Table 1
Items ‘Concentration & perseverance.’
| ITEM | ORIGIN |
|---|---|
| “I am able to pay attention to fine detail” | Attention Questionnaire (AQ), Scale 1 (Schepers 2007), Dimension ‘Concentration Ability’ |
| “I am able to return full attention to something after a short interruption” | AQ |
| “I am able to concentrate on more than one thing at the same time” | AQ |
| “I sometimes miss vital information during a boring lecture” | AQ |
| “I become shut off from the world around me when trying to solve a challenging problem” | AQ |
| “I am able to isolate from my surroundings when studying” | AQ |
| “I am able to shut off from the world when reading an absorbing book” | AQ |
| “I am able to pay attention to one specific issue for a long period of time” | AQ |
| “I am able to give continuous attention, even if the volume of information is very large” | AQ |
| “I finish whatever I begin” | Short Grit scale (Grit-S: Duckworth and Quinn, 2009; Lechner, Danner, & Rammstedt 2019), Dimension ‘Perseverance’ |
| “Setbacks don’t discourage me” | Grit-S |
| “I am diligent. I never give up” | Grit-S |
| “When I am working on an engaging task I sometimes forget the time” | Own addition |
| “I have difficulty focusing on more than one thing” | Ibid. |
| “I am often bored” | Ibid. |
Table 3
Factor analysis concentration & persistence.
| ITEM | SUST. ATT & PERSEVERANCE | ABSORPTION | DIFFICULTY WITH MULTITASKING |
|---|---|---|---|
| I have difficulty focusing on more than one thing | .824 | ||
| When I am working on an engaging task I sometimes forget the time | .681 | ||
| I am able to isolate from my surroundings when studying | .611 | ||
| Setbacks don’t discourage me. I don’t give up easily. | .694 | ||
| I am able to shut off from the world when reading an absorbing book | .752 | ||
| I am able to pay attention to one specific issue for a long period of time | .525 | .534 | |
| I am able to pay attention to fine detail | .516 | ||
| I finish whatever I begin | .727 | ||
| I am able to give continuous attention, even if the volume of information is very large | .568 | ||
| I am able to concentrate on more than one thing at the same time | .788 | ||
| I am diligent. I never give up. | .788 | ||
| I become shut off from the world around me when trying to solve a challenging problem | .669 |
[i] Factor loadings based on a Principal Component analysis with Varimax with Kaiser Normalization rotation for 15 items on concentration and persistence.
Note: Factor loadings < .5 are suppressed.
Table 2
Reading motivation.
| ITEM | ADAPTED FROM |
|---|---|
| “I liked it because it had an unexpected ending” | Literary Response Questionnaire (Miall & Kuiken 1995) (adapted), factor ‘story-driven reading’ |
| “I liked it because there was a lot of action” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because of the surprising plot twists” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because I could empathize with the characters” | (Koopman 2015a; adapted from Busselle and Bilandzic 2009), dimension ‘absorption/empathy’ |
| “I liked it because the book touches me emotionally” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because I was absorbed in the narrative world” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because the book was beautifully written” | (Koopman 2015a), dimension ‘style’ |
| “I liked it because the book was originally written” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because there are sentences in the book that stayed with me” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because it was an easy read” | Own addition |
| “I liked it because it was a challenging read” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because it was a ‘pageturner’” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because it gave me new knowledge and/or insights into society” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because it gave me knowledge about the world” | Ibid. |
| “I liked it because of how realistic it was” | Ibid. |
Table 4
Factor analysis reading motivation.
| ITEM | READING FOR PLOT | IMMERSION | AESTHETICS | KNOWLEDGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I liked it because it had an unexpected ending | .681 | |||
| I liked it because it was beautifully written | .620 | |||
| I liked it because it was an easy read | –.474 | |||
| I liked it because it gave me new knowledge and/or insights into society | .869 | |||
| I liked it because there was a lot of action | .735 | |||
| I liked it because I could empathize with the characters | .741 | |||
| I liked it because there are sentences in the book that stayed with me | .560 | |||
| I liked it because I was absorbed in the narrative world | .483 | |||
| I liked it because it gave me knowledge about the world | .883 | |||
| I liked it because it was a challenging read | .566 | |||
| I liked it because of the surprising plot twists | .748 | |||
| I liked it because it was originally written | .683 | |||
| I liked it because of how realistic it was | .555 | |||
| I liked it because it was a ‘pageturner’ | .582 | |||
| I liked it because the book touches me emotionally | .662 |
[i] Factor loadings based on a Principal Component analysis with Varimax with Kaiser Normalization rotation for 15 items on textual preferences.
Note: Factor loadings < .4 are suppressed.
Table 5
Correlations, means (M), and standard deviations for the main variables.
| VARIABLE | M | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. ART | 16.47 | 8.88 | ||||||||||||
| 2. Sustained attention & perseverance | 3.83 | .69 | .169** | |||||||||||
| 3. Difficulty with multitasking | 3.04 | 1.08 | –.051 | .280** | ||||||||||
| 4. Absorption | 4.14 | .63 | .104** | .485** | .124** | |||||||||
| 5. Frequency | 5.74 | 2.60 | .319** | .134** | .072* | .112** | ||||||||
| 6. Length | 6.12 | 2.44 | .339** | .312** | .015 | .208** | .144** | |||||||
| 7. Skimming | 1.88 | .73 | –.119** | –.123** | –.006 | –.041 | –.210** | –.067 | ||||||
| 8. Skipping | 1.49 | .61 | –.096** | –.146** | –.019 | –.061 | –.131 | –.132 | .511** | |||||
| 9. Reading for the plot | 3.29 | .84 | –.139** | .118* | .047 | .054 | –.013 | .095** | .041 | .012 | ||||
| 10. Reading for immersion | 4.21 | .60 | .063 | .071 | –.063 | .066 | .074* | .148** | .027 | –.036 | .262** | |||
| 10. Reading for aesthetics | 3.70 | .63 | .133** | .197** | .083* | .168** | .178** | –.039 | –.045 | –.017 | .024 | .049 | ||
| 11. Reading for knowledge | 3.99 | .98 | .042 | .107** | –.020 | .093** | .050 | –.038 | –.023 | –.091* | .058 | 1.89** | .287** | |
| 12. UST | 9.48 | 6.61 | .389** | .142** | –.023 | .138** | .168** | .185** | –.116** | –.105** | –.051 | .042 | .124** | .115** |
[i] * Indicates p < .05, and ** Indicates p < .01.
Table 6
Particular skimming behavior as related to median scores on the Unscrambling Sentence Test (UST).
| INDEX | GROUP | N | U | P (2-TAILED) | MEDIAN | RANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long landscape descriptions | Yes, do skim | 299 | 83886.5 | .159 | 9.0 | 35 |
| Do not skim | 530 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| Long dialogues | Yes, do skim | 42 | 13934.0 | .086 | 7.0 | 21 |
| Do not skim | 787 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| Long or detailed character descriptions | Yes, do skim | 133 | 43581.0 | .284 | 8.0 | 29 |
| Do not skim | 696 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| Violence | Yes, do skim | 105 | 42073.0 | .076 | 10.0 | 38 |
| Do not skim | 724 | 9.0 | 37 | |||
| Too many details | Yes, do skim | 216 | 66729.5 | .862 | 9.0 | 38 |
| Do not skim | 613 | 9.0 | 35 | |||
| Too complex language | Yes, do skim | 91 | 25337.5 | .000 | 7.0 | 24 |
| Do not skim | 738 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| Too obvious information | Yes, do skim | 272 | 84478.5 | .007 | 10.0 | 38 |
| Do not skim | 557 | 9.0 | 37 | |||
| When the text is too long | Yes, do skim | 77 | 31552.5 | .193 | 10.0 | 26 |
| Do not skim | 752 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| I never skim | Never skim | 174 | 68013.5 | .000 | 11.0 | 35 |
| Do not skim | 655 | 8.0 | 38 |
Table 7
Particular skipping behavior as related to median scores on the Unscrambling Sentence Test (UST).
| INDEX | GROUP | N | U | P (2-TAILED) | MEDIAN | RANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long landscape descriptions | Yes, do skip | 175 | 58227.5 | .721 | 9.0 | 35 |
| Do not skip | 654 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| Long dialogues | Yes, do skip | 26 | 8190.5 | .061 | 7.0 | 21 |
| Do not skip | 803 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| Long or detailed character descriptions | Yes, do skip | 78 | 26989.0 | .252 | 8.0 | 29 |
| Do not skip | 751 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| Violence | Yes, do skip | 88 | 36282.5 | .083 | 10.5 | 38 |
| Do not skip | 741 | 9.0 | 37 | |||
| Too many details | Yes, do skip | 139 | 49275.0 | .607 | 9.0 | 38 |
| Do not skip | 690 | 9.0 | 35 | |||
| Too complex language | Yes, do skip | 50 | 15416.5 | .013 | 7.0 | 24 |
| Do not skip | 779 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| Too obvious information | Yes, do skip | 207 | 71611.5 | .015 | 10.0 | 38 |
| Do not skip | 622 | 9.0 | 37 | |||
| When the text is too long | Yes, do skip | 54 | 20851.0 | .965 | 9.0 | 26 |
| Do not skip | 775 | 9.0 | 38 | |||
| I never skip | Never skip | 321 | 90353.5 | .008 | 10.0 | 35 |
| Do not skip | 508 | 9.0 | 38 |