TY  - JOUR
A1  - Thissen, Birte
A1  - Menninghaus, Winfried
A1  - Schlotz, Wolff
T1  - Measuring optimal reading experiences : the reading flow short scale
T2  - Frontiers in psychology
N2  - In transferring the concept of flow to the context of fiction reading a new approach to understanding the evolvement of reading pleasure is provided. This study presents the Reading Flow Short Scale (RFSS), the first reading-specific flow measurement tool. The RFSS was applied to 229 readers via online survey after 20 min of reading in self-selected novels. In a systematic analysis of psychometric properties, the RFSS’ factorial structure, reliability, and associations with theoretically related constructs were examined. As expected, the RFSS showed a two-factor structure, positive correlations with variables related to reading pleasure and flow, and an inverted U-shaped association with perceived fit between reader skills and text challenge. Comparisons of confirmatory factor analysis model confirmed that RFSS items loaded on different latent variables than items assessing other narrative engagement concepts, namely presence, identification, suspense, and cognitive mastery, and hence distinctly capture flow states in fiction reading. In sum, our findings indicate that the RFSS is a useful instrument for assessing flow states in fiction reading, thereby enriching the portfolio of measurement instruments in reading research.
KW  - flow
KW  - fiction reading
KW  - Reading Flow Short Scale
KW  - validity
KW  - reading pleasure
Y1  - 2018
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/48688
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-486881
SN  - 1664-1078
N1  - Copyright © 2018 Thissen, Menninghaus and Schlotz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
VL  - 9
IS  - Art. 2542
SP  - 1
EP  - 12
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -