By: Jennifer Saba Students who use newspapers in school are likely to develop a life long reading habit, said a report from the Newspapers Association of America Foundation released on Sunday.
According to the study, 64% of those 18 to 34 who had a class where newspapers were part of the curriculum regularly read newspapers today. Thirty-eight percent of those who didn't have exposure to newspapers in the classroom say they are regular newspaper readers.
"This surprised all of us. We knew the results would be good but not this good," said Jim Abbott, vice president of the NAA Foundation. "It's a strong indication that papers in the school are making a real impact on future readership."
Conducted by Clark, Martire & Bartolomeo, the firm polled 1,500 adults between the ages of 18 and 34 and took into account race, gender, parental education, wealth, and involvement.
The other finding that took Abbott by surprise: The average age of those who start reading newspapers is 13. "That is a lot earlier than we expected," he said.
The study also found that 51% of those with high exposure to newspapers in school say they vote often. The same percent say they are very interested in the situation in Iraq; 44% of those with low exposure to newspapers expressed the same interest.
Overall, those 18-34 who have read a newspaper in the last week: Forty-four percent read the paper "yesterday," 48% read the paper "regularly," and 46% read the Sunday paper "regularly."
The study breaks out the most popular section between boys and girls. For boys, 43% read the paper for the sports section, 26% read it for the comics, and 22% read it for front-page news. Girls are attracted to comics (28%), then font-page news (24%), followed by current events (14%. Eleven percent of girls read the paper for the sports section.
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