Leisure reading is associated with several important educational and cognitive benefits, and yet fewer and fewer young adults are reading in their free time. To better study what drives leisure reading in undergraduates, we developed the Predictors of Leisure Reading (PoLR) scale. The PoLR investigates key predictors of leisure reading, namely reading motivations, obstacles, attitudes, and interests. We examined the PoLR’s ability to predict language skills in 200 undergraduates, both directly and indirectly via exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts. Language skills were measured with a diverse battery of tasks, including items from two sections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. We found that reading enjoyment predicts better verbal abilities, and this was often explained via exposure to fiction rather than nonfiction. In contrast, participants who reported reading due to extrinsic pressures typically had weaker verbal abilities, often explained by stronger associations with nonfiction. This pattern was observed across the raw correlations and in a series of path analyses. In sum, it was ‘reading enjoyment’ and ‘identifying as a reader’ that uniquely predicted better verbal abilities in our undergraduate sample. The importance of these findings is discussed in relation to fostering reading enjoyment throughout the various stages of formal education.

休闲阅读与一些重要的教育和认知益处有关，但是越来越少的年轻人在业余时间阅读。为了更好地研究什么因素驱动大学生阅读休闲，我们开发了阅读休闲预测量表（PoLR）。PoLR研究休闲阅读的主要预测因素，即阅读动机，障碍，态度和兴趣。我们研究了PoLR通过接触小说和非小说文本直接或间接地预测200名大学生语言能力的能力。语言技能是通过各种各样的任务来衡量的，包括学业能力测验的两个部分中的项目。我们发现阅读乐趣可以预测更好的语言表达能力，这通常是通过接触小说而不是非小说来解释的。相反，由于外在压力而报告阅读的参与者通常口语能力较弱，这通常可以通过与非小说的联想来解释。在原始相关性和一系列路径分析中都观察到了这种模式。总而言之，正是“阅读乐趣”和“识别为读者”在我们的本科样本中独特地预测了更好的口头表达能力。讨论了这些发现的重要性，与在整个正规教育的各个阶段培养阅读乐趣有关。正是“阅读乐趣”和“识别为读者”在我们的本科生样本中独特地预测了更好的语言能力。讨论了这些发现的重要性，与在整个正规教育的各个阶段培养阅读乐趣有关。正是“阅读乐趣”和“识别为读者”在我们的本科生样本中独特地预测了更好的语言能力。讨论了这些发现的重要性，与在整个正规教育的各个阶段培养阅读乐趣有关。