Peer group influences on fifth graders' reading motivation

Although family and school factors affecting children's reading motivation are known, little is known about the influence of their peer group's attitude towards reading. Therefore N = 501 fifth graders attending three different tracks of German schools filled in questionnaires about family reading climate, school motivation, reading motivation and behavior and answered questions on a newly constructed questionnaire about their peer group's attitude towards reading (alpha = .80). Hierarchical regressions suggest that their peer group's attitude towards reading predicted fifth graders' reading motivation above and beyond gender, school track (ability level), familiy reading climate, and school motivation, especially among girls.