Adult Reading History Questionnaire – Dutch Short Version (ARHQ)

Abstract

The Adult Reading History Questionnaire–Dutch Short Version (ARHQ), developed by Khanolainen et al. (2024), represents a significant abbreviation of the original 23-item ARHQ established by Lefly & Pennington (2000). The original measure was designed to assess critical components related to reading ability, including childhood reading difficulties, academic achievement, current reading and spelling habits, and short-term memory capacity.

Through rigorous psychometric analyses, specifically involving Factor Analysis and Item Response Theory (IRT), the measure was refined to a concise 5-item instrument tailored for the Dutch context. Validation data were systematically collected across both Finnish and Dutch samples, confirming the scale’s robust reliability and validity metrics as a short-form tool for assessing reading history.

Keywords

Adult Literacy, Dyslexia, Dutch Short Version, Reading History, Reading Disabilities, Test Revision, Cognitive Processes, Adult Development, Reading Measures

Authors

Khanolainen, Daria, Verwimp, Cara, Tijms, Jurgen, Tolvanen, Asko, Salminen, Jenni, Torppa, Minna

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Dutch short version of the ARHQ is to provide a highly efficient and convenient alternative to the full-length questionnaire. This abbreviated format maintains high predictive validity, particularly when used with parents to assess their children’s reading skills.

By offering a quick yet powerful diagnostic tool, the ARHQ facilitates timely and targeted early interventions for children identified as being at risk for reading difficulties. Furthermore, its brevity makes it an ideal instrument for large-scale research studies where administration time is a critical constraint.

Construct

The ARHQ is fundamentally designed to capture two related psychological constructs: Dyslexia and Reading History. The scale retrospectively measures the presence and severity of historical indicators associated with reading and learning difficulties, offering an indirect assessment of an individual’s risk profile for developmental reading disorders such as dyslexia.

Validity

The test validity of the ARHQ—Dutch Short Version was established by comparing it directly against the original, full-length scale. Across three distinct samples, the correlations between the brief 5-item version and the comprehensive 23-item version were consistently high, ranging from .80 to .88. This strong correlation demonstrates that the short version effectively captures the variance measured by the original instrument.

Further validation involved comparing these correlations against objective reading assessment scores derived from two separate Finnish samples. This step confirmed the predictive utility and concurrent validity of the abbreviated scale in relation to actual reading performance measures.

Reliability

Internal consistency, a key measure of reliability, was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. For the newly developed brief version of the ARHQ, the calculated Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was reported as .87 in Sample 3. In comparison, the full version demonstrated a slightly higher, but comparable, internal consistency with an alpha of .90 in the same sample. These values indicate excellent internal consistency for both the full and abbreviated instruments.

Factor Analysis

The development of the 5-item Dutch Short Version was based on extensive statistical methodology, including Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis.

Initial EFA testing indicated that a 6-factor model provided the best statistical fit for the data. Key fit indices supported this model, reporting a comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.95, a standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) of 0.03, and a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.06 (χ2[130] = 299.65, p < .001). During this process, four items (1, 7, 12, and 19) were excluded because their factor loadings did not meet the required threshold (>0.4).

Following EFA, IRT analysis was performed, which resulted in the removal of 12 additional items that failed to discriminate clearly between respondents. Finally, two more items were removed due to conceptual redundancy, culminating in the highly optimized, final 5-item measure.

Instrument

Test Type: Projective Measure

Format: Items are rated using a Likert scale ranging from 0 to 4.

Language Available: Dutch

Population Group: Human (Male and Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older), including Young Adulthood (18-29 years) and Thirties (30-39 years)

Population Details: Data collection and validation were conducted in the Netherlands and Finland.

Test Methodology: Test Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Item Response Theory

Keywords

Adult Development, Dyslexia, Reading Ability, Reading Disabilities, Reading Measures, Test Revision, Cognitive Processes, Memory, Decision Making

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Khanolainen, Daria: ORCID: 0000-0002-1571-2938
• Verwimp, Cara: ORCID: 0000-0002-5444-303X
• Tolvanen, Asko: ORCID: 0000-0001-6430-8897
• Salminen, Jenni: ORCID: 0000-0003-4534-6462
• Torppa, Minna: ORCID: 0000-0003-3834-9892

Affiliation Email addresses: Not Available

Correspondence Address: Not Available

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Commercial Use: No

Fee Required: No

Test Year: 2024

Supplemental Material Location: The study references Supplemental Material OSF (2024-46958-001).

Reference’s

The primary source reference for the development and validation of the ARHQ—Dutch Short Version is:

• Khanolainen, D., Verwimp, C., Tijms, J., Tolvanen, A., Salminen, J., & Torppa, M. (2024). Developing and validating an abbreviated adult reading history questionnaire in the Finnish and Dutch contexts. Journal of Research in Reading, 47(2), 132–144. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9817.12445

Further information regarding the study methodology and materials can be found on the Open Science Framework (OSF) site:

• OSF Site: https://osf.io/9vk5c/

Items of the Adult Reading History Questionnaire–Dutch Short Version (ARHQ)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The test items for the Adult Reading History Questionnaire–Dutch Short Version (ARHQ) are not available for public distribution in this entry. To obtain the test items, please contact the author or the publisher directly.