SynthesisPsychological bulletin2026
The association between reading anxiety and reading achievement: A meta-analysis and systematic review.
Synthesis in Psychological bulletin, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The association between reading anxiety and reading achievement: A meta-analysis and systematic review.Psychological bulletin · 2026Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of the effects of academic interventions on academic and academic anxiety outcomes in secondary students.Journal of school psychology · 2025Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Reading anxiety is the fear of reading and is theorized to be negatively associated with reading achievement. An inability to engage in reading due to either low reading achievement or high reading anxiety could be debilitating. Research on reading anxiety and its association with reading achievement was first explored in the 1980s but has been an area of rapidly increasing investigation in recent years. The goal of the present preregistered meta-analysis and systematic review was to determine the strength of the association between reading anxiety and reading achievement. Through systematic screening of the published and unpublished literature, 64 studies (totaling 180 effect sizes and 14,467 participants) were identified and included in the meta-analysis. The included studies were conducted in 14 countries and 11 languages. Analyses were performed using random-effects models, accounting for dependent effect sizes via robust variance estimation. A significant moderate negative average weighted correlation was found between reading anxiety and reading achievement (r = -.30, p < .001). Significant heterogeneity across effect sizes was found (Q = 996, p < .001). Learning disability status, gender, reading domain, and age were not significant moderators. The association between reading anxiety and reading achievement has implications for the fields of psychology and education, specifically in efforts to promote people's reading achievement while maintaining their socioemotional well-being. Future research using experimental and longitudinal designs is needed to determine the direction of any causal influences between reading anxiety and reading achievement. Such research would inform recommendations for supporting individuals struggling with reading anxiety and reading achievement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.