Development of a literary reading experience scale based on the theory of Bibliotherapy

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a scale for measuring psychological effects of reading, referencing the theory of bibliotherapy. We also examined if the psychological effects would differ by the reading materials,using the original scales. After reading a literary text silently,408 university students responded to the questionnaire. The results of factor analysis indicated four main feeling factors with 15 items:“catharsis feeling”, “projection feeling”, “aesthetic feeling”,and “self-modifying feeling”. The results of variance analysis on literary texts factors suggested these psychological effects might be different by the contents of the literary text.