Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

This study examined the hypothesis that both exposure to reading materials in the home and intrinsic motivation to read mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and reading comprehension skills in adolescents. Data were derived from the Program for International Student Assessment 2000 dataset (PISA 2000). Six countries out of forty-three were chosen on the basis of country-level SES: two from the bottom 25th percentile (Thailand, Mexico), two at the 50th percentile (Austria, France), and two at the 75th percentile (Norway, United States). Data analysis was conducted on a total of 27,351 participants and 823 schools. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses were conducted to examine predictors of reading comprehension skills. Follow-up analyses using logistic regression were conducted to predict group membership (i.e., poor vs. normal readers). Results support the idea that exposure to reading materials in the home mediates the relationship between SES and reading comprehension skills at the child level, regardless of the overall economic state of the country. This relationship did not hold when predicting at the school level. Intrinsic motivation to read was consistently a poor predictor.

Extent

159 p.

Comments

FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Adviser: Steven Hecht.|Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2006.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identifier

FADT12236

Format

pdf

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