Comic Book Reading, Reading Enjoyment, and Pleasure Reading Among Middle Class and Chapter I Middle School Students

Table 3
Do you like to read?

chapter 1:	yes	only when I have nothing better to do	no
heavy comic book readers	34% (12)	54% (19)	11% (4)
occasional comic readers	31% (25)	54% (44)	15% (12)
non comic readers	4% (1)	44% (11)	52% (13)

middle class:	yes	only when I have nothing better to do	no
heavy comic book readers	62% (16)	27% (7)	11% (3)
occasional comic readers	40% (36)	40% (36)	19% (17)
non comic readers	21% (5)	37% (9)	42% (10)

Comic Book Reading and Reading Enjoyment:

For boys in both schools, more comic book reading was significantly associated with more reading enjoyment (chapter 1; chi square = 21.196, df = 4, p < .001; middle class; chi square = 12.000, df = 4, p < .025.).

Comic Book Reading and Book Reading:

For boys in both schools, more comic book reading was associated with more book reading, with the relationship falling just short of statistical signigicance in the chapter 1 school (chi square = 5.392, df = 2, p < .10) and reaching significance in the middle class school (chi square = 6.505, df = 2, p < .05).

Summary and Conclusions

There was no difference in frequency of comic book reading between a middle class and a less affluent sample of seventh grade boys. For both groups, those who read more comic books did more pleasure reading, liked to read more, and tended to read more books. These results show that comic book reading certainly does not inhibit other kinds of reading, and is consistent with the hypothesis that comic book reading facilitates heavier reading.

Table 4
Do you read books?

chapter 1:
	yes	no
heavy comic book readers	49% (17)	51% (18)
occasional comic readers	60% (49)	40% (32)
non comic readers	32% (8)	68% (17)

middle class:
	yes	no
heavy comic book readers	69% (18)	31% (8)
occasional comic readers	71% (63)	29% (26)
non comic readers	46% (11)	54% (13)