The decline in reading for pleasure over 20 years of the American Time Use Survey.

Jessica K Bone, Feifei Bu, Jill K Sonke, Daisy Fancourt

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in iScience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

1citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

Behavioral Phenotyping of Arts Engagement Using 20 Years of the American Time Use Survey.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Jessica K BoneResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, University College London, London, UK.

Feifei BuResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, University College London, London, UK.

Jill K SonkeCenter for Arts in Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Daisy FancourtResearch Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, University College London, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Reading has a wide range of benefits for literacy, employment, and health as well as promoting cultural understanding. However, previous monitoring of reading in the US has been inconsistent, with some studies demonstrating large declines over time, and others suggesting engagement has not changed. We measure reading for pleasure and reading with children from 2003 to 2023, using a nationally representative sample from the American Time Use Survey (

Indexed as

Public healthSociology

Identifiers

PMID41054547

DOI10.1016/j.isci.2025.113288

PMCPMC12496190

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.