Literacy news
Computer gamers less likely to go to university, research shows
8 Apr 2011
A new report by Oxford University has revealed that playing computer games appears to reduce a teenager's chances of going to university, while reading enhances the likelihood that they will go on to study for a degree. The research tracked 17,000 people born in 1970.
Reading was also linked to career success, as the research found 16-year-olds who read books at least once a month were significantly more likely to be in a professional or managerial job at 33 than those who didn't read books at all.
For girls, there was a 39% probability that they would be in a professional or managerial position at 33 if they read at 16, compared to a 25% chance if they had not. Among boys, there was a 58% chance of being in a good job as an adult if they had read as a teenager, compared to a 48% chance if they had not. Playing computer games regularly and doing no other activities meant the chances of going to university fell from 24% to 19% for boys and from 20% to 14% for girls.
Mark Taylor, of Nuffield College, Oxford, who carried out the research, said that results indicated there was "something special" about reading for pleasure.
Even after accounting for class, ability and the type of school a child attended, reading still made a difference. He said:
"It's no surprise that kids who went to the theatre when young get better jobs. That's because their parents were rich. When you take these things into account, the effect that persists is for reading”.
Despite gaming reducing the chances of becoming a graduate, the research suggests teenagers who spend a lot of time playing video games should not worry too much about their career prospects. Playing computer games frequently did not reduce the likelihood that a 16-year-old would be in a professional or managerial job at 33, the research finds. Taylor's analysis also indicates that children who read books and did one other cultural activity further increased their chances of going to university.
Taylor suggested that the reasons that reading was significant could be that it improved the intellect of students, or that employers felt more comfortable taking on someone with a similarly educated background. It might also be the case that children destined for better careers tended to read more and there is no causal link.
Read more at The Guardian
Most read
Related content
- Will the Olympic Games inspire a nation of readers? in Blogs by Jonathan Douglas
- Commission finds three quarters of schools have boys falling behind in reading in Media centre
- Help! There’s a boy in my class! in Blogs by Jim Sells
- New political group to focus on literacy in Blogs by Jonathan Douglas
- Literacy is everybody’s business in Blogs by Abigail Moss
