Latent profiles of attitudes toward print and digital reading among adolescents

Abstract

A growing body of research has highlighted the important role attitudes play for adolescent readers, but few have examined differences in attitudes across purposes and contexts. With shifts in literacy moving students’ reading habits from traditional texts (e.g., books and magazines) to more digital contexts, it becomes necessary that we investigate how students’ attitudes differ by context and purpose. For the present study, we identified latent profiles of readers based on four different types of reading attitudes. Data from over four thousand middle school students in the United States were analyzed. Our analyses produced four stable and interpretable profiles of readers: (1) print preferred readers, (2) willing readers, (3) reluctant readers, and (4) avid readers. These latent profiles suggest that both purposes for reading and modes of reading play a role in shaping and developing attitudinal profiles of adolescent readers in the twenty-first century. We discuss in detail how our study contributes to an evolving understanding of digital literacies in today’s adolescents.