How many books (hard or paperback), on average, do USA high school
graduates with no further formal education, read in a year?  Please
provide date and source of statistic.
How many books (hard or paperback), on average, do USA college
graduates with no further formal education, read in a year?  Please
provide date and source of statistic.

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 19 Apr 2003 20:28 PDT

Hello Sanpaso,


Although I was not able to locate the number of books read by high
school and college graduates a year, perhaps the following data may
interest you.


 - Percentage of adults with less than High School education, age 25
and above who reported having read a book in the last six months.
(1999)

- Percentage of adults with a High school diploma or equivalent, age
25 and above who reported having read a book in the last six months.
(1999)
	
- Percentage of adults with some college, including
vocational/technical, age 25 and above who reported having read a book
in the last six months. (1999)

- Percentage of adults with a High Bachelor‘s degree or higher, age 25
and above who reported having read a book in the last six months.
(1999)

This information was taken from a 2001 government publication.

If this information interests you please let me know.

Thanks

--Bobbie7

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Clarification of Question by sanpaso-ga on 20 Apr 2003 11:46 PDT

Bobbie7,

Yes, the information you suggest will do for my use.

First time user, not sure what happens next.

Thanks.

Hello Sanpaso,

Thank you for your question.


The Condition of Education 2001, Indicator 15 contains the information
you require.

Adult Literacy Habits and Media Use
Indicator 15
U.S. Department of Education
National Center for Education Statistics, 
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2001.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2001/pdf/15_2001.pdf


“Education is positively correlated with the reading habits of adults.
People with a bachelor’s degree or higher were more likely than less
well-educated people to report reading regularly. In 1999, the
percentage of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher who had
undertaken all three activities was three times the percentage of
those with less than a high school diploma (71 versus 22 percent). In
addition, people with a bachelor’s degree or higher were more likely
to have more extensive particular reading habits. They were more
likely than people with less than a high school diploma to
read the newspaper every day, to read five or more magazines
regularly, and to have read a book in the past 6 months.”

Table 15-1 (page 3)

37.2% - of adults with less than High School education, age 25 and
above who reported having read a book in the last six months. (1999)

60.2% - of adults with a High school diploma or equivalent, age 25 and
above who reported having read a book in the last six months. (1999)
	
75.8% - of adults with some college, including vocational/technical,
age 25 and above who reported having read a book in the last six
months. (1999)

83.4% - of adults with a High Bachelor‘s degree or higher, age 25 and
above who reported having read a book in the last six months. (1999)


U.S. Department of Education: National Center for Education Statistics
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2001/pdf/15_2001.pdf


Adult Literacy Habits and Media Use
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2001/section2/indicator15.asp


You may download the complete publication here:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001072.pdf

I highly recommend that you review the complete publication as it
contains additional data that may interest you.


Search criteria:

“read * books a day”
reading habits of Americans
adult reading habits in the U.S.
literacy survey


I hope this helps - if you have any questions, please post a
clarification before rating my answer.


Best Regards,
Bobbie7-ga

Well done, thanks.

From a survey of Presbyterians in 1998:

"Among lay Presbyterians, reading totals vary by education level.
Members with one or more graduate degrees read an average of 15 books
in the prior year, compared to 12 among college graduates and 11 among
those whose formal educations stopped with a high school diploma."
http://www.pcusa.org/research/monday/booksmm.htm

Too narrow for my use, but thanks!