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Gender ratio and cognitive profiles in dyslexia: a cross-national study

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze possible gender-related differences in the prevalence of dyslexia. A cross-national comparison of Spain and Guatemala was conducted. Both countries speak the same language but have a different standard of living and educational level. A second purpose of this study was to analyze the cognitive profile of Guatemalan and Spanish males and females children with dyslexia. The log-linear analysis indicated that the number of dyslexics detected was different across the countries but there were no differences as a function of gender. Similarly, there were no significant or meaningful differences between dyslexic males and females in the cognitive processes involved in reading. Therefore, gender differences do not appear to be characteristic of developmental dyslexia.

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Acknowledgments

This study has been funded by Plan Nacional I+D+i (Feder y Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología) SEJ2006-09156, Agencia Española de Cooperación con Iberoamérica (AECI, ref. A/3877/05), and Programa Ramón y Cajal (RyC-2009-04227). Some parts of the article were written while Juan E. Jiménez and Isabel O’Shanahan Juan were visiting the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia of Vancouver, Canada, with the support from the Minister of Education in Spain through research grant PR2007-0395 and PR2007-0405, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Psicología, Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, 38200, Islas Canarias, Spain

    Juan E. Jiménez & Cristina Rodríguez

  2. Departamento de Psicología, Universidad del Valle, 18 Av. 11-95, Zona 15 VH III, Guatemala City, Guatemala

    Claudia García de la Cadena

  3. Faculty of Education, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Linda S. Siegel

  4. Facultad de Educación, Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus de Guajara, 38200, Islas Canarias, Spain

    Isabel O’Shanahan

  5. Faculty of Psychology and Education, Department of Developmental Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, van der Boechorststraat 1, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Eduardo García

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  1. Juan E. Jiménez
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  2. Claudia García de la Cadena
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  4. Isabel O’Shanahan
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  5. Eduardo García
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  6. Cristina Rodríguez
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Correspondence to Juan E. Jiménez.

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Jiménez, J.E., de la Cadena, C.G., Siegel, L.S. et al. Gender ratio and cognitive profiles in dyslexia: a cross-national study. Read Writ 24, 729–747 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-009-9222-6

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