Lin et al, 2013;Sterling Turner & Watson, 1999). As such, it is valuable to examine instructional practices that could reduce the need for and use of exclusionary discipline practices in schools.…”