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Patterns vary by age and gender, with boys showing persistently low engagement and reduced reading linked to both lost interest and vulnerability to disruption.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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does the report say about reading enjoyment and daily reading levels?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Reading enjoyment and daily reading are at their lowest levels in over 20 years, with enjoyment and daily reading both declining sharply as children move into adolescence.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Why does the report focus on adolescence for reading engagement?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Adolescence brings significant change—greater academic demands, reduced free time, independence, and shifting interests—which weakens reading habits and makes reading less embedded in everyday life.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How do boys’ reading patterns differ from girls’ during adolescence?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"While enjoyment and habits decline for both boys and girls, evidence in the report suggests girls show signs of recovery later, whereas boys’ engagement stays persistently low and is more easily disrupted as routines weaken.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},586224,1792230516,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & 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\nVedika Puri National Literacy Trust  \nFebruary 2026  \nLevels of reading enjoyment and daily reading among children and young people have been falling for some time and are now at their lowest point in over 20 years (Clark et al, 2025) . Our evidence, alongside wider research, shows that adolescence is a key point at which reading habits weaken and reading becomes less embedded in young people’s everyday lives.  \nThis challenge has been recognised at a national level. In the UK, the National Year of Reading (2026) places renewed emphasis on supporting reading across the life course, including a focus on maintaining reading engagement during adolescence. This has increased attention on how reading fits into young people’s lives as they get older.  \nAdolescence matters because it is a time of significant change: increasing academic demands, reduced free time, greater independence, and shifting interests all affect how young people relate to reading. Longitudinal research highlights the importance of reading during this stage: young people who read regularly between the ages of 10 and 16 show strong cognitive progress (Sullivan and Brown, 2014) at a time that leads directly into high-stakes examinations in the  \nUK. Evidence also suggests that disengagement during adolescence is rarely about rejecting reading altogether. Instead, reading often becomes harder to maintain as young people juggle competing pressures and priorities (Clark et al. , 2025; Webber et al. , 2023) .  \nAt the same time, teenage reading is taking place in a changing context. Young people encounter and engage with text across a wide range of formats, including digital, audio, and media-linked content. Studies of adolescents’ reading practices highlight the need to look beyond traditional measures of reading to understand how reading fits into young people’s lives today ( Loh, 2024; Clark et al. , 2024) .  \nUnderstanding teenage reading: our approach  \nThis report draws on data from the 2025 Annual Literacy Survey, including responses from more than 80,000 young people aged 11 to 16 and over 46,000 written comments. It explores how reading enjoyment and reading habits change during adolescence and uses young people’s own words to understand their experiences of reading.  \nThe report looks at what reading offers young people, what makes it harder to read regularly, and what helps reading fit into their lives. It aims to build a clearer picture of teenage reading and how it can be supported during adolescence. While it looks at patterns across all young people, it takes a closer look at boys’ experiences, reflecting evidence that boys’ reading enjoyment is particularly low during  \n© National Literacy Trust 2026  \nadolescence and asking questions about how boys relate to reading at this stage  \nof life.  \nWhat this report shows  \nThese findings show that adolescence is a critical period for reading engagement. While reading enjoyment and daily reading have declined over time, many teenagers continue to value reading for learning, enjoyment and wellbeing. However, increasing pressure on time, changing routines and competing priorities mean that reading is harder to sustain as young people get older, even when it is viewed positively.  \nWhile overall declines in reading are seen across young people as a whole, they are not experienced evenly. Patterns vary by age and gender, with some groups showing steeper drops in reported enjoyment and frequency. Exploring these differences helps to shed light on the conditions that support or undermine sustained engagement.  \nOur new insight into teenage boys’ reading is particularly striking. While reading enjoyment and reading habits decline for both boys and girls in early adolescence, age-related patterns suggest that girls show signs of recovery in later adolescence, whereas boys’ engagement remains persistently low. Boys’ reading is","cbCainsxppQFIoWV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainsxppQFIoWV","pdf",754224,28,"English","# Understanding teenage reading: our approach\n# What this report shows\n## Key evidence underpinning these findings","[{\"question\":\"What does the report say about reading enjoyment and daily reading levels?\",\"answer\":\"Reading enjoyment and daily reading are at their lowest levels in over 20 years, with enjoyment and daily reading both declining sharply as children move into adolescence.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the report focus on adolescence for reading engagement?\",\"answer\":\"Adolescence brings significant change—greater academic demands, reduced free time, independence, and shifting interests—which weakens reading habits and makes reading less embedded in everyday life.\"},{\"question\":\"How do boys’ reading patterns differ from girls’ during adolescence?\",\"answer\":\"While enjoyment and habits decline for both boys and girls, evidence in the report suggests girls show signs of recovery later, whereas boys’ engagement stays persistently low and is more easily disrupted as routines weaken.\"}]","Teenage reading (Re)framing the challenge - Teenage Reading (Re)framing the Challenge | PDF",1792057284,71]