A study examined the extent to which adults engage in reading tasks to meet a variety of personal purposes and needs, asking when engaged reading is most likely to occur for types of text sources, reading purposes, reading settings, educational attainment groups, and occupational groups. Subjects included 159 adults who represented a wide range of occupations and who recorded their everyday reading practices for 5 days. Results indicated the following rankings: (1) most prevalent text sources types were periodicals, general books and religious materials, and informational texts; (2) 29% of engaged reading was for functional/informational/consumer purposes, 25% leisure, and 25% work; (3) 58% of reading took place at home; (4) the agricultural, trade, and health care occupational groups reported similar numbers of reading events, while businesses reported less; and (5) persons aged 36-49 read the most, followed by ages 50-84 and 20-35. Findings suggest that engaged reading behavior is relatively rare overall, engaged reading is mostly for functional purposes, and engaged reading occurred as frequently for the least as well as the most educated adults. Further research should include observations of engaged reading behaviors and interviews to determine variables contributing to adults' reading engagement. (Contains 11 references.) (EF)