Are Parenting Style and Loneliness Associated with Depression in Children with or without Developmental Dyslexia?

Evidence has shown that children with developmental dyslexia (DD) are vulnerable to internalizing problems such as depression. Family and peer support are two important factors that influence children’s psychological development, and deficits in support from family and peers might increase the likelihood of depression. This study aimed to examine whether and to what extent family and peer relationships (parenting style and loneliness) were associated with depression in elementary children with DD and in matched typically developing (TD) children. This study included 92 grade 3–5 students, consisting of 46 children with DD (35 males; age: M = 9.46, SD = 0.94) and 46 TD children (35 males; age: M = 9.43, SD = 1.00). Assessments included questionnaires that evaluated the relationship between children and their parents, the loneliness and depression in children. Pearson correlation analyses and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between loneliness/parenting style and depression. The results showed that children with DD were at a higher risk of experiencing depression and experienced worse parenting than TD children. In the group with DD, only parenting style was a significant predictor of depression, whereas in the TD group, both parenting style and loneliness were significant predictors of depression. Parenting style was associated with greater variance in depression in the TD group than in the group with DD. Our findings demonstrated the importance of considering parenting style when dealing with mental health problems in children with DD. Furthermore, given that loneliness did not account for variance in depression and that parenting style minimally accounted for variance, more variables should be examined to understand their influence on internalizing problems in children with DD.