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Dyslexia, a neurocognitive difference characterised by poor word‐reading, is associated with elevated risk for internalising (e.g., anxiety) and externalising (e.g., aggression) mental health concerns, the reasons are largely unknown. We took a neurodiversity perspective and explored whether school‐connectedness mediated these associations. A total of 283 primary school children (87 with dyslexia) and their caregivers (95.4% mothers) completed a battery of well‐validated connectedness and mental health measures. Two mediation models (one for child‐report and one for caregiver‐report) tested direct and indirect effects of dyslexia on anxiety, depression and conduct problems via several domains of school‐connectedness. After controlling for gender and neurodevelopmental conditions other than dyslexia, there were no direct effects of dyslexia on child‐ or caregiver‐reported internalising symptoms or child‐reported conduct problems. Dyslexia was associated with child and caregiver reported anxiety, depression and conduct problems via low levels of school (but not teacher, friend or peer) connectedness. Findings highlight school‐connectedness as an important intervention target for the mental health of children with dyslexia. Future research is needed to test associations between dyslexia, school‐connectedness and mental health over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Parents of children with dyslexia may be at elevated risk for parenting stress and mental health concerns. Our aim was to explore the emotional experience of growing up with dyslexia in Australia from parents' perspectives. In so doing, we also developed an understanding of parents' own mental health and support needs informed by their lived experience. Methodology: Seventeen interviews with mothers of children (9–14 years; 16 with a diagnosis of dyslexia) were analysed using Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis approach. Analysis: Five themes were developed to address our aim: Theme 1: Years in the wilderness: Life before diagnosis; 2: "I struggle at times to see her struggle"; 3. School struggles: Advocating for our children and managing distress; 4. "It's a full‐time job" and a "long slog"; 5: Care for the carer: Social support and coping strategies. Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that mothers of children with dyslexia may be at elevated risk for mental health concerns. Specifically, chronic worry and stress, secondary distress, challenges to parenting self‐efficacy, and lack of support and understanding (feeling isolated) were highlighted as plausible risk factors. Mothers described coping strategies at the community level (e.g., school connectedness) and at the individual level (e.g., "acceptance") as protective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with dyslexia, compared with typically reading peers, are at increased risk of internalising (e.g., anxiety) and externalising (e.g., aggression) mental health concerns; why this is the case is largely unknown. Our aim was to explore the socio‐emotional experience of growing up with dyslexia from both child and parent perspectives. In so doing, we aimed to gain a better understanding of self‐esteem and mental health in the context of dyslexia. One‐to‐one semi‐structured interviews with 17 children with reading difficulties (aged 9–14 years; 16 with a diagnosis of dyslexia) and their mothers (interviewed separately) were analysed using Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis approach with a neurodiversity lens. We developed three themes to address the research aim: (1) Different in a good/bad way; (2) Exhausted and overwhelmed; and (3) It takes a community: Family school connections. Children discussed having "worries" and experiencing school‐related stress and embarrassment. Mothers perceived children's internalising and externalising behaviour (meltdowns), school refusal, and homework resistance as emotional responses to children's school struggles due to poor "person‐environment fit." Our analysis highlights the particular importance of parent support, friendship, and school‐connectedness for the wellbeing of children with dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Emotional experience is argued to contribute to the initiation and maintenance of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). We investigated whether individuals with/without a history of NSSI differed in their dispositional experience of negative and positive emotion, as well as their state responses to negatively and positively valenced movie clips.Method: Undergraduates (n = 214, Mage  = 21.33, 73.8% female, 35.5% reporting NSSI) completed measures of NSSI and dispositional emotional experience. Participants also viewed a sad and amusing movie clip and provided sadness/amusement ratings at seven time-points.Results: Relative to participants with no history of self-injury, participants reporting NSSI indicated more reactivity, intensity, and perseveration of dispositional negative emotion; however, differences were negated after adjusting for mental illness. Unexpectedly, individuals with a history of NSSI responded less intensely to the sad clip, although they demonstrated perseveration of sadness over time. Participants reporting NSSI also indicated less reactivity, intensity, and perseveration of dispositional positive emotion and, in response to the amusing film, reported less amusement at all time-points.Conclusions: Considering different dimensions of negative and positive emotion may enhance understanding of NSSI. Future research should disentangle which dimensions of emotional experience are unique to NSSI and which are shared with mental illness more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]