Reading Retardation and Antisocial Behaviour

Abstract

SUMMARY Four groups of boys (totalling 129) with and without reading retardation and antisocial behaviour were compared and contrasted on many items related to current behaviour and family background in order to study the degree and nature of the association between the two disorders. The results show a strong association between the two disorders but that boys with both disorders do not closely resemble either boys with only reading or boys with only antisocial problems. This differs from other findings and the reason for this and the possible nature of the association are discussed.

Behavioral Aspects of Educational Difficulties

“…She reported that even at this early age the overlap between reading difficulties and antisocial behavior in this sample was of the order of 33 to 49%. These findings are confirmed in studies of primary school children by Bale (1981) and Sturge (1982), who both report a close association between reading retardation and antisocial behavior in boys.…”

“…A recent study by Sturge (1982) lends some weight to the possibility that there is not a simple causal relationship between reading problems and behavior disorder. She compared and contrasted four groups of 10-year-old London boys, with and without reading retardation and antisocial behavior, on many items related to current conduct and family background, in order to study the nature and degree of the association between the two disorders.…”

Connections between reading disability and behavior problems: Testing temporal and causal hypotheses

“…A high level of overlap between reading difficulties (RDs) and behavior problems (BPs), particularly of the externalizing type, has been consistently reported (e.g., McGee, Share, Moffitt, Williams, & Silva, 1988;Sturge, 1982), with a higher level of RDs reported among behavior-disordered children (Rutter, Tizard, & Whitmore, 1970) and a higher incidence of BPs among learning-disabled children (Cantwell & Baker, 1991). However, the overlap has often been overlooked; research aimed at explaining the development of RDs has tended to concentrate on cognitive and perceptual-motor aspects, while research on BPs has focused on their behavioral, family, and social-interactional precursors.…”

Literacy levels of male juvenile justice detainees

“…It is often suggested in the research literature that poor literacy levels or 'lack of educational achievement' lead to juvenile delinquency (Sturge, 1982;Winters, 1997). This relationship has become widely accepted without a large body of empirical evidence available to support it.…”