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Indicator V-2
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Reading to Young Children by Family Members
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NOTE TO READERS: Please include the following reference when citing data from this page:
"American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Humanities Indicators, http://HumanitiesIndicators.org".
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This indicator concerns the percentage of preschool- and kindergarten-age children
who were read to by a family member on a daily basis for years 1993 through 2007.
Data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES)
National Household Education Survey Program
indicate that the early to mid-1990s saw an increase in family reading, with the
number of children ages 3–51 who were read to every day during the week preceding
the survey increasing from 53% to 58% (Figure V-2). These gains were eroded
over the latter part of the 1990s, but then another surge in reading to young children
resulted in a 2005 rate of 60%. By 2007, however, the share of young children being
regularly read to by a family member had decreased to 55%. This drop represents
the single greatest decline in such activity recorded by the Household Education
Survey since the question about reading to young children was first asked in 1993.
These data also reveal that the likelihood of a young child being read to on a regular
basis by a family member varied according to the educational level of his or her
mother. For example, throughout the 1993–2007 time period, over 70% of young children
whose mothers possessed at least a bachelor’s degree were read to every day, while
the proportion peaked at 55% for the children of mothers with only a high school
education.
The relatively steep decline observed from 2005 to 2007 in reading to young children
by family members was most pronounced among children with mothers who had a high
school diploma. Rates of reading to youngsters for this group and for children whose
mothers had less than a high school education both hit record lows in 2007 (39%
and 31% respectively). The only children who were more likely to have been regularly
read to by a family member on daily basis in 2007 than in 2005 were those whose
mothers had at least a bachelor’s degree.
Note
1 Limited to children who had yet to enter kindergarten.
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