Abstract
This research aimed to identify the factors affecting reading among students in higher education institutes in Southern Thailand. Through a multi-stage random sampling. 539 students of the 1998 academic year from 4 higher education institutes in Southern Thailand : Prince of Songkla University, Rajabhat Institute Songkhla, Institute Yala, and Thaksin University were selected, Arithmetic mean, standard deviation, simple correlation, multiple correlation, and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used in this study.
It was found that students demographic factor, family background factor, and environment factor were related to students significantly at the .001 level. With respect to prediction of students reading, the environment factor had 26.55% predictive power; the family background factor had 15.05% predictive power; and the students demographic factor had 6.75% predictive power. All three factors had33.81% predictive power, Three best predictors were peer group, reading encouragement at home, and reading encouragement in an educational institute, respectively.
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