Different Measures of Print Exposure Predict Different Aspects of Vocabulary

The authors examined whether different measures of print exposure assess the same underlying concept and how these different measures relate to vocabulary breadth and depth. One hundred forty‐seven students attending the third year of kindergarten in Jining, China, were assessed on nonverbal IQ, vocabulary breadth and depth, and their knowledge of book titles. Parents also participated in the study by filling out a questionnaire on the frequency of shared book reading and the number of children's books at home, recording their daily parent–child reading activities (diary), and completing the children's title and author recognition checklists. Results of exploratory factor analysis indicated that the measures of print exposure were loading on three interrelated factors. The items measuring the frequency of shared book reading at home along with diary formed one factor, the children's title recognition checklist and number of children's books at home formed a second factor, and children's knowledge of book titles formed a third factor. In addition, the results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that whereas all factors accounted for unique variance (3–6%) in vocabulary breadth, only children's knowledge of book titles predicted vocabulary depth, after controlling for children's age, parents’ education and income, and children's nonverbal IQ. Taken together, these findings suggest that different measures of print exposure may capture different aspects of print exposure and that these aspects may exert a different role in vocabulary breadth and depth.