Development and Validity of the Adult Reading History Questionnaire (ARHQ) for Chinese.

The Adult Reading History Questionnaire (ARHQ) is a popular instrument for screening dyslexia in adults. Yet, there is no evidence suggesting its applicability in Chinese. The present study aims to develop a Chinese Adult Reading History Questionnaire (Chinese-ARHQ) and to assess its validity among Chinese adults. A total of 2439 Chinese adults completed the questionnaire of Chinese-ARHQ with 2234 questionnaires valid for further analysis (Nmales = 825, Mage = 26.29 years, SDage = 9.12). Among these participants, 184 completed the questionnaire twice and 221 completed reading-related tests. Results showed that the Chinese-ARHQ had good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.88), and the test-retest reliability was 0.81. Three factors (current reading, dyslexia symptoms and memory) were extracted through exploratory factor analysis. The scores of Chinese-ARHQ and its factors were both related to reading and phonological skills, revealing the good criterion validity of the questionnaire. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that the optimal threshold for the Chinese-ARHQ was 0.36 with a sensitivity of 83.3% and a specificity of 75.9%. Additionally, adults screened by the Chinese-ARHQ (> 0.36) performed worse in reading and phonological awareness, further validating the Chinese-ARHQ as a reliable screening tool for Chinese dyslexia in adults.