Total anxiety predicts later fluency for girls only, via a significant gender-by-anxiety interaction¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2012 · checked against its sources 2026-10-19 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q3 i? The MASCT-by-gender interaction significantly predicted T2 fluency; among girls, greater T1 total anxiety was associated with better T2 fluency, while among boys the slope was not significant (t(148) = −.38, ns). The design is observational and cannot show that anxiety caused either pattern. → Grills-Taquechel 2012

Evidence¶

Grills-Taquechel 2012¶

Grills-Taquechel, Amie E.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Vaughn, Sharon R.; Stuebing, Karla K. (2012). Anxiety and Reading Difficulties in Early Elementary School: Evidence for Unidirectional- or Bi-Directional Relations? Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 43(1), 35-47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-011-0246-1

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Post-hoc probing (Holmbeck's method) of the significant MASCT * Gender interaction (Table 3: β = .13, t = 2.20, p < .05) predicting T2 fluency. For boys the slope was non-significant, t(148) = −.38, ns; girls with the lowest anxiety scored below the normative average and performed more poorly.

"For girls, the slope was significant, t(148) = 2.31, p < .05, suggesting that girls who performed better on the CMERS at T2 tended to have greater MASCT scores at T1 (see Fig. 2)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

Academic Anxiety — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Affect Regulation — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Gender — moderator: an instructional effect differs by group

End-of-year decoding was not predicted by any mid-year anxiety subscale — related
Mid-year harm avoidance symptoms positively predict end-of-year oral reading fluency for boys and girls — related
No significant gender differences on anxiety or reading measures at either time point — related
ACE-outcome associations did not differ between girls and boys — reports the opposite
Better mid-year oral reading fluency predicts lower separation anxiety symptoms at end of first grade — related

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`gender-moderates-anxiety-fluency-relation`
`title`	`Total anxiety predicts later fluency for girls only, via a significant gender-by-anxiety interaction`
`description`	`Total anxiety predicts later fluency for girls only, via a significant gender-by-anxiety interaction`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`newest_evidence`	`2012`
`source_checked`	`2026-10-19`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-17`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `grills-taquechel-2012`

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