Teens who read poorly have higher suicide risk

Teenagers who have significant problems reading appear to be much more likely than their peers to contemplate or attempt suicide, researchers reported Wednesday.

In a 3-year study of 188 high school students, researchers found that those with poor reading abilities were nearly four times more likely than average readers to think about or attempt suicide.

Twenty-five percent of teens with reading disabilities said they thought about killing themselves or made a suicide attempt, while these thoughts and behaviors were reported by 9 percent of students with average reading skills, the study authors report in the Journal of Learning Disabilities.

Not surprisingly, poor readers were also much more likely to drop out of school during the study period—30 percent did, versus 5 percent of their peers, a six-fold increased risk. And dropping out was strongly related to an increased risk of suicide.

“If a child is having trouble reading, then drops out of school, the risk of suicidal behavior—in thought or in deed—goes up all the more,” said senior study author Dr. Frank B. Wood of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“This is one of a number of lines of evidence that reading problems among children are not to be taken lightly,” he told Reuters Health. The suicide risk, according to Wood, may stem from the poor self-image that many students with reading disabilities develop.

“We hear them say that they get discouraged and feel sad,” Wood said. Some, he noted, feel like school isn’t worthwhile for them, or even that “life isn’t worth living.”

For the study, students from six public high schools took a standard test that asked them to look at single words and pronounce them correctly. Those who scored in the lowest 18 percent were considered poor readers.

The students also completed interviews to diagnose any psychiatric disorders and detect suicidal behavior. To get a balance in the study group, students who read at normal levels were roughly matched to the poor readers for sex, race and socioeconomic factors.

Wood and his colleagues found that, even when students’ psychiatric conditions were considered, reading disability alone was still related to a higher suicide risk.

The findings offer even more reason to identify and address children’s reading difficulties early on—in elementary school, according to Wood. Parents, he noted, are often the ones who recognize the problem first.

“This should encourage and support parents in their insistence that their child’s reading problems be addressed as early as possible,” said Wood.

SOURCE: Journal of Learning Disabilities, November 2006.

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