A study surveyed independent reading habits and identified causal factors related to the decline in independent reading from middle school to college. Subjects, 100 students enrolled in a developmental reading course at a state-supported university in Kentucky, completed a 19-item survey instrument. A second survey was developed due to the results of the college survey which indicated a decrease in recreational reading at the seventh- and eighth-grade levels. Subjects in the second survey, 80 seventh- and eighth-grade students enrolled in a middle school located in a small university community and 79 subjects enrolled in a rural county middle school, completed a 25-item survey with questions similar to those on the college-level survey. Results of both surveys indicated that: (1) there was a significant decrease in recreational reading at the seventh- and eighth-grade levels; (2) a majority of students reported that they enjoyed reading independently as elementary students; and (3) recreational reading ranked among the lowest of leisure activities. Findings suggest that low reading proficiencies of college students may be the results of a decline in reading during the middle school years rather than a specific reading problem. To maintain and continue development of recreational reading during this critical period, approaches which acknowledge the existence of other interests of adolescents and attempt to blend with or complement these interests (readings related to interests, in-class silent reading, social reading groups) are the most likely to lead to success. (One table of data is included; 18 references are attached.) (RS)