Béla FALUSSY

The changes in reading habits as reflected by time-budget analyses¹

The importance of reading lies in keeping awake a learned skill, an ability that is an indispensable basis of regular learning. It develops one's vocabulary, the ability of expression, fantasy and creative thinking. It is an active intellectual activity requiring concentration and effort. The pre-conditions of developing economy, quickly adapted to the needs, of the operation of democratic institutions are inseparable from the reading culture of a nation characterised by the time spent on reading, its changes and social differences.

Reading is almost the only activity within the actively spent free time of the Hungarian population the average time period of which - approximately half an hour - is up to the medium level in international comparison, but at the time of the 1986 survey Hungarian men with an average of 40 minutes spent on reading belonged to the vanguard. People read the most in Finland, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark (men between 36-49 minutes, women 30-46 minutes), i.e. in the European welfare countries with a developed social market economy and democratic traditions where people possess most free time and where television has the least weight in spending free time. North American men and Polish and Canadian women read the least (20 minutes and 18-19 minutes respectively).

As regards book reading the Dutch (34 minutes), the Finnish (27 minutes) and the Danish (20 minutes) men, and the Dutch (29 minutes), Finnish (23 minutes) and Israeli (17 minutes) women are heading the ranklist. The least time is spent on book reading by Austrian men and women (3 minutes each); Japanese, Canadian, Polish and Hungarian men read slightly more, 9 minutes on the average.

The changes in the time spent on reading is analysed by comparing the time budgets prepared in Hungary in 1986 and 1993, in Austria in 1981 and 1992, in Finland in 1979 and 1987, and in Norway in 1981 and 1991.

Except for the time spent by Hungarian men on reading - which has experienced a 12-minute, relatively high decline - there are only relatively small differences between the times analysed. (As Hungarian men spent earlier their very high reading time decisively with reading newspapers and journals, a decrease of this time may be correlated with the substantial price increase of press products.) The trend of change in reading habits is signified, however, by the fact that in three from among the four countries the reading time of men has decreased, in one country it stagnated, while the reading time of women has increased, even if to a small extent, in two countries (in Austria and Finland). In the long term the former advantage of men has decreased in the field of reading as well.

The need for and time spent on reading increases together with age and the extent of time freely available. Aged, mainly retired persons read the most. In the time spent on reading by the youngest and oldest age groups - especially with men - there are substantial differences: the time spent on reading by the extreme age groups in Hungary in 1986 was 33 and 53 minutes, in 1993 20 and 42 minutes, in Austria in 1992 16 and 51 minutes, in Norway in 1991 26 and 78 minutes, in Australia 11 and 56 minutes.

We may observe different changes in the reading habits of the various age groups in the individual countries: while in Hungary the time spent on reading has decreased in all age groups, in Austria and Finland a decrease has taken place only with the youngest, while the old age groups devote more time to reading than earlier.

In addition to age there are substantial differences in the time spent on reading according to educational achievement, the place of living and family life cycle. In 1986 and 1993 in these dimensions of stratification the reading time of male strata having read earlier the most has decreased to the largest extent as well: of those living in the capital by 22 minutes, of single persons by 19 minutes, of the graduates of higher education by 15, of the graduates of secondary schools by 16 minutes.

The changes in the average daily ratio of newspaper, journal and book readers are the following:

• After 1986 less people are reading but they spend more time on reading. Of those who continue to read, the more time spent on reading is equally characteristic for the men and women reading dailies whose number has substantially decreased, as for the women who have been reading books in an almost unchanged ratio from 1977. The ratio of men reading books has been steeply decreasing from 1977, they have stayed behind women already in 1986, and the two sexes have even more drifted apart by 1993 in the field of book reading activity.

• The ratio of newspaper readers (interested in politics) increases with age in a stronger manner (more steeply) with men and more mildly with women, the two sexes are drifting apart from each other. A contradictory process is to be found regarding the reading of weeklies and journals (mostly picture magazines): here the distance between sexes is the largest among the youngest generation; young women are the most and young men are the least responsive to these reading materials, the interest of middle-aged women decreases temporarily, while the interest of mean gradually increases, finally, in the oldest generation - with a minimum of difference - they take over leadership, and in this age the ratio of readers of weeklies and journals becomes almost equal.

• Books are read - from among the age groups surveyed - by young people under 30 in the largest proportion, but they spend less time than those over 60 who also read in a larger proportion than before. As book reading is a more time-demanding activity than the reading of dailies or magazines that can be quickly read through, it is more difficult for active, middle-aged men who work most and undertake a lot of obligations, to find time for it during their daily occupations.

A substantial part of young men who are less bound to books, and read less and less, frequently ceases to read entirely among the increased burdens of older age, thus from among the men aged 30 to 39 only those keep to their habit of reading books who have been reading a lot earlier, this is why the time spent on reading by this age group is higher compared to that of the younger ones. In case of women the time spent on reading decreases, later on increases together with the decrease and subsequent increase of the ratio of readers among women in an active age. The increased burdens accompanying family life and labour negatively affect the ratio of female readers, the frequency of reading and the time that can be spent on reading - even the women who can economise with their time so as to keep to their habit of reading books have got little free time.

The ratio of readers reaches its lowest level in the most active age groups, with men aged 30 to 39 and women aged 40 to 59, subsequently it increases again. The ratio of men reading books is lower in all age groups than that of women. The difference in the ratios by gender is the largest in the age group 30 to 39, and is relatively small after 60. Men between 30 and 59 - as compared to women of similar age - may spend considerably more time on book reading. There is, however, hardly any difference between the youngest and the oldest men and women.

• According to types of settlements the population of rural towns reads the most dailies (this correlates with the popularity of the local press due to its news on the neighbourhood), but in the field of book reading the hierarchy among settlements is restored: books are read in the highest ratio in the capital.

• · Among the groups of various economic activities retired men read newspapers, weeklies and books in the highest ratio. The least dailies are read by unemployed men and women working only in the household. These women, however, come to the fore in reading mainly picture magazines and the most occupied active earner women are closing the ranklist. As regards book reading the ratio of active earner women is the highest and that of those working in the household only and retired women the lowest.

• The ratio of men and women reading newspapers increases in approximately the same pace within the earner population, according to the higher educational attainment, with a large difference in ratios. While in newspaper reading men take the lead, among the readers of weeklies and journals, a more modest group, women are dominating, although with a small difference only, and this concerns first of all those with a low or secondary educational attainment. Graduated men and women, however, read journals in approximately the same, the highest ratio. In book reading the difference between genders is larger and, contrary to journal reading, the difference increases towards the strata with a higher educational attainment. The difference is smaller between the groups of men reading books on an average day, being active earners, with the lowest and highest educational attainment, than between the same groups of women reading the most. The ratio of men reading books, being college or university graduates, hardly exceeds the ratio of women having finished the 8 classes of elementary school at the most!

We have to note that behind the 1 % increase of active earner women reading books on an average day in the period 1986 to 1993 actually there is only the 2-3 % increase of book reading by women with the lowest educational attainment. While the average daily book reading of women being active earners and having a higher educational attainment has decreased by some percents only between the two dates, it can be considered a cultural catastrophe that among men being college or university graduates the earlier high ratio of book readers has fallen back in some years to 50 % (with college or university graduates from 26 to 14 %, with those having accomplished secondary school from 19 to 9 %). It is true, however, that while the reading intellectual males spend more time on reading than earlier (instead of 90 minutes more than two hours), the time spent on reading by women has increased in a much smaller extent.

The effect of the family life cycle on book reading coincides in many respects with the effects of age having been investigated earlier. In this respect, within the active earner population the single, i.e. young people before marriage and the older age group consisting of those already not living in a marriage (mainly the widows and the divorced having no children) read books in the largest proportion. The position given within the family life cycle influences the reading habits and opportunities of women to the most considerable extent. With the women having no children and mainly with women living in a marriage and having one child we can experience first an extremely substantial decline, then after the birth of the second child a repeated increase in the ratio of readers (together with a decrease in the role of television).

During the changes in the 1990s there has been a substantial increase in the time to be freely utilized as regards the time use of the Hungarian population, owing to unemployment. This time surplus has been substantially overpassed by the time spent on watching television, causing a decrease in the time spent on intellectual and physical activities. The time spent on reading has decreased with almost every stratum.

¹In the Central Statistical Office national surveys of the time-budget of the adult population have been prepared three times: about 1977, 1986 and 1993.
The first survey was made from November 1976 to October 1977 with data collection evenly distributed for all days of the year in the population aged 15 to 69, the result being 27,600 time-budget observations. The next time-budget is based on data collected from March 1986 to February 1987, also relating to all days of the year. By four interviews of the sample selected from the population aged 15-79 we have approximately 40,000 time-budget observations at our disposal. The last single survey analysed the already perceived effects of the system change in a period from February to April 1993, with a sample of 11,000 persons from the population aged 18-79.