Home reading environment, sociometric and demographic factors associated with dyslexia in primary school students in China: A case-control study

BACKGROUND: Developmental dyslexia (DD) has been generally recognized as a multifactorial psychological disorder in recent decades. However, studies on reading and learning environment, social and demographic factors affecting Chinese developmental dyslexia (DD) are still scarce in China. This study aims to explore multidimensional home influencing factors associated with DD before and after birth. METHODS: A total of 60 dyslexic and 252 normal elementary school students graded 2–5 were recruited in Shantou, China. The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression model was used for the social and demographic variables screening. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between DD and related factors were estimated by multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: Through LASSO regression, we ultimately identified 13 key variables, including maternal education level and family monthly income, among others. The logistic regression analyses showed that the risk of DD was higher in children with lower maternal education levels. Divergent parenting styles may be a risk factor for developing DD as opposed to consistent parenting styles (OR = 4.93, 95%CI: 1.11–21.91). Children whose mothers suffered from malnutrition during pregnancy were more likely to develop DD (OR = 10.31, 95%CI: 1.84–37.86), as well as exposure to second-hand smoking at home every day (OR = 5.33, 95%CI: 1.52–18.66). Interestingly, children's active reading (OR = 0.26, 95%CI: 0.08–0.84; OR = 0.17, 95%CI: 0.04–0.76 for “sometimes” and “often” compared to none, respectively), children having extracurricular reading fairy tale books (OR = 0.37, 95%CI: 0.15–0.90), and children having extracurricular reading composition books (OR = 0.25, 95%CI: 0.09–0.69) were significant protective factors for DD. CONCLUSIONS: Home reading environment, several educational, sociometric and demographic factors may influence the development of dyslexia. We should pay attention to these factors on the development of dyslexia, so as to provide the well social and familial environment to ensure the healthy development of children.