ED1 Family reading to young children: Percentage of children ages 3–5a who were read to three or more times in the last week by a family member by child and family characteristics and region, selected years 1993–2019

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Characteristic 1993 1995 1996 1999 2001 2005 2007 2012 2016 2019
Total 78.3 83.7 82.5 81.7 84.1 85.7 83.3 82.8 81.2 84.6
Gender
Male 77.4 83.3 81.5 81.0 82.1 84.7 80.9 81.5 79.6 83.8
Female 79.2 84.1 83.6 82.4 86.1 86.8 85.7 84.1 82.9 85.3
Race and Hispanic originb
White, non-Hispanic 84.8 89.6 88.9 88.9 89.4 91.9 90.6 90.5 87.9 91.3
Black, non-Hispanic 65.9 74.2 74.7 72.3 76.7 78.5 78.0 77.0 78.9 74.8
American Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic 70.5 ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic 68.8 78.9 81.0 81.1 87.4 83.7 87.5 77.3 73.7 80.7
Asian, non-Hispanic — — — — — 83.8 86.8 75.1 74.4 80.7
Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic — — — — — ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
Two or more races, non-Hispanic 80.2 91.2 86.6 81.1 84.3 92.0 89.5 86.9 81.3 88.8
Hispanic 58.2 60.2 64.9 61.8 70.7 71.8 67.6 70.9 70.8 76.5
Poverty status
Below 100% poverty 67.5 74.8 72.2 69.1 73.7 77.8 70.5 73.7 71.1 73.0
100%–199% poverty 75.5 82.3 79.0 79.5 80.6 82.7 81.0 80.6 75.4 83.7
200% poverty and above 86.4 89.1 90.7 88.7 89.8 90.2 89.4 87.9 87.1 88.5
Family type
Two parentsc 81.1 85.2 86.4 84.9 86.7 86.5 84.8 85.1 83.7 86.7
Two parents, married — — — — 87.2 87.2 87.5 86.3 84.5 87.0
Two parents, unmarried — — — — 81.4 79.1 54.1 76.7 76.9 84.3
One parent 70.8 79.0 73.6 74.2 75.7 82.8 76.9 77.1 73.4 78.1
No parents 70.3 86.0 64.9 72.0 83.9 83.1 83.8 74.1 79.6 69.9
Mother's highest level of educationd
Less than high school 59.7 64.6 60.9 62.6 69.0 64.2 55.7 72.6 60.5 71.1
High school diploma or equivalent 75.5 79.1 79.0 77.0 80.8 82.4 73.7 75.3 79.0 80.1
Some college, including vocational/ technical/associate's degree 83.3 88.3 88.1 84.9 85.6 88.3 85.8 85.4 81.5 84.3
Bachelor's degree or higher 90.0 93.9 94.6 92.1 93.9 93.1 94.9 92.9 90.2 90.5
Mother's employment statusd
Worked 35 hours or more per week 77.9 81.2 82.0 80.7 83.5 83.2 81.4 82.8 80.1 83.8
Worked less than 35 hours per week 81.5 89.9 86.6 83.5 89.4 89.3 90.1 87.2 89.1 85.8
Looking for work 70.9 77.5 77.3 73.3 76.5 89.4 68.7 80.2 90.9 79.3
Not in labor force 78.9 83.4 82.0 83.9 83.1 85.1 83.4 83.5 78.8 85.4
Regione
Northeast 82.4 85.7 85.4 85.5 85.1 89.1 85.8 87.8 82.5 89.5
South 75.0 82.0 80.5 79.3 83.0 82.7 82.3 80.8 81.6 80.1
Midwest 81.3 86.5 82.8 86.8 86.5 88.6 87.8 84.4 81.7 86.1
West 76.4 80.8 82.3 76.1 82.3 85.2 78.8 80.8 79.6 86.0
— Not available.
‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases for a reliable estimate or the coefficient of variation (CV) is 50% or greater.
a Estimates are based on children who have yet to enter kindergarten.
b From 1993 to 2001, the 1977 U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) standards for data on race and ethnicity were used to classify persons into one of the following four racial groups: White, Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, or Asian or Pacific Islander. For data from 2005 onward, the revised 1997 OMB standards were used. Under these standards, persons could select one or more of five racial groups: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. In 2012, 2016, and 2019 children reporting as both Asian and Pacific Islander with no other races were included in Two or more races. Data on race and Hispanic origin are collected separately. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
c Refers to adults' relationship to child and does not indicate marital status. Data for 2007, 2012, 2016, and 2019 include same-sex parents.
d Children without mothers or female guardians in the home are not included in estimates.
e Regions: Northeast includes CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, and VT. South includes AL, AR, DC, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WV. Midwest includes IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, and WI. West includes AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, and WY.
NOTE: Prior to 2012, National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) surveys were administered by telephone with an interviewer. NHES:2012 used self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaires that were mailed to respondents. For NHES:2016, all sampled households received initial contact by mail. Although the majority of respondents completed paper questionnaires, a small sample of cases was part of a web experiment with mailed invitations to complete the survey online. For NHES:2019, the majority of data were collected using a web-based survey instrument that respondents accessed with credentials they received in a mailed invitation. Paper surveys were used for nonresponse follow-up and for a small experiment. Measurable differences in estimates between 2012, 2016, 2019, and prior years could reflect actual changes in the population, or the changes may have resulted from mode change. Some data were revised from previous publications.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Household Education Surveys Program.

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