Americans are reading less and reading skills are deteriorating, especially among young people, according to a comprehensive U.S.-wide study of reading skills by the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C.The study found only 52 per cent of Americans aged 18 to 24 read a book voluntarily in 2002, down from 59 per cent a decade earlier.
The slide is even sharper among younger readers — less than one-third of 13-year-olds read every day, down 14 per cent in the last 20 years.
At the same time, reading scores for American adults have deteriorated, even among well-educated people.
The study, To Read or Not to Read, is based on data collected from government, academic and foundation studies on reading and reading comprehension.
The sole bright spot was among nine-year-olds, whose reading scores have soared since the 1990s, with 54 per cent of them reporting they read every day for fun.
"I think there's been an enormous investment in teaching kids to read in elementary school," said NEA chairman Dana Gioia.
"Kids are doing better at nine and at 11. At 13, they're doing no worse, but then you see this catastrophic falloff … If kids are put into this electronic culture without any counterbalancing efforts, they will stop reading."
People who read are more likely to exercise, visit art museums, keep up with current events, vote in presidential elections and perform volunteer work, she said.
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