A joint study conducted by researchers at University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine has found that dyslexic adults were more likely to report that they were physically abused before they turned 18 years of age compared to those without dyslexia.
Thirty-five per cent of adults with dyslexia report they were physically abused before they turned 18. In contrast, seven per cent of those without dyslexia reported that they had experienced childhood physical abuse.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols.
Advertisement
"Even after accounting for age, race, sex and other early adversities such as parental addictions, childhood physical abuse was still associated with a six-fold increase in the odds of dyslexia" says co-author Esme Fuller-Thomson, professor and Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair at University of Toronto''s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.
Investigators examined a representative sample of 13,054 adults aged 18 and over in the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey including 1,020 respondents who reported that they had been physically abused during their childhood and 77 who reported that they had been diagnosed by a health professional with dyslexia.
The results were in a study published online this week in Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
"Our data do not allow us to know the direction of the association. It is possible that for some children, the presence of dyslexia and related learning problems may place them at relatively higher risk for physical abuse, perhaps due to adult frustrations with chronic learning failure" said study co-author, Stephen Hooper, professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and Associate Dean and Chair of Allied Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. "Alternatively, given the known association between brain dysfunction and maltreatment, it could be that the experience of physical abuse may also contribute to and/or exacerbate such learning problems, secondary to increased neurologic burden."
Fuller-Thomson assserts "Although we do not know if the abuse-dyslexia association is causative, with one-third of adults with dyslexia reporting childhood abuse, it is important that primary health care providers and school-based practitioners working with children with dyslexia screen them for physical abuse."
Source: Newswise
Advertisement
The results were in a study published online this week in Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
"Our data do not allow us to know the direction of the association. It is possible that for some children, the presence of dyslexia and related learning problems may place them at relatively higher risk for physical abuse, perhaps due to adult frustrations with chronic learning failure" said study co-author, Stephen Hooper, professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and Associate Dean and Chair of Allied Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. "Alternatively, given the known association between brain dysfunction and maltreatment, it could be that the experience of physical abuse may also contribute to and/or exacerbate such learning problems, secondary to increased neurologic burden."
Fuller-Thomson assserts "Although we do not know if the abuse-dyslexia association is causative, with one-third of adults with dyslexia reporting childhood abuse, it is important that primary health care providers and school-based practitioners working with children with dyslexia screen them for physical abuse."
Source: Newswise
Advertisement
Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Latest Child Health News
Side-effects of valproate drug taken during pregnancy, enhance the expression of Rnf146 gene, causing autism spectrum disorder in fetus.
Children with amblyopia or lazy eye who underwent digital vision training, showed no appreciable improvement in their eyesight.
In 2022, over 20% of children worldwide lacked adequate calories for growth, with 45+ million showing wasting (underweight for height).
After PCV7 licensure, pneumococcal infection rates in children aged 5+ with sickle cell disease significantly decreased.
Breast milk concentration of certain key proteins indicates abundance of healthy bacteria in babies' guts.
