The Comparison of Emotional-Behavioral Problems and Aggression in Students with/without Specific Learning Disability

Reading and mathematics abilities play a significant role in the life of students and can be associated with emotional-behavioral problems. Due to the frequency of adaptive problems in students with specific learning disorders, the present study was conducted to compare the emotional-behavioral problems and aggression in students with and without specific learning disabilities (SLD).

This research was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population included all the primary school students with and without (reading and math) learning disability in Rasht city in the academic year 2018-2019. Two groups of students with dyslexia (14 students) and dyscalculia (16 students) were selected by convenience sampling and a group of students without learning disability (28 students) was selected by purposive sampling. Aggression Questionnaire for Primary School Students (Shahim, 2006) and Connerschr('39') Parent Rating Scale (1996) were used to gather the data.  

One-way analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of emotional-behavioral problems (F= 43.72, P<0.01). Results also showed that there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of aggression (F=10.88, P<0.01). According to the results of the Games-Howell post-hoc test, this difference was in favor of the normal group. But no significant difference was observed between the two groups of students with dyslexia and dyscalculia in terms of aggression level (P>0.05).

Results indicate that students with SLD have conduct problems, impulsivity, interpersonal and communication problems and because of these problems, they may experience educational deficiencies. In addition, whereas these students experience continuous failures, they are more susceptible to emotional-behavioral problems.