In recent years, readability formulas have gained new prominence as a basis for selecting texts for learning and assessment. Variables that quantitative tools count (e.g., word frequency, sentence length) provide valid measures of text complexity insofar as they accurately predict representative and high-quality criteria. The longstanding…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs in predicting human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination behavioral intentions of vaccine-eligible college men. Participants: Participants were unvaccinated college men aged 18-26 years attending a large public university in the southeastern United States…

Although college-aged women are at high risk for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, many college women remain unvaccinated against HPV. Testing health behavior theory can assist sexuality educators in identifying behavioral antecedents to promote behavior change within an intervention. The purpose of this pilot study was to utilize social…

A comparison of the difficulty in underlying structure of basal reading texts with the difficulty in surface structure raises questions on the validity of the Fry Readability Formula and other traditional readability formulas. (CJ)

Argues against the implicit use of readability formulas as guides to writing graded texts and urges experimental research to define the real factors constituting readability. (AEA)

Investigates reliability of two approaches for estimating text difficulty at the first-grade level: the Scale for Text Accessibility and Support and the Fountas/Pinnell system. Supports the predictive validity of the two rating scales with performance data. Suggests potential benchmarks for first-grade performance: 95% accuracy; 80 words per…