Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:45:10.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 8 - Theoretical Insights into Dyslexic Anxiety and Coping Responses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2021

Amanda T. Abbott-Jones
Amanda T. Abbott-Jones
Affiliation:
Independent Dyslexia Consultants, London
Get access

Summary

This chapter enables the dyslexic reader to gain an insight into a theoretical explanation for the underlying anxiety that exists for the student with dyslexia. It also provides a justification of mechanisms of coping that they may have encountered and presents productive approaches for reflection. By revisiting theoretical approaches to anxiety and the theoretical framework for understanding coping responses, interpretations are provided of how the data presented in the chapters relates to the theories. However, only theories that appear appropriate for helping to explain the findings and that help to provide an explanation for the relationship between academic performance and anxiety for the dyslexic participants are discussed. These include Ohman’s (1993) information-processing model of anxiety and Hadwin, Brogan and Stevenson’s (2005) processing efficiency theory. Additionally, of the thirteen families of coping conceptualised by Skinner et al. (2003) only the coping categories predominantly used by the dyslexic participants, are evaluated: problem-solving, seeking support, cognitive restructuring, emotion regulation, negotiation and delegation.

Keywords

theories of anxietytheories of copingOhman’s (1993) information-processing model of anxietyHadwin et al.’s (2005) processing efficiency theorySkinner et al.’s (2003) structure of copingproblem-solvingseeking supportcognitive restructuringemotion regulationnegotiation delegation
Type
Chapter
Information
Dyslexia in Higher Education
Anxiety and Coping Skills
 , pp. 247 - 268
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akhavan Tafti, M., Hameedy, M. A. & Mohammadi Baghal, N. (2009). Dyslexia, a deficit or a difference: comparing the creativity and memory skills of dyslexic and nondyslexic students in Iran. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 37(8), 1009–1016.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. (1999). Essentials of Human Memory. Hove: Psychology Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruck, M. & Parke, R. D. (1992). Persistence of dyslexics’ phonological awareness deficits. Developmental Psychology, 28(5), 874–886.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, J. & Iles, J. (2006). An assessment of anxiety levels in dyslexic students in higher education. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(3), 651–662.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elias, M. J., Rothbaum, P. A. & Gara, M. (1986). Social-cognitive problem solving in children: assessing the knowledge and application of skills. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 7, 77–94.Google Scholar
Folkman, S. & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21(3), 219–231.Google Scholar
Hadwin, J., Brogan, J. & Stevenson, J. (2005). State anxiety and working memory in children: a test of processing efficiency theory. Educational Psychology, 25(4), 379–393.Google Scholar
Heckhausen, J. & Schulz, R. (1995). A life-span theory of control. Psychological Review, 102, 284–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jordan, J. A., McGladdery, G. & Dyer, K. (2014). Dyslexia in higher education: implications for maths anxiety, statistics anxiety and psychological well-being. Dyslexia, 20(3), 225–240.Google Scholar
Lefly, D. & Pennington, B. (1991). Spelling errors and reading fluency in compensated adult dyslexics. Annals of Dyslexia, 41(1), 143–162.Google Scholar
Logan, J. (2009). Dyslexic entrepreneurs: the incidence, their coping strategies and their business skills. Dyslexia, 15(4), 328–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, J., Lindstrom, W. & Foels, P. (2015). Test anxiety among college students with specific reading disability (dyslexia): nonverbal ability and working memory as predictors. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48(4), 422–432.Google Scholar
Ohman, A. (1993). Fear and anxiety as emotional phenomena: clinical phenomenology, evolutionary perspectives, and information processing mechanisms. In Lewis, M. & Haviland, J. M. (eds.), Handbook of Emotions (pp. 511–536). New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Parrilla-Escobar, M. A., Perez, I., Pelayo, T., Pardo, G., Ramirez, B., Vazquez, B. & Crespo, F. (2007). Distinct patterns of premorbid social functioning in first-episode psychosis: relationship to initial presentation. European Psychiatry, 22(S1), S284–S285.Google Scholar
Pearlin, L. & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2–21.Google Scholar
Poblano, A., Valadéz-Tepec, T., de Lourdes Arias, M. & García-Pedroza, F. (2000). Phonological and visuo-spatial memory alterations in dyslexic children. Archives of Medical Research, 31(5), 493–496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riddick, B., Sterling, C., Farmer, M. & Morgan, S. (1999). Self‐esteem and anxiety in the educational histories of adult dyslexic students. Dyslexia, 5(4), 227–248.Google Scholar
Skinner, E., Edge, K., Altman, J., Sherwood, H. & Cooper, H. (2003). Searching for the structure of coping: a review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychological Bulletin, 129(2), 216–269.Google Scholar
Smith-Spark, J. H. & Fisk, J. (2007). Working memory functioning in developmental dyslexia. Memory, 15(1), 34–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, D. L. & Lushene, R. E. (1983). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. San Francisco, CA: Consulting Psychologists’ Press.Google Scholar
Wiseheart, R., Altmann, L. J. P., Park, H. & Lombardino, L. J. (2009). Sentence comprehension in young adults with developmental dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 59(2), 151–167.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×