Developmental paths of reading skills during lower secondary education: associations with literacy-related emotions and psychological well-being

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates developmental paths of reading fluency and comprehension among adolescents in lower secondary education. Furthermore, we examined the association between these paths, literacy-related emotions and psychological well-being. This longitudinal study’s sample ( n = 1,035, 55% girls) comprised Finnish adolescents (mean age = 13.79, SD = 0.35 at the outset) in Grades 7 and 9. The participants’ reading fluency and comprehension were measured using standardized tests, while literacy-related emotions and psychological well-being were measured via self-reports. Research questions were analyzed using latent profile analysis. Three developmental paths of reading skills were found: (1) low reading comprehension and low and slowly increasing reading fluency (11%), (2) average-increasing reading comprehension and fluency (59%) and (3) high reading comprehension and high-increasing reading fluency (30%). Adolescents on Path 3 reported higher literacy-related enjoyment, hope, and pride and lower literacy-related anger, anxiety, hopelessness, and shame than adolescents on other paths. No differences between paths were found in life satisfaction, but adolescents on Developmental path 1 and 3 reported a higher level of depressive symptoms than adolescents on Path 2, and their symptoms increased faster from Grade 7 to 9. Reading skills continue to develop during adolescence, and the development follows heterogenous paths. A nonlinear connection exists between reading skills and depressive symptoms, which would be important to consider in the efforts to support adolescent reading skills and well-being. The results suggest that both adolescents with particularly low and high reading skills are vulnerable to increased depressive symptoms.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Reading and Writing, 2026 · DOI ↗