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Chapter 4 - Identification of the Prevalence of Anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2021

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

This chapter provides substantial new evidence in relation to the problem of anxiety for the dyslexic university student. It presents findings from a survey used to measure differences between 102 dyslexic students and seventy-two non-dyslexic students and showing a statistically significant effect for the dyslexic sample for higher levels of academic anxiety. The approach used to obtain the results is briefly explained to verify that the instrument used adhered to high levels of validity and reliability. The survey is a confirmatory replication of Carroll and Iles’s (2006) small-scale study, on the grounds that items in their questionnaire had been based on two established and copyright-free questionnaires, both of which had been tested and retested for internal consistency and reliability. The t-test results between the dyslexic and non-dyslexic groups are presented graphically as box plots, a visually clear way of representing statistical data that distinctly shows differences between the two samples. This is broken down further by providing a table showing eleven individual items from the questionnaire where dyslexic students scored significantly higher levels of academic anxiety than their non-dyslexic peers.

Keywords

evidenceanxietydyslexic studentsacademic anxietyconfirmatory replicationCarroll & Iles
Type
Chapter
Information
Dyslexia in Higher Education
Anxiety and Coping Skills
 , pp. 118 - 151
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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