Minority Reading Achievement: Motivational, Instructional, and Familial Variables for Black and White Males and Females.

A study examined the relationships of reading achievement and constructs about student literacy activities for four ethnic-gender groups. A secondary analysis of nearly 3,000 9-, 13-, and 17-year-olds' reading achievement and student questionnaire data from the 1986 National Assessment of Educational Progress was undertaken. The constructs varied slightly by age and included: home literacy, social interactions, teacher-directed instruction, student-centered instruction, study strategies, library use, nonfiction reading, fiction reading, and news reading. For black males, white males, black females, and white females linear and nonlinear models of the associations of reading achievement and these constructs were tested. Results indicated: (1) that the ethnic gender subgroups generally had parallel functions at age nine; (2) black males diverged from other groups in non-parallel functions at age 13; and (3) generally the groups showed parallel and linear and nonlinear functions at age 17. Findings take into account empirical literature, socialization theories, and personal identity theories regarding the achievements and roles of blacks, and particularly black males, in the United States. (Twenty-five tables and 34 figures of data are included; 23 references are attached.) (Author/RS)