Madrid (EFE).- More than half of the population between the ages of 10 and 18 -54 percent- do not like to read and do so out of obligation, a habit, that of reading, which occupies fifth place among entertainment possibilities for the 4.5 million Spanish adolescents.
This is revealed by a study presented at the Madrid Book Fair, carried out based on almost 1,000 surveys of young people between the ages of 10 and 18 by the company Prodigioso Volcán with the aid granted by the Reading Promotion Plan of the Subdirectorate General of the Book.
Only 53.8% of the young population devote free time to reading and 80% believe they should do so more, highlights the study, which has identified three profiles in adolescents: reading, forced, fans and lovers from the books.
Forced readers do not enjoy reading (they value reading with a score between 0 and 6 out of 10) nor do they consider it a hobby and on average they only read almost 4 books a year. In addition, it is the group that sees their environment read the least, both their relatives (41.2%) and their friends (16.3%).
The segment of amateur readers gives reading a grade between 7 and 10 out of 10 and reads an average of 11 books a year.
Meanwhile, young people who love reading can read an annual average of up to 14 titles and their environment is the most reader —66.2% see their relatives read and 34.8% their friends.
preferred genres
The first three literary genres preferred by this age group are adventures, fantasy and science fiction. They are followed by manga, with 28.2% popularity.
According to the study, adolescence becomes a clear turning point where it is difficult for those who stop reading to recover their childhood hobby, while those who maintain the habit end up becoming lovers of reading when they reach 17-18. years.
Beyond the time spent on everything related to study and school work, time outside of schools is concentrated on screens. It happens with movies, TV, series, internet or video games. But also with music, where listening is carried out on many occasions on streaming video platforms or on social networks.
5% of young people who use social networks read content about books, in such a way that “booktubers”, “bookstagramers” and “booktokers” have some kind of influence on 7 out of 10 young people, as indicated in the survey Therefore, the study highlights these profiles as an opportunity for the networks to be part of the promotion of reading.
Almost 30% of the young population say they should read “a lot more” or “a lot more”, and more than half think they should read a little more, while only 2 out of 10 say they read enough. Young people who no longer read respond that they lack hours or that they prefer to spend their free time on other activities.