Exposure to Family Violence and Reading Level of Early Adolescents

There is a limited amount of research on the effects of child maltreatment and exposure to violence on academic outcomes in general and reading ability in particular. In this study, 158 12-year-old children were recruited from low-income, urban families. They reported on their experiences with maltreatment and violence, and had their reading levels assessed using the Wide Range Achievement Test. Sixty percent of the children had low reading levels (reading level below 6th grade at age 12). In multivariate analyses, having witnessed family violence emerged as a unique predictor of low reading level (odds ratio = 1.45). These findings highlight the academic difficulties likely to accompany the emotional effects of witnessed family violence.