Persistence of literacy problems: spelling in adolescence and at mid-life

• Published in: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry Vol. 50; no. 8; pp. 893 - 901
• Main Authors: Maughan, B., Messer, J., Collishaw, S., Pickles, A., Snowling, M., Yule, W., Rutter, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-08-2009; Wiley-Blackwell; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Adults; Biological and medical sciences; Career Choice; Child; continuity; Correlation; Developmental delays; Developmental psychology; Developmental reading problems; Dyslexia - diagnosis; Dyslexia - epidemiology; Educational psychology; Educational Status; epidemiology; Female; follow-up; Foreign Countries; Humans; Individual Differences; Individuality; Language and communication disorders; Leisure Activities; Literacy; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mass Screening - statistics & numerical data; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Persistence; Predictor Variables; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Qualifications; Reading; Reading Difficulties; reading disorder; Socioeconomic Background; Spelling; Teenagers; United Kingdom; Verbal Learning; Writing; Young Adult; Young Adults; Young people; United Kingdom; Europe; Isle of Wight; United Kingdom > UK; England; Human; Reading disorder; spelling; Deficiency; continuity; Orthography; Epidemiology; Verbal ability; follow-up; Developmental reading problems; Language; Follow up study; Adolescent; Adult; Public health
• ISSN: 0021-9630; 1469-7610
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02079.x

Background:  Developmental reading problems show strong persistence across the school years; less is known about poor readers’ later progress in literacy skills.
Method:  Poor (n = 42) and normally developing readers (n = 86) tested in adolescence (ages 14/15 years) in the Isle of Wight epidemiological studies were re‐contacted at mid‐life (ages 44/45 years). Participants completed a spelling test, and reported on educational qualifications, perceived adult spelling competence, and problems in day‐to‐day literacy tasks.
Results:  Individual differences in spelling were highly persistent across this 30‐year follow‐up, with correlations between spelling at ages 14 and 44 years of r = .91 (p < .001) for poor readers and r = .89 (p < .001) for normally developing readers. Poor readers’ spelling remained markedly impaired at mid‐life, with some evidence that they had fallen further behind over the follow‐up period. Taking account of adolescent spelling levels, continued exposure to reading and literacy demands in adolescence and early adulthood was independently predictive of adult spelling in both samples; family social background added further to prediction among normally developing readers only.
Conclusions:  By adolescence, individual differences in spelling and its related sub‐skills are highly stable. Encouraging young people with reading disabilities to maintain their exposure to reading and writing may be advantageous in the longer term.