TY - JOUR
T1 - Reading self-perceived ability, enjoyment and achievement
T2 - A genetically informative study of their reciprocal links over time
AU - Malanchini, Margherita
AU - Wang, Zhe
AU - Voronin, Ivan
AU - Schenker, Victoria J.
AU - Plomin, Robert
AU - Petrill, Stephen A.
AU - Kovas, Yulia
N1 - Funding Information:
The first two authors contributed equally to this work. We thank the TEDS families, research staff and funding agencies for their ongoing contribution and support in this work. TEDS is supported by a program grant (G0500079) from United Kingdom MRC. Our work on reading development is also supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Grants HD038075, HD059215, and HD 075460. The content of this publication is solely the responsibility of the authors, and does not represent the official views of the funding agencies.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/4
Y1 - 2017/4
N2 - Extant literature has established a consistent association between aspects of reading motivation, such as enjoyment and self-perceived ability, and reading achievement, in that more motivated readers are generally more skilled readers. However, the developmental etiology of this relation is yet to be investigated. The present study explores the development of the motivation-achievement association and its genetic and environmental underpinnings. Applying cross-lagged design in a sample of 13,825 twins, we examined the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the association between reading enjoyment and self-perceived ability and reading achievement. Children completed a reading comprehension task and self-reported their reading enjoyment and perceived ability twice in middle childhood: when they were 9-10 and 12 years old. Results showed a modest reciprocal association over time between reading motivation (enjoyment and perceived ability) and reading achievement. Reading motivation at age 9-10 statistically predicted the development of later achievement, and similarly, reading achievement at age 9-10 predicted the development of later motivation. This reciprocal association was observed beyond the stability of the variables and their contemporaneous correlation and was largely explained by genetic factors.
AB - Extant literature has established a consistent association between aspects of reading motivation, such as enjoyment and self-perceived ability, and reading achievement, in that more motivated readers are generally more skilled readers. However, the developmental etiology of this relation is yet to be investigated. The present study explores the development of the motivation-achievement association and its genetic and environmental underpinnings. Applying cross-lagged design in a sample of 13,825 twins, we examined the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the association between reading enjoyment and self-perceived ability and reading achievement. Children completed a reading comprehension task and self-reported their reading enjoyment and perceived ability twice in middle childhood: when they were 9-10 and 12 years old. Results showed a modest reciprocal association over time between reading motivation (enjoyment and perceived ability) and reading achievement. Reading motivation at age 9-10 statistically predicted the development of later achievement, and similarly, reading achievement at age 9-10 predicted the development of later motivation. This reciprocal association was observed beyond the stability of the variables and their contemporaneous correlation and was largely explained by genetic factors.
KW - Behavioral genetics
KW - Longitudinal
KW - Reading
KW - Reading motivation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019608448&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/dev0000209
DO - 10.1037/dev0000209
M3 - Article
C2 - 28333527
AN - SCOPUS:85019608448
VL - 53
SP - 698
EP - 712
JO - Developmental Psychology
JF - Developmental Psychology
SN - 0012-1649
IS - 4
ER -