Do reading disabilities explain the increase of depressive symptoms in late adolescence?

Figures & data

Table 1 Depressive symptoms at ages 16–18 in sub-groups of RD, gender, and educational track.

		T1: Age 16		T2: Age 17		T3: Age 18
Group	n^a	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Girls	150	6.66	4.96	8.33	6.16	9.05	6.09
With RD	18	5.51	3.64	9.04	4.50	10.56	6.99
Without RD	132	6.81	5.11	8.23	6.37	8.84	5.96
Boys	143	3.93	4.54	4.64	4.91	5.27	5.51
With RD	40	3.43	4.37	4.13	4.68	4.50	5.10
Without RD	103	4.12	4.61	4.84	5.01	5.56	5.66
t-test^b girls vs. boys		t = 4.91^*^*^*		t^c = 5.69^*^*^*		t = 5.56^*^*^*
Academic track	201	6.18	4.95	7.26	5.94	7.96	6.15
With RD	18	5.40	3.75	8.11	5.00	9.67	7.51
Without RD	183	6.26	5.05	7.18	6.03	7.79	6.00
Vocational track	92	3.45	4.41	4.92	5.43	5.54	5.69
With RD	40	3.48	4.35	4.54	4.84	4.90	5.22
Without RD	52	3.43	4.50	5.21	5.88	6.04	6.04
t-test academic vs. vocational track		t = 4.53^*^*^*		t = 3.22^*^*		t = 3.19^*^*
All with RD	58	4.08	4.24	5.65	5.12	6.38	6.35
All without RD	235	5.63	5.07	6.74	6.04	7.40	6.04
t-test RD vs. non-RD		t = − 2.16^*		t = − 1.27, ns		t = − 1.14, ns
All	293	5.33	4.94	6.53	5.88	7.20	6.11

^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01; ^***p < 0.001.

a ns in the table are for the repeated measures analyses when depressive symptoms at Times 1–3 and RD were included.

b Degrees of freedom for t-tests were 291 if not indicated otherwise.

c t-value and degrees of freedom (282.2) when equal variances were not assumed (Levene's test for equality p < 0.01).

Table 2 Main and interaction effects in repeated measures ANOVAs with RD and gender or educational track as between-subjects factors.

Within-subjects	Between-subjects	df	F	p
Model 1: Time × RD × gender^a
Time		2, 578	17.71	0.000^*^*^*	0.058
Time × RD		2, 578	1.45	0.236	0.005
Time × gender		2, 578	4.26	0.015^*	0.015
Time × RD × gender		2, 578	2.19	0.113	0.008
	RD	1, 289	0.09	0.768	0.000
	Gender	1, 289	28.37	0.000^*^*^*	0.089
	RD × gender	1, 289	0.77	0.382	0.003
Model 2: Time × RD × educational track^b
Time		2, 578	17.19	0.000^*^*^*	0.056
Time ×  RD		2, 578	0.43	0.650	0.001
Time ×  track		2, 578	0.54	0.583	0.002
Time ×  RD ×  track		2, 578	2.72	0.067	0.009
	RD	1, 289	0.002	0.966	0.000
	Track	1, 289	13.73	0.000^*^*^*	0.045
	RD × track	1, 289	0.67	0.415	0.002

^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01; ^***p < 0.001.

a ns in the analysis: students with RD 58, without RD 235, girls 150, boys 143, girls with RD 18, girls without RD 132, boys with RD 40, boys without RD 103.

b ns in the analysis: academic track 201, vocational track 92, students with RD on academic track 18, students with RD on vocational track 40, students without RD on academic track 183, students without RD on vocational track 52.

Figure 1 Interaction between measurement time and gender: Changes in depressive symptoms between ages 16 and 18 for girls (n = 150) and boys (n = 143).