Word Reading Skills and Externalizing and Internalizing Problems from Grade 1 to Grade 2—Developmental Trajectories and Bullying Involvement in Grade 3

Abstract

School bullying is associated with externalizing and internalizing problems, but little is known about whether reading difficulties also play a part. We asked how, in Grades 1 and 2, word reading skills and externalizing/internalizing problems predict the degree to which students are involved in bullying in Grade 3. Using a sample of 480 Finnish children (M age = 7 years 2 months at the beginning of the study), developmental profiles were identified using mixture modeling based on reading skills, as well as externalizing and internalizing problems. In Grade 3, one fifth of the students were involved in bullying as victims, bullies, or bully/victims. Poor readers with externalizing/internalizing problems were most involved as bullies and bully/victims but not as victims. Average readers with externalizing/internalizing problems were also involved in bullying, whereas students with only reading difficulties were not. Skilled readers displayed little externalizing/internalizing problems and were not involved in bullying. Precursors of reading problems as well as timely interventions have been studied extensively (for reviews and meta-analyses, see Bus &

Early Reading and Writing by Using the Manakok Game as a Manifestation of Basic Literacy

“…Students are taught to read aloud syllables, words, labels, and simple sentences [18], [19]. Students are also trained to read voices (fluently) simple sentences consisting of 3-5 words with attention to pronunciation and correct intonation, pause (to stop, inhale): long or short pauses, giving emphasis to certain words according to the context, and starting identifying keywords from rather long readings [20].…”

Longitudinal associations between poor reading skills, bullying and victimization across the transition from elementary to middle school

“…Studies relying on interviews provide retrospective information about the phenomenon within samples of individuals with RDs only, without a comparison group that would make results more generalizable [i.e., 58,59]. Turunen et al [35] studied associations between word reading skills and bullying involvement in the beginning of elementary school, thus providing information only about young children and not taking into account reading comprehension. Although another study by Turunen et al [36] included also adolescents by utilizing a community sample of elementary and middle school students, the results were cross-sectional and based on self-reports of reading problems instead of reading test scores.…”

“…Our goal is to investigate whether poor reading skills predict later involvement in school bullying, after controlling for externalizing and internalizing problems. The analysis is based on a simple model in which reading difficulties and externalizing/internalizing problems accumulate and form a risk of bullying involvement [35,[74][75][76][77][78], and also co-occur [51,79]. Because externalizing and internalizing problems have been reported to be common among poor readers [e.g.…”

“…More specifically, we studied the interplay between reading skills, victimization, and PLOS ONE bullying across the transition from elementary to middle school. In comparison to previous studies on bullying among students with RDs that relied on interviews [i.e., 58] self-reports of RDs [36], or focused on reading fluency in the beginning of elementary school [35], we utilized standardized tests of reading fluency and comprehension in a relatively large, longitudinal sample of adolescents. We found that poor reading skills, both fluency and comprehension, were longitudinally associated with bullying perpetration, but not with victimization, when externalizing and internalizing problems were controlled for.…”

“…Albeit being to some extent stressful for everyone, transition to middle school may lead to aggravation and adjustment problems especially for students with specific learning disabilities such as reading difficulties (RDs) and poor reading skills, since these students often come to middle school with a history of poor performance and social problems [i.e., 28]. In addition to being an academic impediment, RDs have been linked to social challenges, such as poor social skills and lack of social competence [ 29 – 31 ], low self-esteem [ 32 ], peer rejection [ 33 , 34 ], as well as bullying involvement [ 35 , 36 ]. These problems may already have existed throughout the elementary school, and transition to a new middle school adds to the burden.…”