Attentional Symptom Expression Moderates the Role of Vocabulary in Reading Comprehension Among Fifth-Grade Students

Previous research has linked inattentive symptom expression to reading difficulties, primarily in clinically referred samples or using indirect academic indicators. The present study examines attentional variability in a nonreferred community-based school sample with no clinical diagnoses or referrals, using standardized reading measures. The study further tested whether attentional variability moderates associations between cognitive linguistic skills and reading comprehension. 267 fifth grade students (mean age = 10.8 years) completed standardized measures of word reading efficiency, vocabulary knowledge, working memory, and reading comprehension. Based on parent and teacher ratings, approximately one-third of the sample showed elevated levels of inattentive symptom expression. Regression analyses indicated that vocabulary knowledge and word reading efficiency accounted for the largest proportion of explained variance in reading comprehension, whereas working memory showed weaker associations. Moderation analyses revealed that attentional symptom expression selectively moderated the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, such that the positive association between vocabulary and comprehension was attenuated among students with elevated attentional symptom expression. No moderation effects were observed for word reading efficiency or working memory. These findings suggest that attentional variability is differentially related to specific cognitive linguistic components involved in reading comprehension.