Correlates of leisure‐time reading

Abstract

ABSTRACTPupils from middle‐class homes devoted an average of 7.2 per cent of leisure time to reading. The relationship between home environment, attitude to reading and motivations for reading on the one hand and leisure‐time reading on the other, was examined. The addition of these sets of variables to previously established correlates of leisure‐time reading, achievement, sex, and library membership increased the proportion of variance accounted for in leisure‐time reading by a significant amount (10.1 per cent). Correlations tended to be low, since leisure reading is a relatively sporadic type activity. From the perspective of developing the reading habit, the results suggest that what parents do is more important than what they are; the emphasis placed on reading in the home, on academic development and on intellectuality was related to leisure‐time reading. Attitude to reading correlated more highly with leisure‐time reading than any of the other variables included in the study; the correlation between attitude and time was significant even after controlling for sex, reading achievement and library membership. Among the motivational variables, reading for enjoyment was related to leisure‐time reading whereas reading for utilitarian or escapist reasons was not.