Standard errors for the percentage of adults age 16 or older who participated in literary practices, by frequency of participation and materials in the home and selected characteristics: 2003

Adult Reading Habits

Table S20-1. Standard errors for the percentage of adults age 16 or older who participated in literary practices, by frequency of participation and materials in the home and selected characteristics: 2003

	Read newspapers or magazines			Read books			Read letters and notes
Characteristic	Every day	A few times a week or weekly	Less than once a week/ never	Every day	A few times a week or weekly	Less than once a week/ never	Every day	A few times a week or weekly	Less than once a/ week/ never	25 or more books in the home

Total	0.66	0.62	0.57	0.56	0.53	0.78	0.79	0.60	0.56	0.49
Sex
Male	0.85	0.75	0.68	0.81	0.77	1.03	1.03	0.80	0.74	0.58
Female	0.84	0.77	0.62	0.67	0.70	0.81	0.90	0.77	0.66	0.53
Age
16–18	2.05	2.09	2.03	1.92	1.79	2.03	1.81	2.33	2.27	1.36
19–24	1.42	1.52	1.29	1.28	1.51	1.63	1.48	1.44	1.28	1.22
25–39	1.00	0.99	0.93	0.89	0.90	1.03	1.16	0.97	0.88	0.61
40–49	1.27	1.28	1.01	0.92	1.01	1.28	1.26	1.05	0.92	0.68
50–64	1.26	1.04	0.79	1.20	0.82	1.26	1.28	1.00	0.84	0.67
65 or older	1.24	1.12	0.83	1.28	1.28	1.53	1.57	1.61	1.41	0.89
Education
Less than high school	1.09	0.97	1.32	0.95	1.18	1.41	1.10	1.01	1.01	1.19
High school diploma or equivalent	1.03	1.04	0.73	0.84	0.97	1.13	1.19	0.99	0.83	0.68
Some college	0.97	0.88	0.57	0.95	0.80	1.06	1.01	0.92	0.62	0.41
Bachelor’s degree or higher	1.09	1.01	0.64	1.23	1.06	0.87	1.12	0.99	0.63	0.32
Race/ethnicity
White	0.80	0.76	0.52	0.72	0.63	0.86	0.96	0.73	0.59	0.42
Black	1.02	1.31	0.99	1.34	1.16	1.48	1.65	1.41	1.20	1.27
Hispanic	1.65	1.30	1.95	0.95	1.06	1.43	1.46	0.92	1.50	1.59
Asian/Pacific Islander	3.32	2.16	2.31	2.49	3.23	3.25	3.54	2.69	2.31	2.00
American Indian	7.72	6.77	5.07	3.70	6.44	5.32	6.02	7.27	4.83	4.07
More than one race	5.17	5.04	2.86	3.93	3.45	4.49	3.94	3.72	3.33	1.98
Language spoken before starting school
English only	0.75	0.70	0.47	0.65	0.59	0.80	0.94	0.71	0.58	0.36
English and Spanish	2.80	2.92	2.10	2.57	2.47	2.37	2.73	1.94	2.25	2.05
English and other language	2.86	2.83	1.66	3.30	2.99	2.80	3.18	2.61	2.19	1.54
Spanish	1.52	1.58	2.04	0.99	1.26	1.71	1.41	1.25	1.68	1.95
Other language	2.39	2.21	1.99	2.16	1.89	2.71	2.73	2.55	2.42	1.63
Household income
Less than $15,000	1.56	1.35	1.65	1.23	1.19	1.60	1.34	1.22	1.31	1.35
$15,000–29,999	1.42	1.16	1.10	1.16	1.04	1.10	1.57	1.30	0.99	0.97
$30,000–49,999	1.31	1.21	1.02	1.09	1.26	1.28	1.30	1.25	1.18	0.87
$50,000–74,999	1.11	1.32	0.71	1.10	1.16	1.49	1.32	1.27	0.91	0.61
$75,000 or more	1.37	1.37	0.63	1.34	1.23	1.14	1.32	1.01	0.89	0.39
Poverty
Poor	1.62	1.31	1.69	1.27	1.25	1.75	1.42	1.19	1.38	1.45
Near-poor	1.49	1.18	0.98	1.09	0.91	1.17	1.50	1.20	1.08	0.94
Nonpoor	0.79	0.87	0.44	0.72	0.67	0.87	0.85	0.66	0.59	0.36

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), previously unpublished tabulation (December 2005).

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