Career success tied to reading during adolescence
High school students around the country are deeply involved in multiple afterschool activities with the goal of showing their versatility and talent to college entrance boards. But how do these activities truly help students later in life? Sociologists at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England examined the impact of different leisure activities, both good and bad, on future success. They defined success later in life by education, job type and income.
Scientists examine surveys that span 40 years
To make this evaluation, the researchers examined the British Cohort Study, a collection of data that consists of babies born during one week in the United Kingdom in 1970. The participants consisted of an almost equal distribution of males and females, and the social-economic status of the participants matched the British population in 1970.
Like a reality show set over years and not weeks, researchers conducted seven data collection exercises with the participants in the study. The researchers asked a series of questions at 5, 10, 16, 26, 30, 34 and 38 years of age. During each survey, the researchers monitored the health, education and economic status of the study participants.
Leisure activities of 16-year-olds
In the recent analysis, the sociologists focused on the data collected at 16 years of age. According to the researchers, 16 marks an age when young adults are responsible for their own leisure activities, rather than a parent or guardian.
The researcher grouped the activities provided in the 1986 survey into different themes, including sports, crafts, culture, reading and home media. Culture included activities like attending a play, visiting a museum or playing a musical instrument. They also grouped the activities as organized, such as attending a music class, or spontaneous, such as visiting friends.
Move over soccer, reading has greatest impact
According to the analysis, reading for pleasure proved to be the activity that produced the strongest positive correlation to educational and occupational success later in life. Other factors that were positively correlated to education included cultural activities and to a lesser degree sports. Surprisingly, activities, like watching TV or playing video games, did not produce a strong negative correlation to success.
In particular, the research showed that girls who read for pleasure at the age of 16 had a 39 percent chance of attaining a professional or managerial job by the age of 33, while the chance of this happening dipped to 25 percent for the non-readers. Boys in the study who read had a 58 percent change of success compared to 48 percent of their non-reading peers.
The take-home message for parents and teachers
Educators should encourage their students to pursue afterschool activities for the love of learning. They advise parents to look into activities for their intrinsic value rather than their function. According to the researchers, kids should take up interests outside of a school, because these activities might be fun or interesting, rather than a vehicle for getting them into college.
The research team plans to explore reasons why some young people stop reading during adolescence while others take up reading later in life. They are also interested in how adult reading behavior is determined by early life experience.
