Comparison on Well-Being, Engagement and Perceived School Climate in Secondary School Students with Learning Difficulties and Specific Learning Disorders: An Exploratory Study
Open Access
- 16 July 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Behavioral Sciences
- Vol. 11 (7), 103
- https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11070103
Abstract
Reading and writing skills influence the social status of students, exerting effects not only on learning, but also on wellbeing. This study aimed to assess the impact of diagnosis of specific learning disorder on well-being in secondary-school students, comparing students with a diagnosis of specific learning disorder (SLD-group), students showing learning difficulties without diagnosis (LD-group) and students without learning difficulties (control-group). Students were tested with neuropsychological screening tests in order to identify learning difficulties and were further assessed by means of psychological and school well-being questionnaires. The results show that LD group perceive themselves as having a low sense of mastery and autonomy, less interest and engagement in daily activities and low peer social support than their schoolmates. This result highlights, for the LD group, a low well-being experience, which is not observed in the SLD and control groups. On the contrary, SLD group students do not differ from control group students in any dimensions except for the perceived parents’ support and involvement in school life, in which the SLD group show the highest scores. This work underlines the importance of having a diagnosis as it seems to work as a protective factor for both the psychological and school well-being of the student.Funding Information
- Fondazione Cariplo (2017-NAZ-0131)
This publication has 53 references indexed in Scilit:
- Drop-Out Predictors Among Students With High-Incidence DisabilitiesJournal of Disability Policy Studies, 2012
- Internalizing Problems of Adults With Learning DisabilitiesJournal of Learning Disabilities, 2011
- Parent Involvement and Student Academic Performance: A Multiple Mediational AnalysisJournal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 2010
- Parent Involvement and Children’s Academic and Social Development in Elementary SchoolChild Development, 2010
- Why do many psychiatric disorders emerge during adolescence?Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2008
- Students’ academic motivation: relations with parental warmth, autonomy granting, and supervisionEducational Psychology, 2008
- Adolescents with a chronic condition: challenges living, challenges treatingThe Lancet, 2007
- The role of learning to read in the development of problem behaviour: A cross‐lagged longitudinal studyBritish Journal of Educational Psychology, 2006
- Science-Based Advances in the Social Domain of Learning DisabilitiesLearning Disability Quarterly, 2005
- Social Competence and Behavioral Problems of Learning Disabled Boys Aged 12–-16Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1986