Daria Khanolainen

With the global decline in adolescents’ reading skills over the decade, reading-related anxiety begins to draw increasing attention. Over time, the potential feedback loop of higher anxiety and poorer reading may block pathways to academic achievements and increase the likelihood of health problems. This study examined multi-dimensional nature of reading anxiety using a sample of 654 Finnish students in Grades 7-9. The students self-assessed reading anxiety, reading control and values (utility, interest, and importance values), and reading frequency of traditional texts (e.g., book, magazine, newspaper) and digital texts (e.g., social media contents). First, confirmatory factor analysis suggested three components of reading anxiety across genders and grades, i.e., physiological and affective, cognitive, and motivational reading anxiety. Second, latent (hierarchical) regressions and difference testing further supported differences among the reading anxiety components. Lower reading control and higher reading values were associated with higher reading anxiety. Reading anxiety was also associated with reading frequency. However, cognitive reading anxiety appeared to be an essential component in terms of the overall stronger associations with reading control, values, and traditional texts reading frequency. Furthermore, reading anxiety and reading frequency association direction were variable. More frequent traditional reading was associated with higher cognitive reading anxiety, but lower physiological and affective reading anxiety (among girls) and motivational reading anxiety. More frequent digital reading was related to higher motivational reading anxiety (among boys). The findings are practically meaningful for supporting identification and regulation of reading anxiety and in turn promoting reading engagement and skills and well-being among young people.

This study examines how Taiwanese in-service teachers interpret an ambiguous situation of student exclusion and the extent to which they recognise its potential ethnic dimensions. Using the creative reflection method, a vignette-based narrative task designed to reduce social desirability bias, data were collected from 134 K–12 teachers in Taiwan. Teachers' narratives were analysed through qualitative coding, and latent class analysis identified three distinct interpretive classes, ranging from passive and blaming responses to hesitant and proactive ones, differing primarily in how teachers attributed responsibility for exclusion and their perceived role in responding to it. A substantial recognition gap was found: while 44% of participants identified the situation as discriminatory, only 22.4% explicitly referred to ethnicity. Gender emerged as a significant predictor of class membership, and most self-reported inclusive beliefs showed limited predictive power for narrative responses. The findings suggest that endorsing inclusive values does not guarantee the capacity to recognise covert ethnicity-based exclusion, and extend the concept of colour-evasiveness into the domain of teacher cognition. These results point to the need for teacher education to cultivate the specific perceptual skills required to identify subtle, ethnicity-based discrimination, rather than relying on general inclusive attitudes alone.

The early school years are a crucial period for the development of foundational mathematics and reading skills, as well as academic anxieties. Understanding how achievement and anxiety are related during this period is essential for supporting children's academic success and well-being. This study examined the early development of mathematics and reading achievement and anxiety and their within- and across-domain associations from Grades 2 to 3. A Finnish sample of 800 children (409 girls) was assessed in Grade 2 (N = 668) and Grade 3 (N = 711) using standardized tests for reading and arithmetic fluency, while self-evaluation questionnaires measured reading and math anxiety. The longitudinal model revealed within-domain stability for reading and arithmetic fluency and for reading and math anxiety as well as within-domain predictive effects from skill to anxiety. Only one significant positive cross-domain path was found, that from reading fluency to arithmetic fluency. No gender differences were found in the longitudinal associations between skills and anxiety and controlling for parental education or child age did not change the results. The developmental dynamics between anxiety and skill thus appear to run from skills to anxiety and be domain-specific early on.

The link between math skills and math anxiety is well-established, with parental homework support potentially acting as a contributing factor to both. This study used repeated measures latent profile analysis (N = 534) to identify children’s math and anxiety profiles across Grades 2–4 and examine their associations with parental support and homework-related emotions, while controlling for parental math skills and anxiety. We identified four profiles: average skills/low anxiety (47.2%), low skills/low anxiety (28.8%), high skills/low anxiety (15.3%), and low skills/high anxiety (8.7%). Frequent parental support and negative homework-related emotions predicted higher odds of membership in low-skill profiles. However, most associations were attenuated when accounting for parental math skills. These results underscore the complexity of intergenerational transmission. While prior literature argued that support from math-anxious parents exacerbates child math anxiety, our findings provide a more nuanced perspective. We demonstrate that accounting for parental math skills is critical, as the link between support and child anxiety may not represent a purely environmental pathway. Instead, it likely reflects a shared vulnerability, where skills and anxiety are transmitted through overlapping genetic and environmental factors.

To support literacy acquisition, abundant research has focused on cognitive predictors. However, reading processes also involve affective factors. The present study explored children's reading-related anxiety and its longitudinal associations with reading skills and reading interest value among a sample of 790 Finnish children followed from Grade 2 to Grade 3. The assessments administered in the classrooms included the children's self-reported reading anxiety and reading interest, followed by reading fluency skills tests. The latent cross-lagged panel model suggested that having lower reading fluency in Grade 2 was associated with developing more reading anxiety and less reading interest in Grade 3. The multigroup analysis further suggested that reading interest may support girls against developing anxiety in reading. The results show that the developmental associations between reading skills, interest, and anxiety emerge early on and that to prevent reading anxiety, both skills and interest can be useful targets.

Reading achievement is positively associated with reading engagement; however, reading anxiety may undermine this relationship by reinforcing avoidance behaviors and reducing engagement. This study investigated whether reading anxiety mediates the association between early reading fluency and later reading engagement, and whether child interest or parent importance value for reading moderate this relationship. The reading skills of approximately 660 children were assessed in Grades 1 and 2. Reading engagement (i.e., reading frequency and avoidance) was measured in both grades, while reading anxiety, children's interest in reading, and parental value placed on reading were assessed in Grade 2. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the mediating role of reading anxiety and the moderating effects of child and parental task values. Grade 1 reading fluency skills predicted Grade 2 fluency, indicating that early reading skills have a direct effect on later reading achievement. Additionally, they predicted Grade 2 reading anxiety, with higher early reading fluency predicting lower anxiety levels. Reading anxiety, in turn, was negatively associated with both Grade 2 reading fluency and reading frequency and it significantly mediated the relationship between Grade 1 fluency and Grade 2 reading frequency. Children's interest in reading was positively associated with both fluency and frequency, while parental value was associated with frequency only. However, neither child nor parent reading values moderated the associations between anxiety and either fluency or frequency. These findings highlight the importance of addressing early reading fluency difficulties and reading anxiety to foster sustained reading engagement and support long‐term reading development.

To support literacy acquisition, abundant research has focused on cognitive predictors. However, reading processes involve also affective factors. The present study explored children’s readingrelated anxiety and its longitudinal associations with reading skills and reading interest value among a sample of 790 Finnish children followed from Grade 2 to 3. The assessments administered in the classrooms included children’s self-reported reading anxiety and reading interest, followed by reading fluency skill tests. The multiple linear regression models suggested that having lower reading fluency in Grade 2 predicted experiencing higher reading anxiety in Grade 3. Poorer reading was also associated with developing less reading interest, particularly among girls. The separate gender group analyses suggested that reading interest may support girls against developing anxiety in reading. The results suggest that the associations between reading skills, interest, and anxiety emerge early and that in the developmental ways to prevent reading anxiety, both skills and interest can be useful targets.

We examined how the home math environment (HME) relates to children’s arithmetic fluency development. Unlike most prior research, we used the Familial Control Method to account for familial confounding by leveraging parental skills. Children’s arithmetic fluency was tested in Grades 1, 2 and 3 (n = 498). Mothers’ (n = 406) and fathers’ (n = 176) mathematical skills were assessed using math tests and self-reports. Parents reported formal and informal HME activities. We used latent growth curve models. More informal math-related activities (e.g. playing games) at home predicted higher arithmetic fluency in Grade 3 and faster development from Grades 1 to 3 (β’s .26 to .37). In contrast, more formal math-related activities (e.g. explicit parental teaching) predicted lower arithmetic fluency in Grade 3 and slower development from Grades 1 to 3 (β’s -.56 to -.43). These associations attenuated, but most remained significant after controlling for parental skills (|β|’s .15-.44). Informal play-based interactions were positively linked to arithmetic development, whereas formal instruction and homework help were negatively linked. However, this negative association may reflect parents increasing their formal support in response to children’s difficulties—suggesting a possible evocative effect. Parents with lower math skills tended to have children with lower arithmetic fluency (r = .31-.34), and to engage more in formal and less in informal home math activities. This study underscores the intergenerational transmission of children’s arithmetic skills. Future research should continue to account for familial confounding to better understand how the home environment shapes children’s learning.

Measuring attitudes on sensitive topics such as immigration, prejudice, and multiculturalism is a persistent methodological challenge because standard self-report instruments are prone to social desirability bias. This bias—the tendency for participants to provide socially acceptable answers rather than their true beliefs—can distort both predictors and outcomes, severely compromising the rigor of research. Statistical control via social desirability scales offers only partial remediation, and when the same bias affects all measured variables, statistical control alone is often insufficient or even counterproductive. This tutorial introduces a novel methodological tool that mitigates social desirability bias by eliciting responses through creative reflection—an open-ended, low-stakes task that prompts participants to express their views indirectly. We detail the process of designing such tasks, coding and analyzing the resulting data, and integrating these methods into broader research designs. Our analysis applies a mixed-methods framework that integrates quantitative survey responses from 454 in-service teachers with qualitative creative narratives from 413 in-service teachers. Step-by-step code, annotated examples, and the full dataset are provided to enable replication and adaptation. While illustrated with a study of teachers’ multicultural attitudes, the approach is applicable to other sensitive psychological and educational research topics.

This study investigated the trajectories of reading fluency development from age 9 (Grade 2) to 23, focusing on factors participants perceived as influencing their reading development and their self-perceptions of reading abilities in adulthood. A mixed methods approach was employed, combining quantitative measures and retrospective interviews. Six reading trajectories were identified, differing in initial reading abilities and progress. Interview data revealed that participants perceived health-related issues, environmental factors, and personal attributes as shaping their reading development. Groups with low Grade 2 reading skills reported higher rates of dyslexia, while those with typical Grade 2 skills more often mentioned attention-related problems. The group with low Grade 2 reading skills and slow progress was the only one that reported no engagement in reading activities. Most participants also highlighted the role of personal attributes. Notably, those with early reading difficulties but substantial progress reported negative personal attributes, suggesting that early difficulties can have lasting impacts on self-perception. Furthermore, adult self-perceptions of reading abilities were often based more on childhood experiences than on current skills, indicating the long-term psychological effects of early experiences. These findings underscore the need for comprehensive support that fosters both skill development and positive reading self-concepts from an early age.