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Adolescents with learning disabilities: risk and protective factors associated with emotional well-being: findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

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Abstract

Purpose: To identify differences in emotional well-being among adolescents with and without learning disabilities and to identify risk and protective factors associated with emotional distress.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of adolescent in-home interview data of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. A total of 20,780 adolescents were included in this study of whom 1,301 were identified as having a learning disability. Initially, emotional distress, suicidal behaviors, and violence involvement were compared among those adolescents with and without learning disabilities using Student’s t-test for the continuous or semicontinuous variables and Chi-square for the dichotomous variables. Subsequently, logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify which variables were most strongly associated with risk and protective factors for emotional distress.

Results: Adolescents with learning disabilities had twice the risk of emotional distress, and females were at twice the risk of attempting suicide and for violence involvement than their peers. While educational achievement is below that of peers, connectedness to school is comparable. So, too, is connectedness to parents. Connectedness to parents and school was identified as most strongly associated with diminished emotional distress, suicide attempts, and violence involvement among adolescents with learning disabilities.

Conclusions: Given the increased association with emotional distress, suicidal attempts, and violence involvement, clinicians need to assess social and emotional as well as educational and physical functioning of these young people. We also need to be aware of the role protective factors play in the lives of young people with learning disabilities.

Section snippets

The sample

Data were obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health Study). This is a longitudinal study of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 and the multiple social contexts in which they live. Initially 80 high schools were identified across the United States, a high school being defined as a school with at least 30 students and an 11th grade. Subsequently, the primary feeder school (e.g., middle or junior high school) was identified; however, since not all schools had a

Individual context (Table 2)

To explore the relationships of having a LD with the emotional outcomes of emotional distress, suicide attempts, and violence involvement, odds ratios were computed controlling for age, gender, grade, socio-economic status (SES), family structure, and race. Having a LD was associated with nearly double the odds ratio (OR) for emotional distress (OR 1.89 overall; 1.96 for males; 1.81 for females). Likewise, the OR was 1.67 overall for suicide (1.43 for males; 1.84 for females). Violence

Discussion

The analyses are based on a theoretical framework of risk and protection. Originally, articulated by Jessor and Jessor (14), the Health Risk Behavior Theory posited a set of factors (including individual, peer, family, and environmental) that was associated with increased participation by adolescents in a range of risk behaviors. Concurrently, research by Werner and Smith (15), Rutter (16), and numerous other researchers began to identify factors associated with resilience on the capacity of

Limitations

This study has several limitations. It was conducted with school-going adolescents. Adolescents with LDs are at higher risk for adverse outcomes when they drop out of school. This could be one of the explanations why adolescents with LDs and substance use were not as prevalent in this study as in other studies conducted with adolescents in shelters or in the juvenile justice system (29).

The different types and severity of LDs could not be determined. The only measure of IQ that was provided

Conclusion

According to results from the present analysis, an adolescent with LDs is: more frequently male (2:1), more likely to live in a single-parent family; and more likely to have a lower income on average than peers. Educational achievement is below that of peers; however, connectedness to school is comparable. So, too, is connectedness to parents. Both variables were identified as the strong protection-associated variables for emotional distress, suicidal attempts, and violence involvement among

Acknowledgements

We thank Michael Resnick, Ph.D., Darryl Goetz, Ph.D., and Ann Garwick. Ph.D., for their thoughtful review and critique throughout the research in preparation of the manuscript. Additionally, Linda Boche’s attention to manuscript preparation throughout the multiple versions of this paper is greatly appreciated. These analyses were supported in part by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability, National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research

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    Dr. Svetaz completed this work while a fellow in the Adolescent Health Program, University of Minnesota. She is currently in the Family Medicine Residency Training Program at Regions Medical Center, St. Paul, Minnesota.

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