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Cognitive Reappraisal Reduces Academic Anxiety in University Students With Dyslexia

Coates McDowall, Holly; Rimfeld, Kaili; Krishnan, Saloni; (2025) Cognitive Reappraisal Reduces Academic Anxiety in University Students With Dyslexia. Mind, Brain, and Education , 19 (11) pp. 18-31. 10.1111/mbe.12434. Green open access

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Abstract

University students with dyslexia have greater anxiety than their peers without dyslexia, especially related to their academic studies. Most universities focus on mitigating the learning needs of these students, for example, providing more time during exams. Relatively little attention is paid to the psychological impact of having dyslexia. In this preregistered study, we investigated whether cognitive reappraisal reduced academic anxiety in university students with dyslexia. We codesigned negative and neutral scenarios about academic life with university students with dyslexia. We presented university students (54 students with dyslexia and 51 neurotypical students) with these scenarios about academic life and asked them to rate their anxiety. As hypothesized, we observed that students with dyslexia had higher academic anxiety than those without dyslexia (d = 0.43). When instructed to use cognitive reappraisal, all students, irrespective of having dyslexia or not, benefitted from an anxiety reduction (d = 0.87). Our experimental research indicates cognitive reappraisal may be a valuable tool to support students. Furthermore, it may help those with dyslexia to manage the heightened emotional demands of academia. Intervention trials that assess the real-world implementation of cognitive reappraisal are now warranted.

Type: Article
Title: Cognitive Reappraisal Reduces Academic Anxiety in University Students With Dyslexia
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/mbe.12434
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12434
Language: English
Additional information: © 2024 The Author(s). Mind, Brain, and Education published by International Mind, Brain, and Education Society and Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Language and Cognition
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10200483
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