Students’ self-reports of language and literacy difficulties in relation to mental health and academic performance: a preliminary psychometric evaluation of the Language and Literacy Scale

Language and literacy difficulties may be risk indicators for mental health problems and low academic performance among students in higher education. We examined the prevalence of these difficulties and their associations with mental health and academic performance in 52,139 students participating in the Students’ Health and Wellbeing Study (SHOT2022). Difficulties were assessed using the new Language and Literacy Scale (LLS), mental health using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25), and academic performance by grade point average. We examined the preliminary psychometric properties of the LLS and associations with mental health and academic performance, adjusting for relevant background factors. Factor analyses supported a two-factor structure reflecting reading and writing difficulties, and language difficulties. Under the primary difficulty definition, about one in five students reported both types of difficulty. Students with language or literacy difficulties had more mental health problems and poorer academic performance than peers with no or low difficulties. In fully adjusted models, students with both types of difficulty had 2.51 to 3.25 times the risk of scoring above the HSCL-25 cut-off. The LLS showed preliminary psychometric support, but further validation against established and objective measures is needed.