What Makes Children Read?

The Nestlé Family Monitor is a series of research studies into family life in Britain undertaken on behalf of Nestlé UK by MORI. In wave 17 Nestlé UK asked children in 33 secondary schools about their views on reading. Encouragingly, young people generally have a positive attitude towards reading. Girls are much more positive than boys. Half describe reading as 'relaxing' and a third describe it as 'fun'. However, a significant proportion (26%) describe reading as 'boring'.

For some young people, reading books has had an important impact on their wider life, above and beyond the educational benefits. Indeed, three in ten say that books have helped them decide on the type of person they want to be (however, more disagree than agree with this statement - see chart below). Similarly, around a third say that books have helped them decide what sort of job they want to do when they leave school/college. A higher percentage (55%) say that books have helped them understand different peoples and cultures, while around a third say books have encouraged them to try new hobbies and two in five to learn new subjects. Pupils aged 17 years and over and those attending independent schools have particularly been encouraged to learn more about new subjects (56% and 55% respectively). Younger pupils (aged 11/12 years old), on the other hand, are more likely to have been encouraged to try new hobbies (48% of 11-12 year olds). BME (Black Minority Ethnic) pupils are also more likely than their white counterparts to have tried a new hobby as a result of reading a book (46% versus 34%). However, it is also clear that, for a significant proportion, reading does not play an important role in their lives, with a third saying they have better things to do than read books.

Young people were asked what they thought about the place of reading in the modern technological world. Although two in five (41%) young people say that books are important to them, given the choice, seven in ten say they prefer to watch television or a DVD/video than to read a book. Similarly, over half say they would prefer to use the Internet than read a book.

Two in five (43%) agree that the Internet and computers will have replaced the printed book within the next twenty years. This is a view more likely to be held by state pupils (45% versus 31% of pupils from independent schools). Not surprisingly, it is a view shared by those who have little interest in reading (59%).

There are a wide variety of factors that encourage a young person to read a book - like many things, top amongst these is peer influence. Indeed, over two in five (43%) say that if a friend tells them about a good book that he or she has read, it makes them want to read that book.

Family and school also have an influence, but to a lesser extent. One in five say they would want to read a book if a member of their family tells them about it, and one in ten say they would want to read a book if it was recommend by a teacher. Girls are more likely to be influenced by their family than boys (26% versus 16%).

As one might expect, the author of the book plays an important part in influencing what young people read. Around a third say that one of the things that makes them want to read a book is if it is written by an author that they like. Similarly, around a quarter want to read a book if it is part of a series in which they are interested.

Film and TV also have an influence. Just over a quarter of pupils are keen to read a book if it is about a film that they have seen and enjoyed, and 15% would be interested in reading a book if it is about a TV programme that they have seen and enjoyed. Similarly, 23% say that if the book is about a famous person, that they are interested in, they would want to read it. An identical proportion (23%) say that if the book is about a subject, hobby or place in which they are interested, it makes them want to read it. The findings also highlight that for young people, at least, you can't always judge a book by its cover. Just 16% say the look of a book would make them want to read it, and fewer would want to read a book that they had seen at a book club or book fair.

Time is the biggest barrier to young people reading more books. As shown in the chart below, over half say that one of the things that would encourage them to read more books would be having more free time. The cost of books is perceived to be another barrier with 45% saying they would read more books if they were cheaper.

Methodology

In total, 914 self-completion questionnaires were completed by 11-18 year olds attending 33 state and independent schools and 6th form colleges across England and Wales. Fieldwork was conducted between 3 March and 22 May 2003. The data were weighted to reflect the known profile of the sample population by gender within age, school type and area.

Interpretation Of The Data

A sample of the secondary school and college population has been interviewed, not the entire population. Consequently, all results are subject to sampling tolerances which means that we cannot assume that all differences between sub-groups are statistically significant. As a guide, figures from the main sample are subject to a margin of error of plus or minus six percentage points. Only those findings that are statistically significant have been commented upon.

• Download the Young People's Attitude Towards Reading report.