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Digest of Education Statistics
2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 184. Percentage of high school seniors who say they engage in various activities, by selected student and school characteristics: 1992 and 2004
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Activity Total Sex Race/ethnicity Socioeconomic status1 Control of school attended
Male Female White Black Hispanic Asian/
Pacific
Islander
American
Indian/
Alaska
Native
Low Middle High Public Catholic Other private
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1992                                                                
At least once a week                                                                
Use personal computer2 23.6 (0.52) 28.1 (0.76) 19.3 (0.64) 23.9 (0.58) 23.3 (1.71) 20.7 (1.49) 26.6   (1.90) 22.0   (3.88) 18.7 (1.10) 23.4 (0.73) 27.6 (0.91) 23.3 (0.50) 26.0   (2.58) 29.0   (3.04)
Work on hobbies 40.9 (0.62) 44.4 (0.85) 37.6 (0.86) 42.2 (0.71) 34.5 (1.99) 39.7 (1.71) 37.7   (2.16) 51.8   (4.20) 36.3 (1.29) 41.1 (0.84) 43.6 (1.14) 40.6 (0.59) 42.4   (2.69) 41.1   (2.60)
Perform community service 11.3 (0.48) 10.7 (0.80) 11.9 (0.52) 11.1 (0.60) 12.1 (1.26) 11.1 (1.03) 13.8   (1.58) 8.0 ! (2.56) 7.6 (0.61) 9.6 (0.46) 16.9 (1.22) 9.6 (0.37) 23.6   (2.50) 22.9   (2.63)
Driving or riding around 73.2 (0.59) 74.4 (0.84) 72.1 (0.75) 75.7 (0.64) 67.8 (2.15) 66.0 (1.82) 66.5   (2.05) 67.6   (4.40) 69.6 (1.26) 75.3 (0.75) 72.4 (1.13) 74.0 (0.55) 76.1   (2.41) 68.7   (2.91)
Visiting with friends at a
     local hangout
88.0 (0.45) 88.2 (0.62) 87.9 (0.62) 90.6 (0.41) 79.8 (2.02) 82.1 (1.27) 85.7   (1.46) 73.0   (4.89) 80.6 (1.05) 88.0 (0.66) 93.2 (0.57) 88.2 (0.39) 93.3   (1.23) 95.1   (0.78)
Talk on phone with friends 80.5 (0.56) 72.6 (0.88) 88.3 (0.64) 81.7 (0.62) 81.3 (2.01) 71.8 (1.60) 77.2   (1.82) 73.7   (6.12) 72.8 (1.13) 81.6 (0.71) 83.7 (1.10) 80.4 (0.54) 86.8   (1.84) 77.9   (2.77)
Take music, art, or dance
     class
10.2 (0.35) 7.9 (0.44) 12.4 (0.52) 10.0 (0.40) 9.6 (1.11) 9.9 (1.27) 14.1   (1.21) 10.7 ! (3.40) 7.2 (0.67) 8.9 (0.43) 14.2 (0.75) 9.7 (0.35) 12.4   (1.55) 14.9   (1.49)
Take sports lessons 7.3 (0.38) 9.7 (0.62) 5.0 (0.45) 7.0 (0.46) 7.5 (0.80) 8.0 (1.14) 9.3   (1.06) 10.0 ! (4.07) 5.5 (0.61) 6.6 (0.40) 9.5 (0.96) 6.5 (0.29) 9.2   (1.60) 7.3   (1.13)
Play non-school sports 26.2 (0.62) 38.7 (0.91) 14.0 (0.70) 27.1 (0.73) 22.6 (1.79) 23.4 (1.55) 28.1   (2.13) 27.3   (4.25) 20.4 (1.01) 24.5 (0.73) 32.9 (1.29) 25.6 (0.56) 35.1   (2.71) 28.0   (3.00)
                                                                 
Reading 3 or more hours per
     week (not for school)
33.7 (0.56) 30.9 (0.78) 36.4 (0.78) 34.5 (0.64) 28.6 (1.81) 32.8 (1.75) 35.3   (2.03) 34.4   (3.90) 29.7 (1.10) 33.4 (0.77) 36.7 (1.01) 33.2 (0.59) 32.4   (2.35) 38.8   (2.51)
Plays video/computer games
     3 or more hours per day
     on weekdays
2.0 (0.16) 3.2 (0.29) 0.8 (0.12) 1.8 (0.18) 3.3 (0.64) 2.1 (0.43) 2.7 ! (0.88) 2.5 ! (1.19) 3.4 (0.40) 2.1 (0.23) 1.1 (0.19) 2.1 (0.18) 1.6 ! (0.50) 0.6 ! (0.26)
Watches television 3 or more
     hours per day on weekdays
27.0 (0.62) 27.7 (0.88) 26.4 (0.77) 23.6 (0.67) 49.2 (2.29) 26.6 (1.54) 25.0   (2.20) 36.4   (4.85) 34.1 (1.24) 29.3 (0.89) 18.1 (1.03) 26.4 (0.56) 26.1   (2.29) 15.5   (2.34)
                                                                 
2004                                                                
At least once a week                                                                
Use personal computer
     at home
79.3 (0.52) 79.6 (0.65) 79.0 (0.69) 84.7 (0.54) 62.8 (1.34) 71.4 (1.32) 89.5   (1.06) 68.8   (2.31) 61.9 (1.07) 79.8 (0.63) 92.3 (0.53) 78.2 (0.56) 93.2   (0.69) 89.6   (1.90)
Work on hobbies 46.5 (0.56) 49.6 (0.80) 43.3 (0.71) 46.8 (0.68) 44.3 (1.46) 44.8 (1.39) 49.3   (1.75) 58.4   (2.40) 42.2 (1.07) 46.6 (0.76) 49.6 (0.93) 46.3 (0.60) 47.2   (1.41) 48.6   (1.90)
Perform community service 18.7 (0.45) 15.1 (0.54) 22.3 (0.63) 17.9 (0.52) 21.1 (1.22) 17.5 (1.11) 27.4   (1.36) 11.6   (2.05) 15.7 (0.74) 17.4 (0.64) 23.5 (0.81) 18.3 (0.48) 23.8   (1.29) 22.1   (1.81)
Driving or riding around 65.7 (0.61) 67.5 (0.78) 64.0 (0.79) 70.0 (0.70) 63.9 (1.28) 54.0 (1.28) 58.3   (1.93) 77.0   (3.70) 59.0 (1.17) 67.2 (0.82) 68.4 (0.93) 65.7 (0.66) 68.8   (1.36) 62.8   (2.24)
Visiting with friends at a
     local hangout
86.1 (0.41) 88.4 (0.46) 83.9 (0.63) 90.7 (0.40) 79.9 (1.03) 77.7 (1.16) 79.0   (1.37) 82.6   (2.52) 76.6 (0.94) 87.7 (0.51) 90.9 (0.56) 85.7 (0.44) 92.2   (0.65) 89.2   (1.05)
Talk on phone with friends 72.1 (0.48) 65.2 (0.71) 78.9 (0.58) 71.6 (0.61) 80.5 (0.98) 66.6 (1.24) 64.7   (1.75) 73.1   (2.68) 66.0 (0.95) 73.5 (0.66) 74.2 (0.82) 71.8 (0.52) 77.5   (1.30) 72.7   (1.53)
Take music, art, or
     language class
17.7 (0.46) 13.8 (0.52) 21.7 (0.66) 17.5 (0.61) 18.7 (0.96) 15.2 (1.02) 21.2   (1.42) 17.8   (1.30) 13.6 (0.78) 17.0 (0.61) 22.4 (0.71) 17.4 (0.49) 19.6   (1.22) 22.6   (1.75)
Take sports lessons 13.2 (0.41) 15.8 (0.61) 10.7 (0.48) 12.5 (0.47) 15.7 (1.09) 13.5 (1.07) 12.9   (1.31) 12.1   (0.43) 10.8 (0.70) 12.6 (0.57) 16.4 (0.71) 12.9 (0.44) 18.8   (0.92) 14.4   (1.07)
Play non-school sports 27.4 (0.53) 39.2 (0.77) 15.7 (0.62) 26.8 (0.70) 28.3 (1.14) 27.5 (1.27) 30.7   (1.57) 38.7   (1.61) 24.3 (0.91) 27.3 (0.73) 30.0 (1.06) 27.3 (0.57) 31.2   (1.47) 24.8   (1.74)
                                                                 
Reading 3 or more hours per
     week (not for school)
32.0 (0.51) 29.5 (0.70) 34.5 (0.71) 31.5 (0.66) 32.7 (1.24) 32.8 (1.28) 30.5   (1.43) 34.4   (3.73) 30.3 (0.99) 30.8 (0.72) 35.6 (0.89) 32.0 (0.55) 29.6   (1.47) 34.9   (1.74)
Plays video/computer games
     3 or more hours per day
     on weekdays
5.9 (0.27) 10.4 (0.48) 1.5 (0.18) 5.1 (0.31) 7.8 (0.78) 6.6 (0.66) 6.1   (0.81) 8.9   (1.17) 7.2 (0.54) 6.3 (0.40) 4.2 (0.35) 6.1 (0.29) 3.8   (0.50) 3.5   (0.59)
Watches television/DVDs 3 or more
     hours per day on weekdays
28.1 (0.54) 29.3 (0.76) 26.9 (0.69) 21.9 (0.61) 51.7 (1.37) 33.0 (1.06) 24.6   (1.72) 29.9   (3.81) 35.6 (1.00) 29.3 (0.76) 20.0 (0.75) 28.8 (0.58) 24.3   (1.60) 15.8   (1.43)
Hours of homework per week                                                                
Less than 1 hour 13.3 (0.44) 17.3 (0.67) 9.4 (0.48) 14.0 (0.56) 15.1 (0.93) 10.7 (0.83) 6.5   (1.09) 14.9   (1.38) 15.6 (0.78) 14.8 (0.62) 8.7 (0.55) 14.0 (0.47) 5.5   (0.70) 5.4   (1.19)
1 to 3 hours 28.7 (0.52) 30.2 (0.72) 27.3 (0.75) 27.3 (0.64) 32.6 (1.18) 33.9 (1.27) 16.6   (1.52) 29.6   (2.75) 32.7 (0.97) 30.3 (0.71) 22.8 (0.89) 29.7 (0.56) 19.5   (1.32) 16.9   (1.57)
4 to 6 hours 25.0 (0.49) 24.5 (0.68) 25.5 (0.66) 25.8 (0.64) 24.7 (1.18) 23.0 (1.20) 26.7   (1.59) 21.4   (1.19) 24.2 (0.94) 25.1 (0.67) 25.6 (0.89) 25.0 (0.53) 27.3   (1.23) 24.0   (1.48)
7 to 12 hours 21.7 (0.51) 19.8 (0.68) 23.6 (0.68) 22.4 (0.65) 18.0 (0.98) 21.7 (1.26) 27.3   (1.46) 26.9   (3.86) 18.2 (0.81) 20.5 (0.66) 26.8 (0.90) 20.9 (0.55) 29.1   (1.13) 32.2   (1.87)
More than 12 hours 11.2 (0.39) 8.2 (0.43) 14.2 (0.61) 10.5 (0.47) 9.6 (0.85) 10.7 (0.99) 22.8   (1.66) 7.2 ! (2.20) 9.2 (0.76) 9.4 (0.46) 16.1 (0.73) 10.4 (0.40) 18.6   (1.52) 21.5   (2.83)
!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.
1 Socioeconomic status (SES) was measured by a composite score on parental education and occupations, and family income. The "low" SES group is the lowest quartile; the "middle" SES group is the middle two quartiles; and the "high" SES group is the upper quartile.
2 Question does not specify where computer is used.
NOTE: Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Total includes other racial/ethnic groups not separately shown.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88/92), "Second Follow-up Student Survey, 1992"; and Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002/04), "First Follow-up, 2004." (This table was prepared December 2009.)

2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest