Self-concept, creativity and developmental dyslexia in university students: effects of age of assessment

Educational experiences often influence self-concept. Thus, readers with dyslexia can have low self-esteem and self-efficacy, and perceive themselves as less intelligent than their peers. They may develop creativity to succeed despite their difficulties but findings are inconsistent and rarely consider the effect of age of assessment on self-perception. This study included 145 university students (Mage = 24.43 years), 72 with dyslexia; of these, 53% had been assessed in childhood (Mage = 11.89 years), 47% in adulthood (Mage = 27.38 years). A survey assessed self-esteem, self-efficacy, creativity and estimated intelligence. Students with dyslexia reported lower levels of self-esteem, self-efficacy and estimated intelligence. When assessment age was considered, those assessed early displayed lower self-esteem and self-efficacy but no difference in estimated intelligence. Those assessed late displayed lower estimated intelligence and self-esteem but no difference in self-efficacy. Findings highlight the importance of providing psychological support to students with dyslexia to enhance their self-perceptions.

© 2022 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.