Do People Even Read Anymore?

Author: Casey Nyvall

Field of Study: Social Sciences

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Robert Holahan

Easel: 84

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: Do American adults read for pleasure? If so, do their reading habits in childhood positively correlate to this occurrence, or have any correlation at all? Using university students to represent the adult population, an anonymous survey across a variety of majors and student years attempts to deduce the answer to these questions, by asking respondents if they were voracious or reluctant readers as children, as well as if their households encouraged reading. This even goes as far back as to include being read aloud to by parents or guardians during infancy. The impact of COVID-19 on reading habits is also studied, as respondents answer whether or not their reading habits changed (and if so, for better or worse) due to COVID. It is expected that humanities majors read more than math and science majors, and that child readers grow into adult readers, with COVID only leading to higher reading rates.