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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
Published on: September 27, 2020
Literacy difficulties and psychiatric disorders: evidence for comorbidity
Julia M Carroll1, Barbara Maughan, Robert Goodman
1Department of Psychology, University of York, UK. J.M.Carroll@warwick.ac.uk
Background:
Literacy difficulties show high levels of comorbidity with both disruptive and emotional disorders, but questions remain over the nature and specificity of these links.
Method:
Relationships between specific literacy difficulties and psychiatric disorder were investigated in a large-scale national sample of children aged 9 to 15 years.
Results:
Specific literacy difficulties were more common in children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and were significantly associated with increased risks of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (especially inattentive symptomatology), Conduct Disorder and anxiety disorders in both girls and boys, and with self-reports of depressed mood in boys. Associations between literacy difficulties and diagnoses of both Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Conduct Disorder (CD) were mediated by inattentiveness, as were links with low mood. Links between specific literacy difficulties and anxiety were of a different nature, suggestive of a direct impact of literacy problems on risk for anxiety disorders.
Conclusions:
Literacy difficulties are significantly associated with externalizing disorders via inattention, but may constitute a more immediate risk factor for naturally anxious children to develop clinically significant levels of anxiety.
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