Behavioral Problems and Reading Difficulties Among Language Minority and Monolingual Urban Elementary School Students |
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| Authors: | Margaret E. Pierce Adrianna Wechsler-Zimring Gil Noam Maryanne Wolf Tami Katzir |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Education Department , Stonehill College , Easton , Massachusetts;2. Department of Psychology , University of Nevada , Las Vegas , Nevada;3. Developmental Psychology and Psychopathology Programs , McLean Hospital , Belmont , Massachusetts;4. Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development , Tufts University , Boston , Massachusetts;5. Department of Learning Disabilities and Special Education , University of Haifa , Haifa , Israel |
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| Abstract: | This study examined the potentially compounding effect of language minority (LM) status on problem behaviors among urban second and third grade-level poor readers. Univariate analyses showed that a disproportionate percentage of both LM and English monolingual (L1) poor readers already displayed clinically significant levels of anxiety, social problems, and oppositional behaviors in the classroom. Analyses of variance, however, demonstrated that LM status was not an additive risk factor for reading difficulties, behavior problems, or lowered self-concept in this sample. No differences were observed between LM and L1 students on a wide range of reading measures, on their teachers’ ratings of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors in the classroom, or on self-ratings of self-efficacy and social competence. Implications for intervention for all urban students with reading difficulties are discussed. |
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