Self-concept, locus of control, and the home environment as predictors of reading comprehension in eighth-grade students

The purpose of this study was twofold: to develop a valid and reliable measure of the home environment process variables and to determine the relative contribution of SES, self-concept, locus of control, and the home environment to the prediction of reading comprehension. From a secondary analysis of data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS:88), a parent survey of 13,932 eight grade students was used to determine potential measures of the home environment process variables. A student survey was used to assess the student's perception of self-concept and locus of control. Factor analysis of the home environment questions yielded five scales for use in subsequent correlational and regression analysis. The five scales were: Parent Involvement in Cultural Activities, Family Rules; Parent-School Involvement, Parent-Teacher Involvement and Parent-Child Interaction. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that SES accounts for 12% (p<.0001) of the variance in reading comprehension. The amount of variance predicted when self-concept and locus of control were added was 17% (p<.0001). When the measures of the home environment were added to the regression equation, the amount of variance predicted was 24% (p<.0001). There were no significant interaction effects between SES and the other independent variables with reading comprehension. This suggests that regardless of the socioeconomic background, the relative influence of self-concept, locus of control, and the measures of the home environment are the same.