Parents' attitudes and the reading performance of their children.

A group of 60 children were given tests in reading performance, intelligence and personality while their parents were tested on personality, attitudes towards reading, and the frequency and duration of listening to their children reading. Factor analysis yielded two factors related to parental attitudes towards reading and their activities with their children as measured overtly and covertly, but these were not linked to the reading performance of the children. Instead, reading performance was linked to a morality variable in both the children and their parents. This suggested that there was a tendency for the poor readers and their parents to "fake good." This might account for the lack of association between reading performance and parental attitudes and activity in reading.