Diaries showing how 920 Irish fifth graders spent their leisure time on three designated days within one week augmented data about the children's personal, school, and home characteristics to aid in determining the primary factors related to the amount and type of leisure time reading. The children reported spending a median time of 60 minutes per…

To determine if purposes in reading differ with sex, grade level, and nationality, a 16-item "Functions of Reading Scale" (developed from content analysis of student essays on why they like to read) was administered to 459 Irish (Dublin, Ireland) and American (Windham, Connecticut) students in grades three, five, and eight. Data…