3/1/2013
Girls ages 12-17 spend more of their free time using technology than they did in 2010, according to Scholastic and the Harrison Group. However, girls ages 15-17 spend slightly less time using their cell phones now than they did in 2010.
Meanwhile, compared to 2010, fewer boys ages 12-14 are playing video games, while more boys ages 15-17 are going online and playing video games.
The percentage of boys who read five to seven days a week drops from 48% among those ages 6-8 to 18% among those ages 15-17. There is a smaller decline among girls – from 47% among those ages 6-8 to 30% among those ages 15-17. Children who read for fun rather than just when it’s part of schoolwork tend to read more often. Kids ages 6-11 are more likely than those ages 12-17 to read for fun. Young readers’ preferences change as they age. One in four 9-11-year-olds (25%) say they read mostly non-fiction, compared to 13% of 15-17-year-olds who say so. Conversely, 25% of 9-11-year-olds read mostly fiction, compared to 35% of 15-17-year-olds.
More than eight in 10 parents (83%) have acquired books for their children in the past six months – an average of 13 books over this period. Parents of children ages 6-8 buy more books for their children than parents of tweens or teens. Meanwhile, 65% of parents of 6-8-year-olds read to their children at least once a week, compared to 37% of parents with 9-11-year-olds who read to them weekly. Moms are more likely than dads to read to their children 5-7 days a week (34% vs. 26%).
Sources: Harrison?Group, Jim Taylor, Futurist, Vice Chairman, 21 W. Main St., 5th Fl., Waterbury, CT 06702; 203-573-0400; jtaylor@harrisongroup.com; www.harrisongroup.com.
Scholastic Media, Francie Alexander, SVP Education, Chief Academic Officer, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012; 212-343-6100; falexander@scholastic.com; www.scholastic.com.
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