leisure options compete with reading, their
positive attitudes toward reading usually decrease
(McKenna, 2001). Guthrie, Alao, and Rinehart
(1997) also indicated that as children move into
young adulthood, the strength of their motivation
to voluntarily read during their free time
declines. Reeves (2004) noted that time
adolescents once spent reading at home is now
spent with friends at the shopping mall or playing
video games. This applies to both less skilled and
skilled readers – less skilled readers often prefer
other activities to reading, and skilled readers
may find those other leisure time options more
pleasurable as well.
With attitudes toward reading declining as
children progress through middle and high school
regardless of reading ability, the reading attitudes
of those students who have difficulties with
reading declines at an even more rapid rate.
Further, reading attitudes worsen more rapidly
for poor readers. When reading becomes a
struggle, the love for it diminishes (Mueller,
2001). Reeves (2004) noted that middle school is
a time when some students learn how to get by
without reading instead of learning how to
become a better reader. This continues in high
school, where students cope with reading
difficulties by trying to quickly complete
assignments without regard to the quality of their
work, copy other‘s work to avoid reading, or
refuse to do any work at all (Irvin, Buehl, &
Klemp, 2007).
Another trend identified by the research on
reading motivation is that there is a difference
reading attitude, ability, and preferences by
gender. Research has shown that girls tend to
possess more positive reading attitudes than boys.
In their research on adolescents‘ motivation to
read, Pitcher et al., (2007) found that girls had
significantly higher motivation to read than boys,
and that the motivation of boys to read decreased
as they progressed through their teen years.
McKenna (2001) suggested that if a child‘s
environment encourages, models, and reinforces
reading, positive attitudes about reading should
result. However, boys te