A Role of Gender in the Reciprocal Relations Between Intrinsic Reading Motivation and Reading Comprehension

ABSTRACTPurpose This study aims to better understand the role of gender in the reciprocal relations between intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension during adolescence.Method Utilizing data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), this study focuses on a representative sample (N = 8,317) of German secondary school students, with approximately 48% female students and 26% students with immigration backgrounds. On average, students were 10.64 years old (SD = 0.37) at wave 1 in grade 5. Measurements for intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension were taken at three separate time points: grades 5, 7, and 9. A multi-group cross-lagged panel model was employed to examine gender similarities and differences in the reciprocal relations between intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension over four years.Results The results revealed reciprocal cross-lagged effects between intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension for both male and female students from grades 5 to 9. The strengths of cross-lagged effects between intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension were largely similar across genders.Conclusions This study provides insights into the reciprocal relations between intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension from grades 5 to 9, emphasizing that these relations are largely consistent across genders. The findings reinforce the generalization of the positive reciprocal relations between intrinsic reading motivation and reading comprehension, regardless of gender or age. It calls for caution in interpreting gender differences without considering the complex, reciprocal nature of these variables and highlights potential avenues for future research. Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) after registration from the NEPS website at https://www.neps-data.de/Data-Center/Data-Access.Notes1. The NEPS data and documentation are public and can be accessed after registration from the NEPS website at https://www.neps-data.de/en-us/home.aspx. NEPS is a framework with a multi-cohort longitudinal design to investigate educational developments and outcomes through a life course (Blossfeld, Roßbach, & von Maurice, Citation2011).2. The HRMQ (Habitual Reading Motivation Questionnaire) is an established German scale with high internal consistency and strong factorial, convergent (e.g., related to reading activity), and discriminant (e.g., unrelated to interests for sports) validity (Möller & Bonerad, Citation2007; Schiefele et al., Citation2012). It has been widely used by researchers in Germany, in particular within large-scale assessments (e.g., Miyamoto et al., Citation2018, Citation2019; Retelsdorf, et al., Citation2011, 2014). The NEPS experts selected the items from the original HRMQ according to several rationales. As the number of items that can be included in the large-scale assessment was limited, the experts chose the items that cover the breadth of the construct in a general context. In addition, the length and the linguistic level of the items were also taken into account with the compatibility to other age cohorts of the NEPS data.