research on book reading habits

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in english at the secondary level.

• 1 Department of Education, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
• 2 Faculty of Education and Humanities, UNITAR International University, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
• 3 Faculty of Education, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
• 4 Department of English Language and Literature, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Reading is an attempt to comprehend the writer’s message for personal growth and success in the relevant fields. Thus, psychologists consider it a multifaceted cognitive process of constructing meanings from texts. The present study was conducted to determine the relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English at the secondary level in Punjab, Pakistan.

Methods: The ( n = 1614) students enrolled in the science section for the academic year 2019–2020 participated in this descriptive correlational survey, selected from 40 high schools in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, through a non-proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The Reading Habits Questionnaire (RHQ) and the Study Skills Scale (SSS) were used to collect data about students’ reading habits and study skills. At the same time, academic achievement was the students’ grades obtained in the ninth class in the subject of English that were determined by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore in 2019. Students’ responses were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: The results indicated that students have competent reading habits and study skills. The correlational findings showed a strong positive relationship among reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English, while moderate positive relationships between reading habits and academic achievement in English. However, regression analysis results were significant, while reading habits and study skills moderately predicted academic achievement.

Discussion: It is implicated that teachers should plan such assignments and tasks based on reflective thinking by considering the role of study skills in academic achievement. Moreover, teachers and school administrators could mutually create timetables for library lessons to build reading habits and study skills among learners.

1. Introduction

Knowledge gained through reading is vital for the cognitive, behavioral, and attitudinal development of learners ( He, 2014 ; Baffoe and Okae-Anti, 2020 ; Hassan et al., 2021 ) because it is a person’s ability to enhance information and comprehend the words effectively ( Sabbah, 2016 ; Al-Jarf, 2019 ). An individual reads for numerous reasons, i.e., knowledge development, recreation, joy, relaxation, and so on ( Whitten et al., 2016 ). However, Erguvan (2016) and Mirza et al. (2021) directed that reading is an active part of life that is not just about pleasure when needed. However, Chotitham and Wongwanich (2014) conjectured that reading helps to develop critical and judgmental thinking abilities used to solve problems by conceptualizing context. Hence, Erdem (2015) and Pretorius and Klapwijk (2016) quantified that reading is essential to success because it starts from the commencement of school and continues throughout the lifetime.

Fischer et al. (2015) , Oyewole (2017) , Al-Jarf (2019) recognized that the importance of reading in learning could not be ignored because it is an emancipatory tool that releases students’ academic frustration, ignorance, and destitution. Palani (2012) distinguished that reading is an instrument used to exchange information, while reading habit is an academic activity that enables students to benefit from reading materials. Therefore, Walia and Sinha (2014) specified that reading habits require complex skills, such as perceiving a message, skimming and scanning information, and understanding the context. Thus, compelling reading depends on readers’ behaviors, known as study skills that enable them to conceptualize the new knowledge effectively ( DiPerna and Elliott, 2000 ; Habibu and Ejembi, 2011 ; Gormley et al., 2018 ; Naqvi et al., 2018 ; Iheakanwa et al., 2021 ). While the effective study makes one narrate in their way using the stipulated meanings of the words and terms, the researchers take up for explanation and clarity ( Biyik et al., 2017 ).

According to the available literature, students’ reading habits and study skills have been of great importance for decades; while several deficiencies were found in previous studies, thus researchers considered few of them that are related to the study context. First, the researchers mainly focused on the influence of reading habits and study skills on academic achievement separately in Western countries ( Bhan and Gupta, 2010 ; Sabbah, 2016 ). A few addressed Eastern countries restricted to the university level ( Demir et al., 2012 ; Davarci, 2013 ; Dilshad et al., 2013 ; Erguvan, 2016 ; Alzahrani et al., 2018 ; Porkaew and Fongpaiboon, 2018 ; Thamarasseri, 2018 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2019 ; Ehsan and Sultana, 2020 ; Tonka and Bakir, 2020 ; Mirza et al., 2021 ; Nguyen Thi Thu, 2022 ). However, students’ reading habits and study skills may be initiated from the school level enabling the individuals to grow in competence, comfort, and understanding of the audience. At the same time, previous researchers focused on university level students’ reading habits. Second, there are methodological identities that lead to dubious findings not confirming the influence of reading habits and study skills on academic achievement ( Goel, 2014 ; Lawrence, 2014 ; Quadir and Chen, 2015 ; Sherafat and Murthy, 2016 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2018 ; Silverrajoo and Hassan, 2018 ; Balan et al., 2019 ; Hassan et al., 2021 ). In general, there is a scarcity of research aiming to determine the correlation between students’ reading habits and achievement through the role of study skills at any academic level. Finally, in Pakistan, few studies could explore reading habits as a singular variable of different groups of students ( Bajwa et al., 2011 ; Hussain and Munshi, 2011 ; Rasheed, 2012 ). Numerous researchers only examined the relationship between reading habits and academic achievement ( Bashir and Mattoo, 2012 ; Bibi et al., 2020 ; Ehsan and Sultana, 2020 ). Moreover, Fazal et al. (2012) only investigated the association between study skills and achievement. Thus, this research examines the relationship among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English as practiced at the secondary level in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.

Lahore is the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province. In terms of population, this is the second largest city in Pakistan. It is located in the northeastern part of Pakistan’s Punjab province. Lahore is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Pakistan and is home to various cultures, traditions, and customs. Specifically, it provides researchers with opportunities to contextualize perspectives in light of academic processes and ethics.

2. Literature review

2.1. reading habits.

Rosli et al. (2018) suggested that reading is an attempt to comprehend the writer’s message, while Alnahdi and Aftab (2020) stated that it is a gateway to all other information, which may lead to understanding the world outside the text. Hence, Al-Jarf (2021) and Dadzie (2008) asserted that reading is a multifaceted cognitive process of comprehending words written in a textual form that allows readers to enhance their knowledge for personal growth and academic success. Moreover, Ogeyik and Akyay (2009) ; Erguvan (2016) , Mirza et al. (2021) stated that reading is just a method of communication between the writer and the reader. Thus, Bhan and Gupta (2010) and Baron (2017) assumed that reading is the art of decoding and interpreting messages from various written materials such as books, magazines, journals, newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopedias, pamphlets, and diaries. Hassan et al. (2021) stated that reading habits influence reading materials, activities, time duration, place of reading, and reader motivation. In this study, reading habits are considered to be the students’ reading preferences, interest in reading, attitude toward reading, and reading problems during study at the secondary level.

2.2. Study skills

Study skills are the readers’ inclination toward organizing, highlighting, reviewing, reciting, and using devices, flashcards, etc. to comprehend new knowledge effectively ( DiPerna and Elliott, 2000 ; DiPerna, 2006 ; Rozalski, 2008 ; Madhavi et al., 2014 ; Sabbah, 2016 ). While reading habit is the frequency, a reader regularly reads ( Winne, 2013 ). Moreover, study skills are the students’ intellectual practices to process new information effectively and efficiently, while reading habits are considered a psychological trait of one’s personality ( Farrington et al., 2012 ; Pillai, 2012 ; Mansor et al., 2013 ; Shahidi et al., 2014 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2018 ; Rosli et al., 2018 ). Thus, the concept of study skills is different from reading habits. This research defines study skills as secondary school students’ approaches to comprehending new knowledge.

2.3. Reading habits and academic achievement

Horbec (2012) and Singh (2011) determined a significant positive relationship between students’ reading habits and academic achievement. Hence, Issa et al. (2012) explored that students’ reading patterns vary and have a moderately significant influence on academic success, while Bashir and Mattoo (2012) examined that academic performance is dependent on the level of students’ study habits; thus, reading habits influence on future success, which was confirmed by Owusu-Acheaw and Larson (2014) through quantitative measures. Chotitham and Wongwanich (2014) found a moderate positive relationship between students’ study habits and achievement. However, Lawrence (2014) rejected the association between students’ academic achievement and study habits, and Goel (2014) confirmed that study habits do not influence academic performance. Therefore, Schwabe et al. (2015) , Quadir and Chen (2015) concluded through a quantitative correlational study that heavy reading habits significantly impact reading efficiency; the longer the reading time, the better the results. Malik and Parveen (2016) discovered significant differences in low- and high-academic achievers’ attitudes toward study habits. They determined that high achievers are more concentrated and exhibited better study habits, good time management skills, and punctuality compared to low achievers. In the meantime, Sherafat and Murthy (2016) directed that study habits facilitate learners toward higher achievement because of their significant connections with academic achievement. Consequently, Silverrajoo and Hassan (2018) revealed divergent findings that students’ reading methods have a negative and weak relationship with academic achievement.

Ameyaw and Anto (2018) recognized the importance of reading styles in students’ learning and found that reading styles affect students’ performance. Meanwhile, Alzahrani et al. (2018) verified that students’ reading styles significantly impact their performance. Dolmaz and Kaya (2019) discovered that students’ creative writing skills are affected by their reading styles. Moreover, Balan et al. (2019) determined that students’ purpose of reading significantly affected their performance, as Annamalai and Muniandy (2013) suggested that academic performance is based on students’ reading purpose. Hence, Whitten et al. (2016) and Fatiloro et al. (2017) discovered that reading habits significantly assist students in learning and enhancing their performance. Bibi et al. (2020) examined that students’ study habits were significantly positively associated with achievement. Ehsan and Sultana (2020) predicted that reading habits significantly increase students’ performance. Moreover, Hassan et al. (2021) found a significant correlation between secondary school students’ reading habits and their reading achievement and concluded that reading habits significantly contribute to academic achievement. Thus, Nguyen Thi Thu (2022) revealed that reading habits have a significant role in the development of students writing performance.

On the other hand, by designing a correlational study, Tonka and Bakir (2020) found a negative relationship between reading anxiety and reading habits. Thus, they concluded that reading anxiety plays a role in students’ performance and reading habits. Similarly, Alnahdi and Aftab (2020) found a significant negative association between study habits and academic stress, reading habits, and academic achievement. The researchers measured all the variables through a questionnaire consisting of four scales and 43 items.

2.4. Study skills and academic achievement

Nouhi et al. (2009) determined that study skills have a significant positive association with academic success measured through a closed-ended questionnaire confirmed by Awang and Sinnadurai (2011) through an experimental study. Meanwhile, Hassanbeigi et al. (2011) and Sabbah (2016) verified that study skills are critical for academic success because they positively correlate with academic achievement found through a descriptive correlational survey using a study skills scale. Hence, Fazal et al. (2012) suggested that higher academic achievers use a wide range of study skills than low achievers, while there was a weak correlation between study skills and academic success. Furthermore, Demir et al. (2012) revealed through an experimental study that students’ study skills had a considerable influence on performance which was also confirmed by Wernersbach et al. (2014) from an experimental study. In both of the studies, researchers measured study skills through closed-ended items. Moreover, they also discovered that study skills significantly impact students’ academic self-efficacy. Nonetheless, Tahamtani et al. (2017) and Naqvi et al. (2018) revealed a weak negative link between achievement and study habits through quantitative measures that were rejected by Gormley et al. (2018) , who found a significant positive impact of study skills on achievement.

Several gaps were found in already conducted studies; first, the researchers mainly focused on the influence of reading habits and study skills on academic achievement separately in Western countries, while few addressed this phenomenon in Eastern countries. However, the investigation was restricted to university level students. Second, methodological identities lead to dubious findings not confirming this phenomenon. Finally, in Pakistan, few studies could explore reading habits as a singular variable of different groups of students. At the same time, some researchers only examined the relationship between reading habits and academic achievement. Thus, this study aimed to develop our understanding of the relationship between students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English.

2.5. Summary

Reading is an attempt to comprehend the writer’s message for personal growth and success. Thus, psychologists consider it a multifaceted cognitive process of constructing meaning from texts. Bhan and Gupta (2010) stated that reading is the art of decoding and interpreting messages from the content of the written material that is often carried out in magazines, journals, newspapers, books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, pamphlets, diaries, and so on. While reading habits are the degree to which a reader engages in reading while studying skills to gain knowledge. Reading habits assist students in learning more, whereas study skills encourage them to understand new information effectively. Both reading habits and study skills influence students’ academic performance.

Based on literature insights, the following hypotheses are formulated:

Hypothesis (H 1 ): A significant relationship exists between students’ reading habits and their academic achievement in English language comprehension .

Hypothesis (H 2 ): A significant relationship exists between stqudents’ study skills and their academic achievement in English language comprehension.

3.1. Design

A research design is comprised of numerous elements (i.e., research paradigm, research approach, research design, and data collection method that provide guidelines for carrying out the study ( Creswell and Clark, 2017 ; Myers, 2019 ), while a correlational research design is used to determine the relationship between two or more than two variables ( Cohen et al., 2018 ). Thus, a correlational research design of a quantitative approach (positivism paradigm) was used. At the same time, a cross-sectional survey method was applied to collect data about studied variables (i.e., reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English).

3.2. Sample

The sample comprised 10th-grade students enrolled in district Lahore’s public sector high schools for the academic year 2019–2020. The inclusion criteria were those students who enrolled in the science section only. During the data collection, the total number of active students in both sections (i.e., science and arts) of 10th grade was 36,847 enrolled at 334 high schools in district Lahore ( Government of Punjab [GOP], 2019 ). While in the science section, the active students were 17,028, considered an accessible population of this study. A total of 1,800 (900 boys and 900 girls) were selected from 40 high schools through a non-proportionate random sampling technique that was 10.57% of the accessible population, which shows the sample was normally distributed. Out of 1,800 selected students, 1,619 participated as respondents because 181 students had not passed the subject English in the ninth-grade annual examination conducted by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore. Three students declined to participate in this survey, while two could not complete the questionnaires. Therefore, the final sample consisted of n = 1,614 secondary school students.

3.3. Instruments

Two instruments were used, i.e., the Reading Habits Questionnaire (RHQ) and Study Skills Scale (SSS), to collect data about students’ reading habits and study skills.

Reading Habits Questionnaire (RHQ): The researchers developed a paper and pencil student self-report RHQ based on Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the social-cognitive theory of self-regulated learning strategies ( Pintrich et al., 1993 ; Duncan and McKeachie, 2005 ; Duncan et al., 2007 ). Ajzen’s (1991) TPB suggests that socio-psychological characteristics of a person’s behavior, such as reading, influence reader proximal behaviors ( Stokmans, 1999 ; Miesen, 2003 ; Van Schooten et al., 2004 ), while the social-cognitive theory of self-regulating learning strategies suggested that students’ reading habits are meta-cognitively and behaviorally active in a student’s learning process to achieve goals ( Eccles and Wigfield, 2002 ). The classical test theory model was utilized to develop RHQ, which initially consisted of 44 closed-ended items. Each item was constructed on a 5-point Likert-type agreement scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), which means developing level reading habits to advance level reading habits. However, content validity was ensured by five education and assessment experts to validate the content coverage, language appropriateness, and usability of RHQ at the secondary level. Moreover, a pilot study was conducted on 250 students selected purposively from the target population to confirm unidimensionality among items and scales through exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23 software. Four subscales of RHQ (i.e., preferences for reading, interest in reading, attitude toward reading, and reading problems) were constructed during EFA. In contrast, nine items (two to three from each subscale) were deleted because their factor loading values (λ) were less than 0.5. In an analysis of items, reliability was also determined through Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.821) value which was statistically acceptable. Psychometric evidence shows that RHQ was reliable for determining students’ reading habits. Improved RHQ consisted of 35 items based on four subscales, i.e., preferences of reading (10 items), interest in reading (nine items), attitude toward reading (nine items), and reading problems (seven items).

Study Skills Scale (SSS): The researchers adopted the SSS from Academic Competence and Evaluation Scale, developed by DiPerna and Elliott in 2000. The validity, as well as reliability of SSS, was confirmed by numerous researchers ( Kettler et al., 2014 ; Strunk, 2014 ; Anthony and DiPerna, 2018 ) and concluded that SSS is a standardized scale to measure study skills. The SSS consisted of 11 items that were also constructed on a 5-point Likert-type frequency scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (almost always) which means developing level to advance level skills ( DiPerna and Elliott, 2000 ). The SSS was also administered to 250 students to ensure reliability through Cronbach’s alpha tests and found a value of α = 0.874 that was suitable to measure study skills in the local context (Pakistan).

Academic Achievement: Students’ marks obtained in ninth grade in the subject of English were asked them that determined by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore in 2019. Their obtained scores in the subject of English were considered an academic achievement of students.

3.4. Data collection and analysis

After getting consent from the district education administration officer, the researchers personally gained permission from the selected schools’ principals and class teachers for data collection. All the selected students were informed in their classes about the study purpose and given the right to withdraw from the study at any time before data analyses. RHQ and SSS administration occurred over 8 weeks during mid of the September to mid of November 2019 academic year. Before administering the instruments, participants were informed about the confidentiality procedures. Moreover, the researchers encouraged them to respond honestly and told them to write about their obtained marks in ninth grade in English. After collecting the questionnaires, the researchers quickly scanned the participants’ responses about missing answers, and the students were asked to complete the responses in the questionnaire. A total of 1,614 participants provided valuable responses about their reading habits and study skills. The response rate was 89.6%, acceptable in social sciences research for quantitative data. Students’ responses about reading habits and study skills were analyzed by applying descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis) and inferential statistics (i.e., Pearson r test and regression test) through SPSS version 25 software.

4.1. Descriptive statistics on students’ reading habits and study skills

The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to check the normality of data. At the same time, the skewness and kurtosis values indicated that data were normally distributed because skewness and kurtosis were between –2 and + 2, which was suitable for parametric statistics ( George, 2011 ; Albers, 2017 ; Mishra et al., 2019 ). Table 1 indicates that students give more preferences to reading than their attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and reading problems as M = 4.13, SD = 0.486; M = 3.91, SD = 0.616; M = 3.68, SD = 0.676; and M = 3.57, SD = 0.813, respectively. Students also thought they were facing reading problems because English was not their native language as M = 3.68; SD = 0.813. Overall, results revealed that students have permissive and desired reading habits and study skills as M = 3.88, SD = 0.455 and M = 3.85, SD = 0.602.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of reading habits and study skills.

4.2. Inferential statistics on students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English

The Pearson product–moment correlation analysis was applied to test null hypotheses, i.e., whether there are significant relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English.

4.3. Hypotheses testing

Refer to Table 2 for the intercorrelation of variables among reading habits subscales, overall reading habits, and study skills; there were moderate-to-high positive correlations among variables. For reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English, students’ reading habits were significantly and positively correlated as r = 0.314–0.721. A value of r = (±) 0.3–0.7 exhibits a moderate-to-high correlation between variables ( Akoglu, 2018 ; Schober et al., 2018 ). Results also reveal higher positive correlations between reading habits and study skills while moderate positive correlations between reading habits and academic achievement in English as r = 0.848 and 0.584, respectively. Moreover, there was a higher positive correlation between study skills and academic achievement in English as r = 0.721. Thus, it is revealed that students’ reading habits and study skills are positively associated with academic achievement in English.

Table 2. Intercorrelations matrix and relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English.

Since the hypotheses “there is a significant relationship between students’ reading habits and academic achievement in English, and there is a significant relationship between students’ study skills and academic achievement in English” were accepted because moderate-to-strong positive relationships were found among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English.

A regression analysis was conducted to explore whether students’ reading habits and study skills predict academic achievement in English. Students’ reading habits and study skills served as independent variables, while students’ academic achievement in English served as dependent variables. The regression analysis results were significant. The unique individual predictor for students’ academic achievement in English interested in reading and attitude toward reading. These two sub-factors of reading habits significantly predicted 42 and 43% of the variance, respectively.

In contrast, the numeric regression does not considerably reveal the remaining two sub-factors (preferences of reading and reading problems). However, students’ reading habits accounted for 44% of the variance, and study skills accounted for 48% of the variance. Refer to Table 3 for unstandardized betas, standard errors, standardized betas, and adjusted R 2 . The independent variables in these analyses are moderately correlated and predict academic achievement because the variance inflation factor (VIF) estimation was below 5.0 in regression.

Table 3. Summary of regression analyses, with 95% confidence intervals, of students’ reading habits and study skills predicting academic achievement in English.

5. Discussion

Reading habit is a crucial aspect of creating a literate society because it helps to shape personality, develop creative and critical thinking abilities, and enhance knowledge ( Palani, 2012 ; Mansor et al., 2013 ; Fischer et al., 2015 ; Bano et al., 2018 ; Rosli et al., 2018 ; Al-Jarf, 2019 ; Wu et al., 2019 ; Hassan et al., 2021 ). At the same time, study skills are the readers’ strategies to process new information effectively ( Kuterbach, 2012 ; Anthony and DiPerna, 2018 ; Abid et al., 2021 ). Both reading habits and study skills are interdependent and influence students’ academic performance as well as future success ( Demir et al., 2012 ; Wernersbach et al., 2014 ; Tahamtani et al., 2017 ; Alzahrani et al., 2018 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2018 ; Gormley et al., 2018 ; Balan et al., 2019 ; Dolmaz and Kaya, 2019 ; Ehsan and Sultana, 2020 ). Therefore, this study is designed to examine relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement at the secondary level in Lahore, Pakistan. Lahore is one of the cosmopolitan cities of Pakistan and a hub of many cultures, traditions, and customs. Regarding the academic processes and ethics, it provides opportunities for researchers to contextualize the perspectives accordingly. Reading habits have been and are still being taught in schools, colleges, and universities through model reading by teachers, parents, or elders of the families. In addition, the reading and recitation of fold tales and poems get to gathers like at Pak Tea House, Lawrence Garden, Quaid-e-Azam Library, and so on, while formal schools books, extra reading exercises, and reading and writing competitions at the school level are prepared through a variety of book reading within the context of the particular objective. The results of normality tests indicated that the data were normality distributed and suitable to apply parametric statistics. The descriptive findings also showed that students have more preferences for reading than their attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and reading challenges. These results support the finding of numerous researchers (e.g., Pehlivan et al., 2010 ; Mansor et al., 2013 ; Owusu-Acheaw and Larson, 2014 ; Haliru et al., 2015 ; Erguvan, 2016 ; Krashen, 2016 ; Kulatunga, 2016 ; Loan and Shah, 2017 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2018 ; Porkaew and Fongpaiboon, 2018 ; Mirza et al., 2021 ) who found that students give more preference to read academic content from textbooks and other reading materials (i.e., newspaper, storybooks, poetry, novel, magazines, cartoons, comics, sports, etc.). Rasheed (2012) determined that reading habits play a substantial essential role in developing positive attitudes toward reading. However, Maiyo and Siahi (2015) revealed that higher achievers had better reading habits than low achievers. Students prefer reading online because they can easily read content from the internet material in this technological age, so they prefer reading online ( Dollah et al., 2017 ). Thus, Molotja and Themane (2018) found that students’ reading habits may enhance through global reading strategies and problem-solving strategies. Moreover, it is found that students have competence in reading habits and study skills. These results are also in line with the findings of previous studies, e.g., Dadzie (2008) , Ogeyik and Akyay (2009) , Bhan and Gupta (2010) , and Issa et al. (2012) , and Sabbah (2016) revealed that the majority of the students read books to pass the exams that why they have good reading habits. Furthermore, it is determined that students also possess the competence level of study skills that confirmed the study conducted by numerous researchers (i.e., DiPerna, 2004 , 2006 ; Rozalski, 2008 ; Kuterbach, 2012 ; DuPaul and Stoner, 2014 ; Anthony and DiPerna, 2018 ; Abid et al., 2021 ).

Furthermore, researchers also concluded from correlational results that there were moderate-to-significant positive correlations among reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English. In the literature review, it is seen that these findings are consistent with the results of Singh (2011) , Horbec (2012) , Issa et al. (2012) , Sabbah (2016) , Ameyaw and Anto (2018) , Hassan et al. (2021) . They found a positive relationship between reading habits and academic achievement, while reading habits influence students’ academic performance. Moreover, some researchers determined a moderate relationship between reading habits and academic success (e.g., Chotitham and Wongwanich, 2014 ; Kutay, 2014 ; Owusu-Acheaw and Larson, 2014 ; Alzahrani et al., 2018 ; Adigun et al., 2021 ; Nguyen Thi Thu, 2022 ). Sherafat and Murthy (2016) directed that study habits facilitate learners toward higher achievement because of their significant connections with academic achievement, that confirmed by Bibi et al. (2020) . In contrast, few researchers found different results due to participants’ different selection procedures and contextual differences (i.e., purposive sample method, content, reading material, culture, etc.). For example, Lawrence (2014) ; Goel (2014) , Alnahdi and Aftab (2020) revealed no significant correlation between students’ academic achievement and study habits. At the same time, Silverrajoo and Hassan (2018) found that students’ reading styles have a negative, weak relationship with academic achievement. Findings regarding study skills: e.g., Nouhi et al. (2009) , Awang and Sinnadurai (2011) , Hassanbeigi et al. (2011) , Maiyo and Siahi (2015) , Gormley et al. (2018) revealed a significant positive connection between study skills and academic success, whereas Demir et al. (2012) and Wernersbach et al. (2014) found study skills have a considerable influence on performance that support the present study findings. However, few researchers found a negative correlation between study skills and academic performance ( Fazal et al., 2012 ; Tahamtani et al., 2017 ; Naqvi et al., 2018 ). Furthermore, researchers determined in this study students’ reading habits have positive correlations with study skills. Thus, reading habits and study skills directly correlate with their academic achievement in English. In addition, it is also revealed that reading habits and study skills moderately predict students’ academic achievement. Annamalai and Muniandy (2013) suggested that academic performance is based on students’ reading habits. Whitten et al. (2016) and Fatiloro et al. (2017) revealed that reading habits significantly help students learn more to enhance their academic performance. Ehsan and Sultana (2020) predicted that reading habits significantly improve students’ academic performance.

6. Conclusion

Reading habits and study skills differ in conceptual understanding. Reading habits are the degree to which readers regularly read, whereas study skills are the ability to comprehend new information effectively. Both reading and study habits influence students’ academic performance. It is concluded that the collected data were normally distributed. The descriptive findings about reading habit sub-constructs indicated that students give more preferences to reading than their attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and reading problems. Simultaneously, they have competent reading habits and study skills. Furthermore, it is found that there are moderate-to-strong positive correlations among reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English. Thus, it is concluded that reading habits and study skills directly correlate with academic achievement in English. In addition, it is also revealed that reading habits and study skills moderately predict students’ academic achievement.

7. Implications for practice

It is determined that students prefer reading to their attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and challenges and have competent reading habits and study skills. Thus, it is suggested that teachers plan such assignments and tasks based on reflective thinking ( Aslam et al., 2021 ), so students have to visit the school library to read more academic material to accomplish assigned tasks through extensive reading. Students’ reading habits and study skills have a moderate-to-strong connection with their academic achievement in English. So school administrations design a timetable by consulting with teachers, allowing students to spend at least an hour in the library regularly. In contrast, the library should have up-to-date reading material, exciting storybooks, and stock which attract students. In addition, parents can also engage their children in constant reading at home by providing related textbook materials and allowing them to watch educational television programs to gain the essence of reading habits and study skills.

8. Limitations and implications for future research

There are several limitations to this study. First, this study was conducted on secondary school students by selecting a sample from the Lahore district of Punjab, Pakistan. Therefore, future studies may include participants from other districts of Punjab and other provinces of Pakistan to increase the generalizability of results. Second, longitudinal studies are needed to explore the change in students reading habits and study skills over time. To enhance reading habits and study skills, interventional studies may build lifelong reading habits and study skills among learners to make a scholarly society. Last but not least, future researchers may explore parent’s role in developing their children’s reading habits and study skills by selecting participants from diverse populations. Cultural factors would affect students’ reading habits; thus, Pakistan’s unique culture should be considered a potential theoretical explanation in future.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants or their legal guardian/next of kin.

Author contributions

NA presented the main idea and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. SA contributed to conducting the methodology. SA, AA, and TK were involved with the revisions and proofreading. All authors contributed to the article revisions and approved the submitted version.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research at Umm Al-Qura University for supporting this study by Grant Code: 22UQU4280253DSR01.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Abid, N., Ali, R., and Akhter, M. (2021). Exploring gender-based difference towards academic enablers scales among secondary school students of Pakistan. Psychol. Sch. 58, 1380–1398. doi: 10.1002/pits.22538

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Adigun, I. O., Oyewusi, F. O., and Aramide, K. A. (2021). The impact of Covid-19 pandemic lockdown on reading engagement of selected secondary school students in Nigeria. Interdiscip. J. Educ. Res. 3, 45–55. doi: 10.51986/ijer-2021.vol3.01.05

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 50, 179–211. doi: 10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T

Akoglu, H. (2018). User’s guide to correlation coefficients. Turkish J. Emerg. Med. 18, 91–93. doi: 10.1016/j.tjem.2018.08.001

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Albers, M. J. (2017). Introduction to quantitative data analysis in the behavioral and social sciences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, doi: 10.1002/9781119290384

Al-Jarf, R. (2021). Collaborative mobile ebook reading for struggling EFL college readers. IOSR J. Res. Method Educ. 11, 32–42.

Google Scholar

Al-Jarf, R. (2019). Quality in teaching reading to high school students. Eurasian Arabic Stud. 5, 36–62.

Alnahdi, A. S., and Aftab, M. (2020). Academic stress, study habits and academic achievement among university students in Jeddah[Special Issue]. Int. J. Psychosoc. Rehabil. 24, 97–104. doi: 10.37200/IJPR/V24SP1/PR201138

Alzahrani, S. S., Soo Park, Y., and Tekian, A. (2018). Study habits and academic achievement among medical students: A comparison between male and female subjects. Med. Teach. 40, 1–9. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2018.1464650

Ameyaw, S. K., and Anto, S. K. (2018). Read or perish: Reading habits among students and its effect on academic performance: A case study of eastbank senior high school-accra. Libr. Philos. Pract. 1–23. Available online at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1748

Ameyaw, S., and Anto, S. K. (2019). Gender variation in reading habits in schools in Moland: A case study of Asantekwaa SDA Junior High School. Eur. J. Educ. Stud. 6, 250–264. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3473923

Annamalai, S., and Muniandy, B. (2013). Reading habit and attitude among Malaysian polytechnic students. Int. Online J. Educ. Sci. 5, 32–41.

Anthony, C. J., and DiPerna, J. C. (2018). Piloting a short form of the academic competence evaluation scales. Sch. Ment. Health 10, 314–321. doi: 10.1007/s12310-018-9254-7

Aslam, S., Hali, A. U., Zhang, B. H., and Saleem, A. (2021). The Teacher Education Program’s Impact on Preservice Teachers’ Reflective Thinking in Pakistan. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Open, doi: 10.1177/21582440211055724

Awang, M., and Sinnadurai, S. K. (2011). A study on the development of strategic tools in study orientation skills towards achieving academic excellence. J. Lang. Teach. Res. 2, 60–67. doi: 10.4304/jltr.2.1.60-67

Baffoe, G. A., and Okae-Anti, A. (2020). Reading habits of selected communication educators in Ghana. J. Educ. Pract. 11, 45–51.

Bajwa, N., Gujjar, A., Shaheen, G., and Ramzan, M. (2011). A comparative study of the study habits of the students from formal and non-formal systems of education in Pakistan. Int. J. Bus. Soc. Sci. 2, 175–186.

Balan, S., Katenga, J. E., and Simon, A. (2019). Reading habits and their influence on academic achievement among students at Asia pacific international university. Abstr. Proc. Int. Scholars Conf. 7, 1490–1516. doi: 10.35974/isc.v7i1.928

Bano, J., Jabeen, Z., and Qutoshi, S. B. (2018). Perceptions of teachers about the role of parents in developing reading habits of children to improve their academic performance in schools. J. Educ. Educ. Dev. 5, 42–59. doi: 10.22555/joeed.v5i1.1445

Baron, N. S. (2017). Reading in a digital age. Phi Delta Kappan 99, 15–20. doi: 10.1177/003172171773418

Bashir, I., and Mattoo, N. H. (2012). A study on study habits and academic performance among adolescents (14-19) years. Int. J. Soc. Sci. Tomorrow 1, 1–5.

Bhan, K. S., and Gupta, R. (2010). Study habits and academic achievement among the students belonging to scheduled caste and non-scheduled caste group. J. Appl. Res. Educ. 15, 1–9.

Bibi, A., Naseer, N., and Habib, Z. (2020). Study habits of students and academic achievement: A correlational study. Glob. Educ. Stud. Rev. 5, 114–122. doi: 10.31703/gesr.2020(V-III).12

Biyik, M. A., Erdogan, T., and Yildiz, M. (2017). The examining reading motivation of primary students in the terms of some variables. Int. J. Prog. Educ. 13, 31–49.

Chotitham, S., and Wongwanich, S. (2014). The reading attitude measurement for enhancing elementary school students’ achievement. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 116, 3213–3217. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.737

Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education , 8th Edn. Milton Park: Routledge.

Creswell, J. W., and Clark, V. L. P. (2017). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Dadzie, P. S. (2008). Reading for education: The roles of libraries. Ghana Libr. J. 20, 1–14. doi: 10.4314/glj.v20i1.33978

Davarci, N. (2013). An investigation on the evaluation of the relationship between the reading habits of 8th grade elementary school students and their habits of computer-internet usage [Unpublished master thesis]. Nigeria: University of Nigeria.

Demir, S., Kilinc, M., and Dogan, A. (2012). The effect of curriculum for developing efficient studying skills on academic achievements and studying skills of learners. Int. Electron. J. Elem. Educ. 4, 427–440.

Dilshad, M., Adnan, A., and Akram, A. (2013). Gender differences in reading habits of university students: An evidence from Pakistan. Pak. J. Soc. Sci. (PJSS) 33, 311–320.

DiPerna, J. C. (2004). Structural and concurrent validity evidence for the academic competence evaluation scales-college edition. J. Coll. Couns. 7, 64–72. doi: 10.1002/j.2161-1882.2004.tb00260.x

DiPerna, J. C. (2006). Academic enablers and student achievement: Implications for assessment and intervention services in the schools. Psychol. Sch. 43, 7–17. doi: 10.1002/pits.20125

DiPerna, J. C., and Elliott, S. N. (2000). Academic competence evaluation scales. Psychol. Corp. doi: 10.1037/t14965-000

Dollah, W. A. K. W., Fakeh, S. S. K. W., Kamal Rafedzi, E. R., Ibrahim, A., Rahim, H., Masron, M. Z. A., et al. (2017). Inculcating reading habits among secondary school students. J. Sci. Eng. Res. 4, 407–421.

Dolmaz, M., and Kaya, E. (2019). The effect of 7th grade students’ reading habits and their academic achievement in social studies and Turkish courses on their creative writing skills. Int. Online J. Educ. Sci. 11, 168–183. doi: 10.15345/iojes.2019.01.012

Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., Klebanov, P., et al. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Dev. Psychol. 43, 1428–1446. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428

Duncan, T. G., and McKeachie, W. J. (2005). The making of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire. Educ. Psychol. 40, 117–128. doi: 10.1207/s15326985ep4002_6

DuPaul, G. J., and Stoner, G. (2014). ADHD in the schools: Assessment and intervention strategies , 3rd Edn. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Eccles, J. S., and Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Ann. Rev. Psychol. 53, 109–132. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153

Ehsan, T., and Sultana, N. (2020). Predicting the role of study habits in academic achievement: A study of university students in Punjab. Pak. J. Educ. 37, 95–112. doi: 10.30971/pje.v37i1.1410

Erdem, A. (2015). A research on reading habits of university students: Sample of Ankara University and Erciyes University. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 174, 3983–3990. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1145

Erguvan, D. (2016). ’Students’ attitudes towards extensive and intensive reading and ‘instructors’ motivational strategies. Arab World Eng. J. (AWEJ) 7, 136–150.

Farrington, C. A., Roderick, M., Allensworth, E., Nagaoka, J., Keyes, T. S., Johnson, D. W., et al. (2012). Teaching adolescents to become learners. The role of noncognitive factors in shaping school performance: A critical literature review. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research.

Fatiloro, O. F., Adesola, O. A., Hameed, B. A., and Adewumi, O. M. (2017). A survey on the reading habits among colleges of education students in the information age. J. Educ. Pract. 8, 106–110.

Fazal, S., Hussain, S., Majoka, M. I., and Masood, S. (2012). The role of study skills in academic achievement of students: A closer focus on gender. Pak. J. Psychol. Res. 27, 37–51.

Fischer, L., Hilton, J., Robinson, T. J., and Wiley, D. A. (2015). A multi-institutional study of the impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students. J. Comput. High. Educ. 27, 159–172. doi: 10.1007/s12528-015-9101-x

George, D. (2011). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple study guide and reference, 17.0 update , 10th Edn. London: Pearson Education.

Goel, U. (2014). Comparative study of study habits in relation to academic achievement of senior secondary school students. Gyanodaya J. Prog. Educ. 7, 18–25. doi: 10.5958/2229-4422.2014.00004.8

Gormley, M. J., Pinho, T., Pollack, B., Puzino, K., Franklin, M. K., Busch, C., et al. (2018). Impact of study skills and parent education on first-year GPA among college students with and without ADHD: A moderated mediation model. J. Atten. Disord. 22, 334–348. doi: 10.1177/1087054715594422

Government of Punjab [GOP] (2019). Census of school education department. Lahore: Government of Punjab.

Habibu, I., and Ejembi, S. (2011). The role of schools and public libraries in promoting reading habit among children and adolescents in Nigeria. Inf. Knowl. Manag. 1, 33-40.

Haliru, R. A., Abdulkarim, M., Mohammed, A. D., and Dangani, B. U. (2015). An assessment of reading habit among secondary school students in Kaduna metropolis. J. Hum. Soc. Sci. 20, 12–17.

Hassan, I., Latiff Azmi, M. N., Muhamad, S. N., and Abdullah, A. T. H. (2021). Reading habits and their correlation with reading achievement among ESL learners in selected Malaysian secondary schools. Arab World Eng. J. (AWEJ) 12, 385–399. doi: 10.24093/awej/vol12no3.27

Hassanbeigi, A., Askari, J., Nakhjavani, M., Shirkhoda, S., Barzegar, K., Mozayyan, M. R., et al. (2011). The relationship between study skills and academic performance of university students. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 30, 1416–1424. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.276

He, M. (2014). “Extensive reading and students’ academic achievement: A case study,” in Exploring EFL fluency in Asia , eds T. Muller, J. Adamson, P. S. Brown, and S. Herder (Berlin: Springer), 231–243. doi: 10.1057/9781137449405_14

Horbec, D. (2012). The link between reading and academic success. Eng. Aust. 47, 58–67.

Hussain, I., and Munshi, P. (2011). Identifying reading preferences of secondary school students. Creat. Educ. 2, 429–434. doi: 10.4236/ce.2011.25062

Iheakanwa, J. U., Obro, S., and Akpochafo, W. P. (2021). Reading ability, study habits and students’ academic performance in social studies. Libr. Philos. Pract. 1–21. Available online at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5675

Issa, A. O., Aliyu, M. B., Akangbe, R. B., and Adedeji, A. F. (2012). Reading interests and habits of the federal polytechnic, OFFA, students. Int. J. Learn. Dev. 2, 470–486. doi: 10.5296/ijld.v2i1.1470

Kettler, R. J., Elliott, S. N., DiPerna, J. C., Bolt, D. M., Reiser, D., and Resurreccion, L. (2014). Student and teacher ratings of academic competence: An examination of cross-informant agreement. J. Appl. Sch. Psychol. 30, 338–354. doi: 10.1080/15377903.2014.950442

Krashen, S. (2016). “Compelling reading and problem-solving: The easy way (and the only way) to high levels of language, literacy, and life competence,” in Proceedings of the epoch making in english language teaching and learning twenty-fifth international symposium on english teaching, english teachers , Taipei, 115–125.

Kulatunga, R. K. (2016). A study on understanding the reading habits and library usage of under graduate students (2007/2008 batch) of Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Badulla: Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka.

Kutay, V. (2014). A survey of the reading habits of Turkish high school students and an examination of the efforts to encourage them to read [Doctoral dissertation]. Loughborough: Loughborough University.

Kuterbach, J. M. (2012). A model of academic enablers and academic performance among postsecondary learners [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Pennsylvania: Penn State University.

Lawrence, A. S. (2014). Relationship between study habits and academic achievement of higher secondary school students. Online Submission 4, 143–145. doi: 10.15373/2249555X/June2014/43

Loan, F. A., and Shah, R. (2017). Survey of the literature reading habits and preferences of adolescents: A study of a public school in India. Libr. Inform. Sci. Res. Electron. J. 27, 80–96.

Madhavi, S., Naidu, S., Krishnaveni, A., and Kiran, P. (2014). Study skills assessment among medical undergraduates-where they stand. J. Dent. Med. Sci. 13, 16–19. doi: 10.9790/0853-131031619

Maiyo, J., and Siahi, E. A. (2015). Study of the relationship between study habits and academic achievement of students: A case of Spicer Higher Secondary School, India. Int. J. Educ. Admin. Pol. Stud. 7, 134–141. doi: 10.5897/IJEAPS2015.0404

Malik, M., and Parveen, N. (2016). Study habits and academic achievement: A comparative analysis of the high and low academic achievers. Bahria J. Prof. Psychol. 15, 46–54.

Mansor, A. N., Rasul, M. S., Abd Rauf, R. A., and Koh, B. L. (2013). Developing and sustaining reading habit among teenagers. Asia Pac. Educ. Res. 22, 357–365. doi: 10.1007/s40299-012-0017-1

Miesen, H. W. J. M. (2003). Predicting and explaining literary reading: An application of the theory of planned behavior. Poetics 31, 189–212. doi: 10.1016/S0304-422X(03)00030-5

Mirza, Q., Pathan, H., Khatoon, S., and Hassan, A. (2021). Digital age and reading habits: Empirical evidence from Pakistani Engineering University. TESOL Int. J. 16, 210–231.

Mishra, P., Pandey, C. M., Singh, U., Gupta, A., Sahu, C., and Keshri, A. (2019). Descriptive statistics and normality tests for statistical data. Ann. Card. Anaesth. 22, 67–72. doi: 10.4103/aca.ACA_157_18

Molotja, T. W., and Themane, M. (2018). Enhancing learners’ reading habits through reading bags at secondary schools. Read. Writ. 9, 1–9. doi: 10.4102/rw.v9i1.185

Myers, M. D. (2019). Qualitative research in business and management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Naqvi, S., Chikwa, G., Menon, U., and Al Kharusi, D. (2018). Study skills assessment among undergraduate students at a private university college in Oman. Mediterr. J. Soc. Sci. 9, 139–147. doi: 10.2478/mjss-2018-0034

Nguyen Thi Thu, H. (2022). The effects of reading habits on writing performance: A case study at Van Lang University. Int. J. TESOL Educ. 2, 105–133. doi: 10.54855/ijte.22247

Nouhi, E., Shakoori, A., and Nakhei, N. (2009). Study habits and skills, and academic achievement of students in Kerman University of medical sciences. J. Med. Educ. 12, 77–80. doi: 10.22037/jme.v1213,4.1249

Ogeyik, M. C., and Akyay, E. (2009). Investigating reading habits and preferences of student teachers at foreign language departments. Int. J. Lang. Soc. Cult. 28, 72–78.

Owusu-Acheaw, M., and Larson, A. G. (2014). Reading habits among students and its effect on academic performance: A study of students of Koforidua polytechnic. Libr. Philos. Pract. 1, 1–22.

Oyewole, O. (2017). Impact of poor reading culture among selected secondary school students in Owo local government area of Ondo state, Nigeria. Dev. Country Stud. 7, 88–101.

Palani, K. K. (2012). Promoting reading habits and creating a literate society. J. Arts Sci. Commerce 3, 90–94.

Pehlivan, A., Serin, O., and Serin, N. B. (2010). Determining reading interests and habits of candidate teachers (TRNC Sample). Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 9, 869–873. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.251

Pillai, S. K. (2012). An empirical study on study habits of X standard students in Nagarkovil district. Res. Expo Int. Multidiscip. Res. J. 2, 15–27.

Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D. A., Garcia, T., and McKeachie, W. J. (1993). Reliability and predictive validity of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Educ. Psychol. Meas. 53, 801–813. doi: 10.1177/0013164493053003024

Porkaew, K., and Fongpaiboon, A. (2018). Effects of extensive reading on Thai tertiary ‘students’ reading attitudes. Arab World Eng. J. (AWEJ) 9, 207–219. doi: 10.24093/awej/vol9no1.15

Pretorius, E. J., and Klapwijk, N. M. (2016). Reading comprehension in South African schools: Are teachers getting it, and getting it right? Per Linguam 32, 1–20. doi: 10.5785/32-1-627

Quadir, B., and Chen, N. S. (2015). The effects of reading and writing habits on learning performance in a blog learning environment. Asia Pac. Educ. Res. 24, 635–644. doi: 10.1007/s40299-014-0210-5

Rasheed, S. (2012). ’ Children’s reading habits: A study of Lahore city. Pak. J. Inform. Manag. Libr. 5, 412–437.

Rosli, N. A., Razali, N. F., Zamil, Z. U. A., Noor, S. N. F. M., and Baharuddin, M. F. (2018). The determination of reading habits among students: A concept. Int. J. Acad. Res. Bus. Soc. Sci. 7, 791–798. doi: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i12/3710

Rozalski, M. E. (2008). Practice, practice, practice: How to improve students’ study skills. Beyond Behav. 17, 17–23.

Sabbah, S. (2016). The effect of study habits on English language achievement. Arab World Eng. J. (AWEJ) 7, 238–257.

Schober, P., Boer, C., and Schwarte, L. A. (2018). Correlation coefficients: appropriate use and interpretation. Anesth. Analg. 126, 1763–1768. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000002864

Schwabe, F., McElvany, N., and Trendtel, M. (2015). The school age gender gap in reading achievement: Examining the influences of item format and intrinsic reading motivation. Read. Res. Q. 50, 219–232. doi: 10.1002/rrq.92

Shahidi, F., Dowlatkhah, H. R., Avand, A., Musavi, S. R., and Mohammadi, E. (2014). A study on the quality of study skills of newly-admitted students of Fasa University of Medical Sciences. J. Adv. Med. Educ. Prof. 2, 45–50.

Sherafat, R., and Murthy, C. V. (2016). A study of study habits and academic achievement among secondary and senior secondary school students of Mysore city. Int. J. Indian Psychol. 3, 161–170. doi: 10.25215/0302.055

Silverrajoo, P., and Hassan, A. (2018). Relationship between study habits and academic achievement among health science students. Int. J. Acad. Res. Bus. Soc. Sci. 8, 763–780. doi: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v8-i7/4418

Singh, Y. G. (2011). Academic achievement and study habits of higher secondary students. Int. Ref. Res. J. 3, 27–42.

Stokmans, M. J. W. (1999). Reading attitude and its effect on leisure time reading. Poetics 26, 245–261. doi: 10.1016/S0304-422X(99)00005-4

Strunk, T. A. (2014). An exploration of the relationships between academic enablers and middle school achievement [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Pennsylvania: Penn State University.

Tahamtani, T., Jalil, K., Hosseini, M., and SoltaniArabshahi, K. (2017). Correlation of study habits with academic achievement among students attending the national medical science Olympiad. J. Adv. Med. Educ. 3, 19–23.

Thamarasseri, I. (2018). Cognitive styles, study habits and academic achievement of students of Central University of Kashmir. Stud. Home and Commun. Sci. 12, 9–20. doi: 10.31901/24566780.2018/12.1-2.335

Tonka, H., and Bakir, S. (2020). The examination of the relationship between the secondary school students’ habit of reading and their reading anxiety. J. Educ. Issues 6, 293–313. doi: 10.5296/jei.v6i1.16986

Van Schooten, E., De Glopper, K., and Stoel, R. D. (2004). Development of attitude toward reading adolescent literature and literary reading behavior. Poetics 32, 343–386. doi: 10.1016/j.poetic.2004.07.001

Walia, P. K., and Sinha, N. (2014). Changing trend in reading habits of teenagers in Delhi: An impact assessment of demographic and environmental variables. Libr Rev. 63, 125–137. doi: 10.1108/LR-03-2013-0038

Wernersbach, B. M., Crowley, S. L., Bates, S. C., and Rosenthal, C. (2014). Study skills course impact on academic self-efficacy. J. Dev. Educ. 37, 14–33.

Whitten, C., Labby, S., and Sullivan, S. L. (2016). The impact of pleasure reading on academic success. J. Multidiscip. Grad. Res. 2, 48–64.

Winne, P. H. (2013). “Learning strategies, study skills, and self-regulated learning in postsecondary education,” in Higher education: Handbook of theory and research , ed. M. Paulsen (Berlin: Springer), 377–403. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-5836-0_8

Wu, L., Valcke, M., and Van Keer, H. (2019). Factors associated with reading comprehension of secondary school students. Educ. Sci. Theory Pract. 19, 34–47. doi: 10.12738/estp.2019.4.003

Keywords : reading, reading habits, study skills, academic achievement, secondary school students

Citation: Abid N, Aslam S, Alghamdi AA and Kumar T (2023) Relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English at the secondary level. Front. Psychol. 14:1020269. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1020269

Received: 16 August 2022; Accepted: 09 January 2023; Published: 27 January 2023.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2023 Abid, Aslam, Alghamdi and Kumar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

• Latest Latest
• The West The West
• Sports Sports
• Opinion Opinion
• Magazine Magazine

Reading paper books leads to better text comprehension — but how?

Overall, research has found reading physical books more beneficial than reading e-books.

By Eva Terry

In December 2023, the University of Valencia published research showing that reading paper books results in six to eight times better comprehension than reading e-books. Over 450,000 people participated in the study.

Cristina Vargas and Ladislao Salmerón from the Educational Psychology department explained in a University of Valencia newsletter, “If a student spends 10 hours reading books on paper, their comprehension will probably be 6 to 8 times greater than if they read on digital devices for the same amount of time.”

While it may seem counterintuitive, researching online had “minimal associations with text comprehension.” The research also showed that text comprehension increases across all demographics with age.

Teenagers who read paper books are much more likely to have academic success compared to their peers who don’t, according to a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development .

The study added that regardless of socioeconomic background, teenagers who “most often read paper books” scored nearly 50 points above non-readers on the PISA (international testing) across 30 countries. This higher score is equivalent to “almost 2.5 years of learning.”

Is it better to read paper books?

A study published in the Educational Research Review in 2018 found three reasons why comprehension is better when reading paper books.

1. Paper books provide a better time frame for comprehension

The study explained, “The paper-based reading advantage increased in time-constrained reading compared to self-paced reading.”

Reading for the purpose of comprehension comes in virtually any form: studying for exams, researching for work, looking for information on medical, mental or social issues, and more.

Paper books are better for this type of time-constrained comprehension, as they limit distractions and cognitive overload, offer tangibility and spatial awareness, and allow for pen-and-paper annotations.

The internet’s close proximity to reading e-books makes staying focused difficult. Notifications and pop-up ads pull the reader away from their reading. Even if these distractions are only temporary, their influence is harmful to text comprehension.

Harvard Business Review conducted a study on how much time the average American spends toggling between tabs and apps and how task-switching influences the brain and productivity. When measuring how long toggling took the average user, researchers found one switch took slightly over two seconds. They also found that “the average user in the dataset toggled between different apps and websites nearly 1,200 times each day.”

In one day, each participant spent roughly four hours simply switching tasks, and over the course of a year, HBR predicted this would be equivalent to five work weeks.

2. It’s harder to get distracted when you read a physical book

Paper books make it harder for websites to lure you in and distract you from the content your brain is working to comprehend.

Not only do e-books make the user more prone to task-switching, e-book reading itself is less thorough.

“Screen-based reading behavior is characterized by more time spent on browsing and scanning, keyword spotting, one-time reading, non-linear reading, and reading more selectively,” Ziming Liu, a professor of library and information science at San Jose University , explained.

World Book Day: Innovations digitize reading habits in the new age

Readers at Taohuayuan Branch of Songpo Library in Shaoyang City, central China's Hunan Province. /CFP

Fueled by advancements in technology and promotion by e-commerce giants, a surge in digital reading in China made it a preferred format for many readers, according to a national reading report released on this year's World Book and Copyright Day (April 23), which falls on Tuesday.

In China's Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and Vision 2035, it is noted that the country will further promote nationwide reading to build a nation of avid readers.

The 2023 national reading survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication shows Chinese adults per capita read on average 4.75 physical books in 2023, slightly lower than that of 4.78 in 2022.

China's adult citizens read a per-capita average of 3.4 digital books in 2023, higher than that of 3.33 in 2022. Meanwhile, 78.3 percent of Chinese adults read digitally either online or via apps on smart mobile devices in 2023, up 0.5 percentage points from the 77.8 percent in 2022.

According to a report released by the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association in late 2023, the total revenue of China's online novel industry reached 31.78 billion yuan (about $4.47 billion) in 2022, up 18.94 percent year on year, with its overseas revenue accounting for 4.06 billion yuan during that period, an increase of 39.87 percent year on year.

Chinese online literary works have been translated into more than 20 languages, covering over 40 countries and regions in Southeast Asia, North America, Europe and Africa, the report said.

Tech-driven digital transformation

"As more and more content is obtained digitally, 'digital publishing' represents the process of publishing content to digital media in a wider sense," said Luo Zhenyu, founder of the online learning app iGet, adding that digital "content" represents all information that can be digitized, not only text but also design, content distribution platforms and technologies used in the publishing process.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has developed a comprehensive digital reading "eco-system," including its reading app, electronic reading gadgets and audio e-books. The company has also issued a list of classified reading groups based on customers' online purchase behaviors. Reading groups contain titles such as elite moms, gourmets, queens, elderly youth, photographers and sophisticated uncles.

The electronic reading system at a local library in Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 23, 2024. /CFP

"Digital media can promote sales based on analysis of audience behaviors and interests," said Shen Hao, a researcher with the State Key Laboratory of Media Convergence and Communication and professor of the School of Journalism of the Communication University of China.

Shen said that, unlike publishers of physical books, digital media uses big data technology to manage customers' registration, log-in, reading, content sharing and commenting. All of the data records can be tracked and analyzed. Shen added that blockchain technology will soon be applied in the digital content publishing industry. He also noted that many jobs in traditional publishing organizations, such as copyright management and content production processes, will be replaced by AI technology, which helps check fraud and reduce intermediary links.

Nowadays, classic books are more accessible to the public thanks to modern technology. The National Library of China released the Yongle Canon HD Images Database last year, enabling the public to study the great ancient encyclopedia "Yongle Dadian," which was commissioned by the Chinese Ming Dynasty Emperor Yongle in 1403.

Based on high-definition images, the database adopts both GIS and three-dimensional restoration techniques to vividly display the binding and layout of the encyclopedia. By using digital technology, ancient classics like this are better preserved for study and reading by the public and experts alike.

With all the aforementioned efforts, China is now taking great strides in cultivating a love of reading across the country.

A bookstore in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, April 23, 2024. /CFP

Reading bridges China and world

Moreover, online novels with distinctive Chinese features, characterized by imaginative story plots and a strong sense of immersion, have emerged as important ways for cross-cultural communication.

On Douyin, China's most popular video-sharing platform, a program dedicated to exploring essential science books has gained millions of views and attracted nearly 90,000 loyal viewers in just two years. Every week, esteemed scientists and scholars are invited to appear on the program to share their insights on science books ranging from Euclid's "Elements" to Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" and Hawking's "A Brief History of Time."

Program planner Wu Guosheng said that his only goals were to ignite public interest in science and foster the participation of both scientists and the public. "We do not encourage people to engage with classic science books for academic purposes, but rather to make the experience of reading about science captivating, enlightening and rewarding," said Wu, who is also dean of the Department of the History of Science at Tsinghua University. He and his team have promoted nearly 100 classic science books on social media since 2022.

The popularity of science literature is also being boosted by China's rapid sci-tech development. Recent advancements in biomedicine, aerospace, astronomy, artificial intelligence and information technology have sparked waves of public enthusiasm for science and injected new vitality into the publication and marketing of science books, said Xu Guoqiang, deputy editor-in-chief of the World Publishing Company.

Bangladeshi writer Yazia has read more than 40 web novels with traditional Chinese elements. "Reading makes me better understand the romanticism and heroism in Chinese history and mythological stories, and brings me spiritual strength," she said.

The growing presence of Chinese online literature in overseas markets offers a new worldwide lens into understanding China, said Xiao Jinghong, a researcher at the online literature center of the China Writers Association. "Today's world is more eager than ever to have a true, multi-dimensional and panoramic view of China," Xiao said.

Through web novels, overseas readers could learn more about Chinese cultural elements and core values such as diligence, harmony and cooperation, as well as realize the different cultural origins and ways of thinking between China and the West, she added.

(With input from Xinhua)

• Learn Chinese

EXPLORE MORE

DOWNLOAD OUR APP

Copyright © 2024 CGTN. 京ICP备20000184号

Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466

• Terms of use
• Privacy policy

How many books does the average person read a year?

Nearly six in 10 (57%) Americans have bought or read a book based solely on its cover, new research suggests.

A survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that surprisingly, a whopping 96% of those who did so said the book largely met their expectations.

Two-thirds (67%) also admitted they only read books that have been adapted into movies or TV shows.

Overall, the average person reads eight books a month, totaling almost 100 books a year.

However, eight in 10 (80%) admitted to avoiding a book because of its outward appearance.

The top reasons? The book cover looked too plain (61%), used a title font that wasn’t likable (56%), featured art that didn’t match the genre (52%) or used the movie poster of the book’s film adaptation (49%).

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of ThriftBooks , the research also found which elements make the best book covers.

People noted a detailed illustration is important (53%), as is an image of the story’s setting (53%). Other callouts were a compelling color palette (50%) and an image of the protagonist (47%).

Respondents shared their favorite covers of the books they’ve read, including “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, “Misery” by Stephen King, “Harry Potter” by J. K. Rowling, the “Twilight” series by Stephanie Meyer, “Fifty Shades of Gray” by E. L. James, and books by Danielle Steel.

When it comes to the winter holidays, over half (53%) regularly give books as gifts to others.

The top genres for gifted books include romance (47%), fantasy (45%), comedy (40%), sci-fi (39%) and history (39%).

Surprisingly, though, the biggest factors that influence what type of books people buy as gifts are their presence on a well-known bestseller list (44%), social media buzz (29%) and the cover (29%) — much more so than genre (10%) or even the author (9%).

“Books make for a great holiday gift, no matter the recipient,” said a spokesperson for ThriftBooks. “From classic favorites and book-to-movie adaptations to short or long stories, there are as many books to choose from as there are types of readers, making it easy to find something for everyone on your list this holiday season.”

Additionally, the survey uncovered the different habits of day and night readers.

If you consider yourself an avid reader, you most likely read during the day rather than at night (88% vs. 69%).

Among day readers, nearly two-thirds (65%) attribute their preference to avoiding nightmares based on their reading material, while over half (52%) want to escape to another place during the day.

Day readers are also more likely than night readers to prefer to read while surrounded by others (49% vs. 36%).

Nighttime reading may have its advantages, though. Fifty-six percent of those who read at night said it helps them get better shuteye, and 55% noted it helps them fall asleep faster.

“Our research shows that sometimes, readers can tap into their experience to correctly predict whether they’ll like a book based on its cover alone,” the spokesperson added. “Although readers differ in how and when they enjoy their favorites, they all find ways to enhance their daily lives through reading.”

BOOKS WITH THE BEST COVERS

• “Misery” by Stephen King
• “Harry Potter” by J. K. Rowling
• The “Twilight” series
• “Fifty Shades of Gray” by E. L. James
• Books by Danielle Steel
• “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
• “The Pilot’s Wife” by Anita Shreve
• “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
• “Ball Four” by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
• “Goals” by Brian Tracy
• “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
• “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult
• “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt
• “Legends and Lattes” by Travis Baldree

– The average respondent reads 8.28 books a month x 12 months = 99.36 books a year

Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 general population Americans was commissioned by ThriftBooks between Oct. 10 and Oct. 17, 2023. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll , whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research ( AAPOR ) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research ( ESOMAR ).

The post How many books does the average person read a year? appeared first on Talker .

Don't break the bank with your reading habit: Here's where to buy cheap books near you

Have you caught the reading bug from BookTok ? Looking to check out a viral series ? Getting into reading is all fun and games until you realize new releases can run you about $30 a hardcover. 

But you don’t have to ask for a raise to finance your reading habits – there are many online platforms dedicated to making reading an accessible and even free experience. Libraries are a go-to, but there are also options for those who want to own a physical copy to build up their bookshelf.

Where to buy cheap books

The art of low-cost book buying lies in the unexpected gems. You might find a book you’ve been dying to read with a cover that's a little worse for wear or a cheap read you’ve never heard of. Searching for inexpensive books can be a great way to expand your reading palate.

Get into the habit of checking out sale sections as well. Many bookstores have a discount table or sell used books for only a few dollars. 

Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist

Buy cheap books online

While you can find cheap, used books on Amazon or eBay, you may also have luck at e-commerce platforms that specialize in low-cost books. Check out one of these sites to make your next read a steal:

• ThriftBooks
• Better World Books
• Half Price Books
• Awesome Books
• Book Outlet

Swap books with another reader

Why not kill two birds with one stone? You can donate a book and get a new one with a trusty book swap, either through friends or at an online retailer like Paperback Swap or Book Mooch .

Check for local sales

Some libraries raise funds by selling second-hand books. Find the closest public library to you using this U.S. map created with data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and ask your librarian if they have a "for sale" table.

Independent bookstores may let you trade your old books for store credit that you can use to snag a new one. Thrift stores and consignment shops also typically sell used books.

Another place to scour is Facebook Marketplace. You never know who is doing a closet cleanout and wants to get rid of their old books for a few dollars. 

How to read books for free

You don’t have to shell out any money to become well-read – a library card is all you need to unlock a world of literature. Start by visiting your local library . You typically only need proof of address to apply for a library card.

Little Free Library’s take-a-book, leave-a-book model is also a great place for finding new free books. These outdoor pop-up hutches are all over the country. Check out Little Free Library’s map of registered libraries across the U.S. to find one near you.

You can also try e-reading. The Libby app lets readers borrow e-books, digital audiobooks and magazines with your library card.

Audiobooks are another low-cost way to access books and popular platforms like Audible , Libro.fm , B&N Audiobooks and Audiobooks.com let you listen at your leisure with a monthly subscription fee. Spotify recently unveiled a new audiobook program as well where eligible Spotify premium subscribers can enjoy 15 hours of monthly listening from over 200,000 audiobooks.

Where to donate books

You can donate books at many of the same locations where you purchase or borrow them, like libraries, donation centers, bookstores and community centers. If you’re doing some spring cleaning, check out USA TODAY’s comprehensive guide to donating and selling your books .

Keep up with the reading trends: How to find book recommendations on BookTok

Just Curious for more? We've got you covered.

USA TODAY is exploring the questions you and others ask every day. From "How to play Solitaire" to "What is my love language?" to "Do dogs smile?" – we're striving to find answers to the most common questions you ask every day. Head to our Just Curious section to see what else we can answer for you. 

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Front Psychol

Relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English at the secondary level

1 Department of Education, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

Sarfraz Aslam

2 Faculty of Education and Humanities, UNITAR International University, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Abdulelah A. Alghamdi

3 Faculty of Education, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Tribhuwan Kumar

4 Department of English Language and Literature, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia

Associated Data

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Introduction

Reading is an attempt to comprehend the writer’s message for personal growth and success in the relevant fields. Thus, psychologists consider it a multifaceted cognitive process of constructing meanings from texts. The present study was conducted to determine the relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English at the secondary level in Punjab, Pakistan.

The ( n = 1614) students enrolled in the science section for the academic year 2019–2020 participated in this descriptive correlational survey, selected from 40 high schools in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, through a non-proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The Reading Habits Questionnaire (RHQ) and the Study Skills Scale (SSS) were used to collect data about students’ reading habits and study skills. At the same time, academic achievement was the students’ grades obtained in the ninth class in the subject of English that were determined by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore in 2019. Students’ responses were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics.

The results indicated that students have competent reading habits and study skills. The correlational findings showed a strong positive relationship among reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English, while moderate positive relationships between reading habits and academic achievement in English. However, regression analysis results were significant, while reading habits and study skills moderately predicted academic achievement.

It is implicated that teachers should plan such assignments and tasks based on reflective thinking by considering the role of study skills in academic achievement. Moreover, teachers and school administrators could mutually create timetables for library lessons to build reading habits and study skills among learners.

1. Introduction

Knowledge gained through reading is vital for the cognitive, behavioral, and attitudinal development of learners ( He, 2014 ; Baffoe and Okae-Anti, 2020 ; Hassan et al., 2021 ) because it is a person’s ability to enhance information and comprehend the words effectively ( Sabbah, 2016 ; Al-Jarf, 2019 ). An individual reads for numerous reasons, i.e., knowledge development, recreation, joy, relaxation, and so on ( Whitten et al., 2016 ). However, Erguvan (2016) and Mirza et al. (2021) directed that reading is an active part of life that is not just about pleasure when needed. However, Chotitham and Wongwanich (2014) conjectured that reading helps to develop critical and judgmental thinking abilities used to solve problems by conceptualizing context. Hence, Erdem (2015) and Pretorius and Klapwijk (2016) quantified that reading is essential to success because it starts from the commencement of school and continues throughout the lifetime.

Fischer et al. (2015) , Oyewole (2017) , Al-Jarf (2019) recognized that the importance of reading in learning could not be ignored because it is an emancipatory tool that releases students’ academic frustration, ignorance, and destitution. Palani (2012) distinguished that reading is an instrument used to exchange information, while reading habit is an academic activity that enables students to benefit from reading materials. Therefore, Walia and Sinha (2014) specified that reading habits require complex skills, such as perceiving a message, skimming and scanning information, and understanding the context. Thus, compelling reading depends on readers’ behaviors, known as study skills that enable them to conceptualize the new knowledge effectively ( DiPerna and Elliott, 2000 ; Habibu and Ejembi, 2011 ; Gormley et al., 2018 ; Naqvi et al., 2018 ; Iheakanwa et al., 2021 ). While the effective study makes one narrate in their way using the stipulated meanings of the words and terms, the researchers take up for explanation and clarity ( Biyik et al., 2017 ).

According to the available literature, students’ reading habits and study skills have been of great importance for decades; while several deficiencies were found in previous studies, thus researchers considered few of them that are related to the study context. First, the researchers mainly focused on the influence of reading habits and study skills on academic achievement separately in Western countries ( Bhan and Gupta, 2010 ; Sabbah, 2016 ). A few addressed Eastern countries restricted to the university level ( Demir et al., 2012 ; Davarci, 2013 ; Dilshad et al., 2013 ; Erguvan, 2016 ; Alzahrani et al., 2018 ; Porkaew and Fongpaiboon, 2018 ; Thamarasseri, 2018 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2019 ; Ehsan and Sultana, 2020 ; Tonka and Bakir, 2020 ; Mirza et al., 2021 ; Nguyen Thi Thu, 2022 ). However, students’ reading habits and study skills may be initiated from the school level enabling the individuals to grow in competence, comfort, and understanding of the audience. At the same time, previous researchers focused on university level students’ reading habits. Second, there are methodological identities that lead to dubious findings not confirming the influence of reading habits and study skills on academic achievement ( Goel, 2014 ; Lawrence, 2014 ; Quadir and Chen, 2015 ; Sherafat and Murthy, 2016 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2018 ; Silverrajoo and Hassan, 2018 ; Balan et al., 2019 ; Hassan et al., 2021 ). In general, there is a scarcity of research aiming to determine the correlation between students’ reading habits and achievement through the role of study skills at any academic level. Finally, in Pakistan, few studies could explore reading habits as a singular variable of different groups of students ( Bajwa et al., 2011 ; Hussain and Munshi, 2011 ; Rasheed, 2012 ). Numerous researchers only examined the relationship between reading habits and academic achievement ( Bashir and Mattoo, 2012 ; Bibi et al., 2020 ; Ehsan and Sultana, 2020 ). Moreover, Fazal et al. (2012) only investigated the association between study skills and achievement. Thus, this research examines the relationship among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English as practiced at the secondary level in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.

Lahore is the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province. In terms of population, this is the second largest city in Pakistan. It is located in the northeastern part of Pakistan’s Punjab province. Lahore is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Pakistan and is home to various cultures, traditions, and customs. Specifically, it provides researchers with opportunities to contextualize perspectives in light of academic processes and ethics.

2. Literature review

2.1. reading habits.

Rosli et al. (2018) suggested that reading is an attempt to comprehend the writer’s message, while Alnahdi and Aftab (2020) stated that it is a gateway to all other information, which may lead to understanding the world outside the text. Hence, Al-Jarf (2021) and Dadzie (2008) asserted that reading is a multifaceted cognitive process of comprehending words written in a textual form that allows readers to enhance their knowledge for personal growth and academic success. Moreover, Ogeyik and Akyay (2009) ; Erguvan (2016) , Mirza et al. (2021) stated that reading is just a method of communication between the writer and the reader. Thus, Bhan and Gupta (2010) and Baron (2017) assumed that reading is the art of decoding and interpreting messages from various written materials such as books, magazines, journals, newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopedias, pamphlets, and diaries. Hassan et al. (2021) stated that reading habits influence reading materials, activities, time duration, place of reading, and reader motivation. In this study, reading habits are considered to be the students’ reading preferences, interest in reading, attitude toward reading, and reading problems during study at the secondary level.

2.2. Study skills

Study skills are the readers’ inclination toward organizing, highlighting, reviewing, reciting, and using devices, flashcards, etc. to comprehend new knowledge effectively ( DiPerna and Elliott, 2000 ; DiPerna, 2006 ; Rozalski, 2008 ; Madhavi et al., 2014 ; Sabbah, 2016 ). While reading habit is the frequency, a reader regularly reads ( Winne, 2013 ). Moreover, study skills are the students’ intellectual practices to process new information effectively and efficiently, while reading habits are considered a psychological trait of one’s personality ( Farrington et al., 2012 ; Pillai, 2012 ; Mansor et al., 2013 ; Shahidi et al., 2014 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2018 ; Rosli et al., 2018 ). Thus, the concept of study skills is different from reading habits. This research defines study skills as secondary school students’ approaches to comprehending new knowledge.

2.3. Reading habits and academic achievement

Horbec (2012) and Singh (2011) determined a significant positive relationship between students’ reading habits and academic achievement. Hence, Issa et al. (2012) explored that students’ reading patterns vary and have a moderately significant influence on academic success, while Bashir and Mattoo (2012) examined that academic performance is dependent on the level of students’ study habits; thus, reading habits influence on future success, which was confirmed by Owusu-Acheaw and Larson (2014) through quantitative measures. Chotitham and Wongwanich (2014) found a moderate positive relationship between students’ study habits and achievement. However, Lawrence (2014) rejected the association between students’ academic achievement and study habits, and Goel (2014) confirmed that study habits do not influence academic performance. Therefore, Schwabe et al. (2015) , Quadir and Chen (2015) concluded through a quantitative correlational study that heavy reading habits significantly impact reading efficiency; the longer the reading time, the better the results. Malik and Parveen (2016) discovered significant differences in low- and high-academic achievers’ attitudes toward study habits. They determined that high achievers are more concentrated and exhibited better study habits, good time management skills, and punctuality compared to low achievers. In the meantime, Sherafat and Murthy (2016) directed that study habits facilitate learners toward higher achievement because of their significant connections with academic achievement. Consequently, Silverrajoo and Hassan (2018) revealed divergent findings that students’ reading methods have a negative and weak relationship with academic achievement.

Ameyaw and Anto (2018) recognized the importance of reading styles in students’ learning and found that reading styles affect students’ performance. Meanwhile, Alzahrani et al. (2018) verified that students’ reading styles significantly impact their performance. Dolmaz and Kaya (2019) discovered that students’ creative writing skills are affected by their reading styles. Moreover, Balan et al. (2019) determined that students’ purpose of reading significantly affected their performance, as Annamalai and Muniandy (2013) suggested that academic performance is based on students’ reading purpose. Hence, Whitten et al. (2016) and Fatiloro et al. (2017) discovered that reading habits significantly assist students in learning and enhancing their performance. Bibi et al. (2020) examined that students’ study habits were significantly positively associated with achievement. Ehsan and Sultana (2020) predicted that reading habits significantly increase students’ performance. Moreover, Hassan et al. (2021) found a significant correlation between secondary school students’ reading habits and their reading achievement and concluded that reading habits significantly contribute to academic achievement. Thus, Nguyen Thi Thu (2022) revealed that reading habits have a significant role in the development of students writing performance.

On the other hand, by designing a correlational study, Tonka and Bakir (2020) found a negative relationship between reading anxiety and reading habits. Thus, they concluded that reading anxiety plays a role in students’ performance and reading habits. Similarly, Alnahdi and Aftab (2020) found a significant negative association between study habits and academic stress, reading habits, and academic achievement. The researchers measured all the variables through a questionnaire consisting of four scales and 43 items.

2.4. Study skills and academic achievement

Nouhi et al. (2009) determined that study skills have a significant positive association with academic success measured through a closed-ended questionnaire confirmed by Awang and Sinnadurai (2011) through an experimental study. Meanwhile, Hassanbeigi et al. (2011) and Sabbah (2016) verified that study skills are critical for academic success because they positively correlate with academic achievement found through a descriptive correlational survey using a study skills scale. Hence, Fazal et al. (2012) suggested that higher academic achievers use a wide range of study skills than low achievers, while there was a weak correlation between study skills and academic success. Furthermore, Demir et al. (2012) revealed through an experimental study that students’ study skills had a considerable influence on performance which was also confirmed by Wernersbach et al. (2014) from an experimental study. In both of the studies, researchers measured study skills through closed-ended items. Moreover, they also discovered that study skills significantly impact students’ academic self-efficacy. Nonetheless, Tahamtani et al. (2017) and Naqvi et al. (2018) revealed a weak negative link between achievement and study habits through quantitative measures that were rejected by Gormley et al. (2018) , who found a significant positive impact of study skills on achievement.

Several gaps were found in already conducted studies; first, the researchers mainly focused on the influence of reading habits and study skills on academic achievement separately in Western countries, while few addressed this phenomenon in Eastern countries. However, the investigation was restricted to university level students. Second, methodological identities lead to dubious findings not confirming this phenomenon. Finally, in Pakistan, few studies could explore reading habits as a singular variable of different groups of students. At the same time, some researchers only examined the relationship between reading habits and academic achievement. Thus, this study aimed to develop our understanding of the relationship between students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English.

2.5. Summary

Reading is an attempt to comprehend the writer’s message for personal growth and success. Thus, psychologists consider it a multifaceted cognitive process of constructing meaning from texts. Bhan and Gupta (2010) stated that reading is the art of decoding and interpreting messages from the content of the written material that is often carried out in magazines, journals, newspapers, books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, pamphlets, diaries, and so on. While reading habits are the degree to which a reader engages in reading while studying skills to gain knowledge. Reading habits assist students in learning more, whereas study skills encourage them to understand new information effectively. Both reading habits and study skills influence students’ academic performance.

Based on literature insights, the following hypotheses are formulated:

Hypothesis (H 1 ): A significant relationship exists between students’ reading habits and their academic achievement in English language comprehension .

Hypothesis (H 2 ): A significant relationship exists between stqudents’ study skills and their academic achievement in English language comprehension.

3.1. Design

A research design is comprised of numerous elements (i.e., research paradigm, research approach, research design, and data collection method that provide guidelines for carrying out the study ( Creswell and Clark, 2017 ; Myers, 2019 ), while a correlational research design is used to determine the relationship between two or more than two variables ( Cohen et al., 2018 ). Thus, a correlational research design of a quantitative approach (positivism paradigm) was used. At the same time, a cross-sectional survey method was applied to collect data about studied variables (i.e., reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English).

3.2. Sample

The sample comprised 10th-grade students enrolled in district Lahore’s public sector high schools for the academic year 2019–2020. The inclusion criteria were those students who enrolled in the science section only. During the data collection, the total number of active students in both sections (i.e., science and arts) of 10th grade was 36,847 enrolled at 334 high schools in district Lahore ( Government of Punjab [GOP], 2019 ). While in the science section, the active students were 17,028, considered an accessible population of this study. A total of 1,800 (900 boys and 900 girls) were selected from 40 high schools through a non-proportionate random sampling technique that was 10.57% of the accessible population, which shows the sample was normally distributed. Out of 1,800 selected students, 1,619 participated as respondents because 181 students had not passed the subject English in the ninth-grade annual examination conducted by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore. Three students declined to participate in this survey, while two could not complete the questionnaires. Therefore, the final sample consisted of n = 1,614 secondary school students.

3.3. Instruments

Two instruments were used, i.e., the Reading Habits Questionnaire (RHQ) and Study Skills Scale (SSS), to collect data about students’ reading habits and study skills.

Reading Habits Questionnaire (RHQ): The researchers developed a paper and pencil student self-report RHQ based on Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the social-cognitive theory of self-regulated learning strategies ( Pintrich et al., 1993 ; Duncan and McKeachie, 2005 ; Duncan et al., 2007 ). Ajzen’s (1991) TPB suggests that socio-psychological characteristics of a person’s behavior, such as reading, influence reader proximal behaviors ( Stokmans, 1999 ; Miesen, 2003 ; Van Schooten et al., 2004 ), while the social-cognitive theory of self-regulating learning strategies suggested that students’ reading habits are meta-cognitively and behaviorally active in a student’s learning process to achieve goals ( Eccles and Wigfield, 2002 ). The classical test theory model was utilized to develop RHQ, which initially consisted of 44 closed-ended items. Each item was constructed on a 5-point Likert-type agreement scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), which means developing level reading habits to advance level reading habits. However, content validity was ensured by five education and assessment experts to validate the content coverage, language appropriateness, and usability of RHQ at the secondary level. Moreover, a pilot study was conducted on 250 students selected purposively from the target population to confirm unidimensionality among items and scales through exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23 software. Four subscales of RHQ (i.e., preferences for reading, interest in reading, attitude toward reading, and reading problems) were constructed during EFA. In contrast, nine items (two to three from each subscale) were deleted because their factor loading values (λ) were less than 0.5. In an analysis of items, reliability was also determined through Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.821) value which was statistically acceptable. Psychometric evidence shows that RHQ was reliable for determining students’ reading habits. Improved RHQ consisted of 35 items based on four subscales, i.e., preferences of reading (10 items), interest in reading (nine items), attitude toward reading (nine items), and reading problems (seven items).

Study Skills Scale (SSS): The researchers adopted the SSS from Academic Competence and Evaluation Scale, developed by DiPerna and Elliott in 2000. The validity, as well as reliability of SSS, was confirmed by numerous researchers ( Kettler et al., 2014 ; Strunk, 2014 ; Anthony and DiPerna, 2018 ) and concluded that SSS is a standardized scale to measure study skills. The SSS consisted of 11 items that were also constructed on a 5-point Likert-type frequency scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (almost always) which means developing level to advance level skills ( DiPerna and Elliott, 2000 ). The SSS was also administered to 250 students to ensure reliability through Cronbach’s alpha tests and found a value of α = 0.874 that was suitable to measure study skills in the local context (Pakistan).

Academic Achievement: Students’ marks obtained in ninth grade in the subject of English were asked them that determined by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore in 2019. Their obtained scores in the subject of English were considered an academic achievement of students.

3.4. Data collection and analysis

After getting consent from the district education administration officer, the researchers personally gained permission from the selected schools’ principals and class teachers for data collection. All the selected students were informed in their classes about the study purpose and given the right to withdraw from the study at any time before data analyses. RHQ and SSS administration occurred over 8 weeks during mid of the September to mid of November 2019 academic year. Before administering the instruments, participants were informed about the confidentiality procedures. Moreover, the researchers encouraged them to respond honestly and told them to write about their obtained marks in ninth grade in English. After collecting the questionnaires, the researchers quickly scanned the participants’ responses about missing answers, and the students were asked to complete the responses in the questionnaire. A total of 1,614 participants provided valuable responses about their reading habits and study skills. The response rate was 89.6%, acceptable in social sciences research for quantitative data. Students’ responses about reading habits and study skills were analyzed by applying descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis) and inferential statistics (i.e., Pearson r test and regression test) through SPSS version 25 software.

4.1. Descriptive statistics on students’ reading habits and study skills

The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to check the normality of data. At the same time, the skewness and kurtosis values indicated that data were normally distributed because skewness and kurtosis were between –2 and + 2, which was suitable for parametric statistics ( George, 2011 ; Albers, 2017 ; Mishra et al., 2019 ). Table 1 indicates that students give more preferences to reading than their attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and reading problems as M = 4.13, SD = 0.486; M = 3.91, SD = 0.616; M = 3.68, SD = 0.676; and M = 3.57, SD = 0.813, respectively. Students also thought they were facing reading problems because English was not their native language as M = 3.68; SD = 0.813. Overall, results revealed that students have permissive and desired reading habits and study skills as M = 3.88, SD = 0.455 and M = 3.85, SD = 0.602.

Descriptive statistics of reading habits and study skills.

4.2. Inferential statistics on students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English

The Pearson product–moment correlation analysis was applied to test null hypotheses, i.e., whether there are significant relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English.

4.3. Hypotheses testing

Refer to Table 2 for the intercorrelation of variables among reading habits subscales, overall reading habits, and study skills; there were moderate-to-high positive correlations among variables. For reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English, students’ reading habits were significantly and positively correlated as r = 0.314–0.721. A value of r = (±) 0.3–0.7 exhibits a moderate-to-high correlation between variables ( Akoglu, 2018 ; Schober et al., 2018 ). Results also reveal higher positive correlations between reading habits and study skills while moderate positive correlations between reading habits and academic achievement in English as r = 0.848 and 0.584, respectively. Moreover, there was a higher positive correlation between study skills and academic achievement in English as r = 0.721. Thus, it is revealed that students’ reading habits and study skills are positively associated with academic achievement in English.

Intercorrelations matrix and relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English.

PR, preferences of reading; IR, interest in reading; AR, attitude toward reading; RP, reading problems; RHT, reading habits total score; SS, study skills; AAE, academic achievement in English; N , 1614; and **correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Since the hypotheses “there is a significant relationship between students’ reading habits and academic achievement in English, and there is a significant relationship between students’ study skills and academic achievement in English” were accepted because moderate-to-strong positive relationships were found among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English.

A regression analysis was conducted to explore whether students’ reading habits and study skills predict academic achievement in English. Students’ reading habits and study skills served as independent variables, while students’ academic achievement in English served as dependent variables. The regression analysis results were significant. The unique individual predictor for students’ academic achievement in English interested in reading and attitude toward reading. These two sub-factors of reading habits significantly predicted 42 and 43% of the variance, respectively.

In contrast, the numeric regression does not considerably reveal the remaining two sub-factors (preferences of reading and reading problems). However, students’ reading habits accounted for 44% of the variance, and study skills accounted for 48% of the variance. Refer to Table 3 for unstandardized betas, standard errors, standardized betas, and adjusted R 2 . The independent variables in these analyses are moderately correlated and predict academic achievement because the variance inflation factor (VIF) estimation was below 5.0 in regression.

Summary of regression analyses, with 95% confidence intervals, of students’ reading habits and study skills predicting academic achievement in English.

PR, preferences of reading; IR, interest in reading; AR, attitude toward reading; RP, reading problems; RHT, reading habits total score; SS, study skills; AAE, academic achievement in English; and ** p < 0.001.

5. Discussion

Reading habit is a crucial aspect of creating a literate society because it helps to shape personality, develop creative and critical thinking abilities, and enhance knowledge ( Palani, 2012 ; Mansor et al., 2013 ; Fischer et al., 2015 ; Bano et al., 2018 ; Rosli et al., 2018 ; Al-Jarf, 2019 ; Wu et al., 2019 ; Hassan et al., 2021 ). At the same time, study skills are the readers’ strategies to process new information effectively ( Kuterbach, 2012 ; Anthony and DiPerna, 2018 ; Abid et al., 2021 ). Both reading habits and study skills are interdependent and influence students’ academic performance as well as future success ( Demir et al., 2012 ; Wernersbach et al., 2014 ; Tahamtani et al., 2017 ; Alzahrani et al., 2018 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2018 ; Gormley et al., 2018 ; Balan et al., 2019 ; Dolmaz and Kaya, 2019 ; Ehsan and Sultana, 2020 ). Therefore, this study is designed to examine relationships among students’ reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement at the secondary level in Lahore, Pakistan. Lahore is one of the cosmopolitan cities of Pakistan and a hub of many cultures, traditions, and customs. Regarding the academic processes and ethics, it provides opportunities for researchers to contextualize the perspectives accordingly. Reading habits have been and are still being taught in schools, colleges, and universities through model reading by teachers, parents, or elders of the families. In addition, the reading and recitation of fold tales and poems get to gathers like at Pak Tea House, Lawrence Garden, Quaid-e-Azam Library, and so on, while formal schools books, extra reading exercises, and reading and writing competitions at the school level are prepared through a variety of book reading within the context of the particular objective. The results of normality tests indicated that the data were normality distributed and suitable to apply parametric statistics. The descriptive findings also showed that students have more preferences for reading than their attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and reading challenges. These results support the finding of numerous researchers (e.g., Pehlivan et al., 2010 ; Mansor et al., 2013 ; Owusu-Acheaw and Larson, 2014 ; Haliru et al., 2015 ; Erguvan, 2016 ; Krashen, 2016 ; Kulatunga, 2016 ; Loan and Shah, 2017 ; Ameyaw and Anto, 2018 ; Porkaew and Fongpaiboon, 2018 ; Mirza et al., 2021 ) who found that students give more preference to read academic content from textbooks and other reading materials (i.e., newspaper, storybooks, poetry, novel, magazines, cartoons, comics, sports, etc.). Rasheed (2012) determined that reading habits play a substantial essential role in developing positive attitudes toward reading. However, Maiyo and Siahi (2015) revealed that higher achievers had better reading habits than low achievers. Students prefer reading online because they can easily read content from the internet material in this technological age, so they prefer reading online ( Dollah et al., 2017 ). Thus, Molotja and Themane (2018) found that students’ reading habits may enhance through global reading strategies and problem-solving strategies. Moreover, it is found that students have competence in reading habits and study skills. These results are also in line with the findings of previous studies, e.g., Dadzie (2008) , Ogeyik and Akyay (2009) , Bhan and Gupta (2010) , and Issa et al. (2012) , and Sabbah (2016) revealed that the majority of the students read books to pass the exams that why they have good reading habits. Furthermore, it is determined that students also possess the competence level of study skills that confirmed the study conducted by numerous researchers (i.e., DiPerna, 2004 , 2006 ; Rozalski, 2008 ; Kuterbach, 2012 ; DuPaul and Stoner, 2014 ; Anthony and DiPerna, 2018 ; Abid et al., 2021 ).

Furthermore, researchers also concluded from correlational results that there were moderate-to-significant positive correlations among reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English. In the literature review, it is seen that these findings are consistent with the results of Singh (2011) , Horbec (2012) , Issa et al. (2012) , Sabbah (2016) , Ameyaw and Anto (2018) , Hassan et al. (2021) . They found a positive relationship between reading habits and academic achievement, while reading habits influence students’ academic performance. Moreover, some researchers determined a moderate relationship between reading habits and academic success (e.g., Chotitham and Wongwanich, 2014 ; Kutay, 2014 ; Owusu-Acheaw and Larson, 2014 ; Alzahrani et al., 2018 ; Adigun et al., 2021 ; Nguyen Thi Thu, 2022 ). Sherafat and Murthy (2016) directed that study habits facilitate learners toward higher achievement because of their significant connections with academic achievement, that confirmed by Bibi et al. (2020) . In contrast, few researchers found different results due to participants’ different selection procedures and contextual differences (i.e., purposive sample method, content, reading material, culture, etc.). For example, Lawrence (2014) ; Goel (2014) , Alnahdi and Aftab (2020) revealed no significant correlation between students’ academic achievement and study habits. At the same time, Silverrajoo and Hassan (2018) found that students’ reading styles have a negative, weak relationship with academic achievement. Findings regarding study skills: e.g., Nouhi et al. (2009) , Awang and Sinnadurai (2011) , Hassanbeigi et al. (2011) , Maiyo and Siahi (2015) , Gormley et al. (2018) revealed a significant positive connection between study skills and academic success, whereas Demir et al. (2012) and Wernersbach et al. (2014) found study skills have a considerable influence on performance that support the present study findings. However, few researchers found a negative correlation between study skills and academic performance ( Fazal et al., 2012 ; Tahamtani et al., 2017 ; Naqvi et al., 2018 ). Furthermore, researchers determined in this study students’ reading habits have positive correlations with study skills. Thus, reading habits and study skills directly correlate with their academic achievement in English. In addition, it is also revealed that reading habits and study skills moderately predict students’ academic achievement. Annamalai and Muniandy (2013) suggested that academic performance is based on students’ reading habits. Whitten et al. (2016) and Fatiloro et al. (2017) revealed that reading habits significantly help students learn more to enhance their academic performance. Ehsan and Sultana (2020) predicted that reading habits significantly improve students’ academic performance.

6. Conclusion

Reading habits and study skills differ in conceptual understanding. Reading habits are the degree to which readers regularly read, whereas study skills are the ability to comprehend new information effectively. Both reading and study habits influence students’ academic performance. It is concluded that the collected data were normally distributed. The descriptive findings about reading habit sub-constructs indicated that students give more preferences to reading than their attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and reading problems. Simultaneously, they have competent reading habits and study skills. Furthermore, it is found that there are moderate-to-strong positive correlations among reading habits, study skills, and academic achievement in English. Thus, it is concluded that reading habits and study skills directly correlate with academic achievement in English. In addition, it is also revealed that reading habits and study skills moderately predict students’ academic achievement.

7. Implications for practice

It is determined that students prefer reading to their attitude toward reading, interest in reading, and challenges and have competent reading habits and study skills. Thus, it is suggested that teachers plan such assignments and tasks based on reflective thinking ( Aslam et al., 2021 ), so students have to visit the school library to read more academic material to accomplish assigned tasks through extensive reading. Students’ reading habits and study skills have a moderate-to-strong connection with their academic achievement in English. So school administrations design a timetable by consulting with teachers, allowing students to spend at least an hour in the library regularly. In contrast, the library should have up-to-date reading material, exciting storybooks, and stock which attract students. In addition, parents can also engage their children in constant reading at home by providing related textbook materials and allowing them to watch educational television programs to gain the essence of reading habits and study skills.

8. Limitations and implications for future research

There are several limitations to this study. First, this study was conducted on secondary school students by selecting a sample from the Lahore district of Punjab, Pakistan. Therefore, future studies may include participants from other districts of Punjab and other provinces of Pakistan to increase the generalizability of results. Second, longitudinal studies are needed to explore the change in students reading habits and study skills over time. To enhance reading habits and study skills, interventional studies may build lifelong reading habits and study skills among learners to make a scholarly society. Last but not least, future researchers may explore parent’s role in developing their children’s reading habits and study skills by selecting participants from diverse populations. Cultural factors would affect students’ reading habits; thus, Pakistan’s unique culture should be considered a potential theoretical explanation in future.

Data availability statement

Ethics statement.

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants or their legal guardian/next of kin.

Author contributions

NA presented the main idea and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. SA contributed to conducting the methodology. SA, AA, and TK were involved with the revisions and proofreading. All authors contributed to the article revisions and approved the submitted version.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research at Umm Al-Qura University for supporting this study by Grant Code: 22UQU4280253DSR01.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

• Abid N., Ali R., Akhter M. (2021). Exploring gender-based difference towards academic enablers scales among secondary school students of Pakistan. Psychol. Sch. 58 1380–1398. 10.1002/pits.22538 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Adigun I. O., Oyewusi F. O., Aramide K. A. (2021). The impact of Covid-19 pandemic lockdown on reading engagement of selected secondary school students in Nigeria. Interdiscip. J. Educ. Res. 3 45–55. 10.51986/ijer-2021.vol3.01.05 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ajzen I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 50 179–211. 10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Akoglu H. (2018). User’s guide to correlation coefficients. Turkish J. Emerg. Med. 18 91–93. 10.1016/j.tjem.2018.08.001 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Albers M. J. (2017). Introduction to quantitative data analysis in the behavioral and social sciences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 10.1002/9781119290384 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Al-Jarf R. (2021). Collaborative mobile ebook reading for struggling EFL college readers. IOSR J. Res. Method Educ. 11 32–42. [ Google Scholar ]
• Al-Jarf R. (2019). Quality in teaching reading to high school students. Eurasian Arabic Stud. 5 36–62. [ Google Scholar ]
• Alnahdi A. S., Aftab M. (2020). Academic stress, study habits and academic achievement among university students in Jeddah[Special Issue]. Int. J. Psychosoc. Rehabil. 24 97–104. 10.37200/IJPR/V24SP1/PR201138 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Alzahrani S. S., Soo Park Y., Tekian A. (2018). Study habits and academic achievement among medical students: A comparison between male and female subjects. Med. Teach. 40 1–9. 10.1080/0142159X.2018.1464650 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ameyaw S. K., Anto S. K. (2018). Read or perish: Reading habits among students and its effect on academic performance: A case study of eastbank senior high school-accra. Libr. Philos. Pract. 1–23. Available online at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1748 [ Google Scholar ]
• Ameyaw S., Anto S. K. (2019). Gender variation in reading habits in schools in Moland: A case study of Asantekwaa SDA Junior High School. Eur. J. Educ. Stud. 6 250–264. 10.5281/zenodo.3473923 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Annamalai S., Muniandy B. (2013). Reading habit and attitude among Malaysian polytechnic students. Int. Online J. Educ. Sci. 5 32–41. [ Google Scholar ]
• Anthony C. J., DiPerna J. C. (2018). Piloting a short form of the academic competence evaluation scales. Sch. Ment. Health 10 314–321. 10.1007/s12310-018-9254-7 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Aslam S., Hali A. U., Zhang B. H., Saleem A. (2021). The Teacher Education Program’s Impact on Preservice Teachers’ Reflective Thinking in Pakistan. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Open, 10.1177/21582440211055724 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Awang M., Sinnadurai S. K. (2011). A study on the development of strategic tools in study orientation skills towards achieving academic excellence. J. Lang. Teach. Res. 2 60–67. 10.4304/jltr.2.1.60-67 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Baffoe G. A., Okae-Anti A. (2020). Reading habits of selected communication educators in Ghana. J. Educ. Pract. 11 45–51. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bajwa N., Gujjar A., Shaheen G., Ramzan M. (2011). A comparative study of the study habits of the students from formal and non-formal systems of education in Pakistan. Int. J. Bus. Soc. Sci. 2 175–186. [ Google Scholar ]
• Balan S., Katenga J. E., Simon A. (2019). Reading habits and their influence on academic achievement among students at Asia pacific international university. Abstr. Proc. Int. Scholars Conf. 7 1490–1516. 10.35974/isc.v7i1.928 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bano J., Jabeen Z., Qutoshi S. B. (2018). Perceptions of teachers about the role of parents in developing reading habits of children to improve their academic performance in schools. J. Educ. Educ. Dev. 5 42–59. 10.22555/joeed.v5i1.1445 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Baron N. S. (2017). Reading in a digital age. Phi Delta Kappan 99 15–20. 10.1177/003172171773418 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bashir I., Mattoo N. H. (2012). A study on study habits and academic performance among adolescents (14-19) years. Int. J. Soc. Sci. Tomorrow 1 1–5. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bhan K. S., Gupta R. (2010). Study habits and academic achievement among the students belonging to scheduled caste and non-scheduled caste group. J. Appl. Res. Educ. 15 1–9. [ Google Scholar ]
• Bibi A., Naseer N., Habib Z. (2020). Study habits of students and academic achievement: A correlational study. Glob. Educ. Stud. Rev. 5 114–122. 10.31703/gesr.2020(V-III).12 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Biyik M. A., Erdogan T., Yildiz M. (2017). The examining reading motivation of primary students in the terms of some variables. Int. J. Prog. Educ. 13 31–49. [ Google Scholar ]
• Chotitham S., Wongwanich S. (2014). The reading attitude measurement for enhancing elementary school students’ achievement. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 116 3213–3217. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.737 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Cohen L., Manion L., Morrison K. (2018). Research methods in education , 8th Edn. Milton Park: Routledge. [ Google Scholar ]
• Creswell J. W., Clark V. L. P. (2017). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dadzie P. S. (2008). Reading for education: The roles of libraries. Ghana Libr. J. 20 1–14. 10.4314/glj.v20i1.33978 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Davarci N. (2013). An investigation on the evaluation of the relationship between the reading habits of 8th grade elementary school students and their habits of computer-internet usage [Unpublished master thesis]. Nigeria: University of Nigeria. [ Google Scholar ]
• Demir S., Kilinc M., Dogan A. (2012). The effect of curriculum for developing efficient studying skills on academic achievements and studying skills of learners. Int. Electron. J. Elem. Educ. 4 427–440. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dilshad M., Adnan A., Akram A. (2013). Gender differences in reading habits of university students: An evidence from Pakistan. Pak. J. Soc. Sci. (PJSS) 33 311–320. [ Google Scholar ]
• DiPerna J. C. (2004). Structural and concurrent validity evidence for the academic competence evaluation scales-college edition. J. Coll. Couns. 7 64–72. 10.1002/j.2161-1882.2004.tb00260.x [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• DiPerna J. C. (2006). Academic enablers and student achievement: Implications for assessment and intervention services in the schools. Psychol. Sch. 43 7–17. 10.1002/pits.20125 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• DiPerna J. C., Elliott S. N. (2000). Academic competence evaluation scales. Psychol. Corp. 10.1037/t14965-000 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Dollah W. A. K. W., Fakeh S. S. K. W., Kamal Rafedzi E. R., Ibrahim A., Rahim H., Masron M. Z. A., et al. (2017). Inculcating reading habits among secondary school students. J. Sci. Eng. Res. 4 407–421. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dolmaz M., Kaya E. (2019). The effect of 7th grade students’ reading habits and their academic achievement in social studies and Turkish courses on their creative writing skills. Int. Online J. Educ. Sci. 11 168–183. 10.15345/iojes.2019.01.012 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan G. J., Dowsett C. J., Claessens A., Magnuson K., Huston A. C., Klebanov P., et al. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Dev. Psychol. 43 1428–1446. 10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Duncan T. G., McKeachie W. J. (2005). The making of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire. Educ. Psychol. 40 117–128. 10.1207/s15326985ep4002_6 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• DuPaul G. J., Stoner G. (2014). ADHD in the schools: Assessment and intervention strategies , 3rd Edn. New York, NY: Guilford Press. [ Google Scholar ]
• Eccles J. S., Wigfield A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Ann. Rev. Psychol. 53 109–132. 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ehsan T., Sultana N. (2020). Predicting the role of study habits in academic achievement: A study of university students in Punjab. Pak. J. Educ. 37 95–112. 10.30971/pje.v37i1.1410 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Erdem A. (2015). A research on reading habits of university students: Sample of Ankara University and Erciyes University. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 174 3983–3990. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1145 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Erguvan D. (2016). ’Students’ attitudes towards extensive and intensive reading and ‘instructors’ motivational strategies. Arab World Eng. J. (AWEJ) 7 136–150. [ Google Scholar ]
• Farrington C. A., Roderick M., Allensworth E., Nagaoka J., Keyes T. S., Johnson D. W., et al. (2012). Teaching adolescents to become learners. The role of noncognitive factors in shaping school performance: A critical literature review. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research. [ Google Scholar ]
• Fatiloro O. F., Adesola O. A., Hameed B. A., Adewumi O. M. (2017). A survey on the reading habits among colleges of education students in the information age. J. Educ. Pract. 8 106–110. [ Google Scholar ]
• Fazal S., Hussain S., Majoka M. I., Masood S. (2012). The role of study skills in academic achievement of students: A closer focus on gender. Pak. J. Psychol. Res. 27 37–51. [ Google Scholar ]
• Fischer L., Hilton J., Robinson T. J., Wiley D. A. (2015). A multi-institutional study of the impact of open textbook adoption on the learning outcomes of post-secondary students. J. Comput. High. Educ. 27 159–172. 10.1007/s12528-015-9101-x [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• George D. (2011). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple study guide and reference, 17.0 update , 10th Edn. London: Pearson Education. [ Google Scholar ]
• Goel U. (2014). Comparative study of study habits in relation to academic achievement of senior secondary school students. Gyanodaya J. Prog. Educ. 7 18–25. 10.5958/2229-4422.2014.00004.8 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gormley M. J., Pinho T., Pollack B., Puzino K., Franklin M. K., Busch C., et al. (2018). Impact of study skills and parent education on first-year GPA among college students with and without ADHD: A moderated mediation model. J. Atten. Disord. 22 334–348. 10.1177/1087054715594422 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Government of Punjab [GOP] (2019). Census of school education department. Lahore: Government of Punjab. [ Google Scholar ]
• Habibu I., Ejembi S. (2011). The role of schools and public libraries in promoting reading habit among children and adolescents in Nigeria. Inf. Knowl. Manag. 1 33-40. [ Google Scholar ]
• Haliru R. A., Abdulkarim M., Mohammed A. D., Dangani B. U. (2015). An assessment of reading habit among secondary school students in Kaduna metropolis. J. Hum. Soc. Sci. 20 12–17. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hassan I., Latiff Azmi M. N., Muhamad S. N., Abdullah A. T. H. (2021). Reading habits and their correlation with reading achievement among ESL learners in selected Malaysian secondary schools. Arab World Eng. J. (AWEJ) 12 385–399. 10.24093/awej/vol12no3.27 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hassanbeigi A., Askari J., Nakhjavani M., Shirkhoda S., Barzegar K., Mozayyan M. R., et al. (2011). The relationship between study skills and academic performance of university students. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 30 1416–1424. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.276 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• He M. (2014). “ Extensive reading and students’ academic achievement: A case study ,” in Exploring EFL fluency in Asia , eds Muller T., Adamson J., Brown P. S., Herder S. (Berlin: Springer; ), 231–243. 10.1057/9781137449405_14 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Horbec D. (2012). The link between reading and academic success. Eng. Aust. 47 58–67. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hussain I., Munshi P. (2011). Identifying reading preferences of secondary school students. Creat. Educ. 2 429–434. 10.4236/ce.2011.25062 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Iheakanwa J. U., Obro S., Akpochafo W. P. (2021). Reading ability, study habits and students’ academic performance in social studies. Libr. Philos. Pract. 1–21. Available online at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5675 [ Google Scholar ]
• Issa A. O., Aliyu M. B., Akangbe R. B., Adedeji A. F. (2012). Reading interests and habits of the federal polytechnic, OFFA, students. Int. J. Learn. Dev. 2 470–486. 10.5296/ijld.v2i1.1470 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kettler R. J., Elliott S. N., DiPerna J. C., Bolt D. M., Reiser D., Resurreccion L. (2014). Student and teacher ratings of academic competence: An examination of cross-informant agreement. J. Appl. Sch. Psychol. 30 338–354. 10.1080/15377903.2014.950442 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Krashen S. (2016). “ Compelling reading and problem-solving: The easy way (and the only way) to high levels of language, literacy, and life competence ,” in Proceedings of the epoch making in english language teaching and learning twenty-fifth international symposium on english teaching, english teachers , Taipei, 115–125. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kulatunga R. K. (2016). A study on understanding the reading habits and library usage of under graduate students (2007/2008 batch) of Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Badulla: Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kutay V. (2014). A survey of the reading habits of Turkish high school students and an examination of the efforts to encourage them to read [Doctoral dissertation]. Loughborough: Loughborough University. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kuterbach J. M. (2012). A model of academic enablers and academic performance among postsecondary learners [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Pennsylvania: Penn State University. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lawrence A. S. (2014). Relationship between study habits and academic achievement of higher secondary school students. Online Submission 4 143–145. 10.15373/2249555X/June2014/43 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Loan F. A., Shah R. (2017). Survey of the literature reading habits and preferences of adolescents: A study of a public school in India. Libr. Inform. Sci. Res. Electron. J. 27 80–96. [ Google Scholar ]
• Madhavi S., Naidu S., Krishnaveni A., Kiran P. (2014). Study skills assessment among medical undergraduates-where they stand. J. Dent. Med. Sci. 13 16–19. 10.9790/0853-131031619 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Maiyo J., Siahi E. A. (2015). Study of the relationship between study habits and academic achievement of students: A case of Spicer Higher Secondary School, India. Int. J. Educ. Admin. Pol. Stud. 7 134–141. 10.5897/IJEAPS2015.0404 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Malik M., Parveen N. (2016). Study habits and academic achievement: A comparative analysis of the high and low academic achievers. Bahria J. Prof. Psychol. 15 46–54. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mansor A. N., Rasul M. S., Abd Rauf R. A., Koh B. L. (2013). Developing and sustaining reading habit among teenagers. Asia Pac. Educ. Res. 22 357–365. 10.1007/s40299-012-0017-1 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Miesen H. W. J. M. (2003). Predicting and explaining literary reading: An application of the theory of planned behavior. Poetics 31 189–212. 10.1016/S0304-422X(03)00030-5 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mirza Q., Pathan H., Khatoon S., Hassan A. (2021). Digital age and reading habits: Empirical evidence from Pakistani Engineering University. TESOL Int. J. 16 210–231. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mishra P., Pandey C. M., Singh U., Gupta A., Sahu C., Keshri A. (2019). Descriptive statistics and normality tests for statistical data. Ann. Card. Anaesth. 22 67–72. 10.4103/aca.ACA_157_18 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Molotja T. W., Themane M. (2018). Enhancing learners’ reading habits through reading bags at secondary schools. Read. Writ. 9 1–9. 10.4102/rw.v9i1.185 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Myers M. D. (2019). Qualitative research in business and management. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [ Google Scholar ]
• Naqvi S., Chikwa G., Menon U., Al Kharusi D. (2018). Study skills assessment among undergraduate students at a private university college in Oman. Mediterr. J. Soc. Sci. 9 139–147. 10.2478/mjss-2018-0034 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Nguyen Thi Thu H. (2022). The effects of reading habits on writing performance: A case study at Van Lang University. Int. J. TESOL Educ. 2 105–133. 10.54855/ijte.22247 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Nouhi E., Shakoori A., Nakhei N. (2009). Study habits and skills, and academic achievement of students in Kerman University of medical sciences. J. Med. Educ. 12 77–80. 10.22037/jme.v1213,4.1249 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Ogeyik M. C., Akyay E. (2009). Investigating reading habits and preferences of student teachers at foreign language departments. Int. J. Lang. Soc. Cult. 28 72–78. [ Google Scholar ]
• Owusu-Acheaw M., Larson A. G. (2014). Reading habits among students and its effect on academic performance: A study of students of Koforidua polytechnic. Libr. Philos. Pract. 1 1–22. [ Google Scholar ]
• Oyewole O. (2017). Impact of poor reading culture among selected secondary school students in Owo local government area of Ondo state, Nigeria. Dev. Country Stud. 7 88–101. [ Google Scholar ]
• Palani K. K. (2012). Promoting reading habits and creating a literate society. J. Arts Sci. Commerce 3 90–94. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pehlivan A., Serin O., Serin N. B. (2010). Determining reading interests and habits of candidate teachers (TRNC Sample). Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 9 869–873. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.251 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pillai S. K. (2012). An empirical study on study habits of X standard students in Nagarkovil district. Res. Expo Int. Multidiscip. Res. J. 2 15–27. [ Google Scholar ]
• Pintrich P. R., Smith D. A., Garcia T., McKeachie W. J. (1993). Reliability and predictive validity of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Educ. Psychol. Meas. 53 801–813. 10.1177/0013164493053003024 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Porkaew K., Fongpaiboon A. (2018). Effects of extensive reading on Thai tertiary ‘students’ reading attitudes. Arab World Eng. J. (AWEJ) 9 207–219. 10.24093/awej/vol9no1.15 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pretorius E. J., Klapwijk N. M. (2016). Reading comprehension in South African schools: Are teachers getting it, and getting it right? Per Linguam 32 1–20. 10.5785/32-1-627 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Quadir B., Chen N. S. (2015). The effects of reading and writing habits on learning performance in a blog learning environment. Asia Pac. Educ. Res. 24 635–644. 10.1007/s40299-014-0210-5 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rasheed S. (2012). ’ Children’s reading habits: A study of Lahore city. Pak. J. Inform. Manag. Libr. 5 412–437. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rosli N. A., Razali N. F., Zamil Z. U. A., Noor S. N. F. M., Baharuddin M. F. (2018). The determination of reading habits among students: A concept. Int. J. Acad. Res. Bus. Soc. Sci. 7 791–798. 10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i12/3710 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rozalski M. E. (2008). Practice, practice, practice: How to improve students’ study skills. Beyond Behav. 17 17–23. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sabbah S. (2016). The effect of study habits on English language achievement. Arab World Eng. J. (AWEJ) 7 238–257. [ Google Scholar ]
• Schober P., Boer C., Schwarte L. A. (2018). Correlation coefficients: appropriate use and interpretation. Anesth. Analg. 126 1763–1768. 10.1213/ANE.0000000000002864 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schwabe F., McElvany N., Trendtel M. (2015). The school age gender gap in reading achievement: Examining the influences of item format and intrinsic reading motivation. Read. Res. Q. 50 219–232. 10.1002/rrq.92 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Shahidi F., Dowlatkhah H. R., Avand A., Musavi S. R., Mohammadi E. (2014). A study on the quality of study skills of newly-admitted students of Fasa University of Medical Sciences. J. Adv. Med. Educ. Prof. 2 45–50. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Sherafat R., Murthy C. V. (2016). A study of study habits and academic achievement among secondary and senior secondary school students of Mysore city. Int. J. Indian Psychol. 3 161–170. 10.25215/0302.055 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Silverrajoo P., Hassan A. (2018). Relationship between study habits and academic achievement among health science students. Int. J. Acad. Res. Bus. Soc. Sci. 8 763–780. 10.6007/IJARBSS/v8-i7/4418 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Singh Y. G. (2011). Academic achievement and study habits of higher secondary students. Int. Ref. Res. J. 3 27–42. [ Google Scholar ]
• Stokmans M. J. W. (1999). Reading attitude and its effect on leisure time reading. Poetics 26 245–261. 10.1016/S0304-422X(99)00005-4 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Strunk T. A. (2014). An exploration of the relationships between academic enablers and middle school achievement [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Pennsylvania: Penn State University. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tahamtani T., Jalil K., Hosseini M., SoltaniArabshahi K. (2017). Correlation of study habits with academic achievement among students attending the national medical science Olympiad. J. Adv. Med. Educ. 3 19–23. [ Google Scholar ]
• Thamarasseri I. (2018). Cognitive styles, study habits and academic achievement of students of Central University of Kashmir. Stud. Home and Commun. Sci. 12 9–20. 10.31901/24566780.2018/12.1-2.335 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Tonka H., Bakir S. (2020). The examination of the relationship between the secondary school students’ habit of reading and their reading anxiety. J. Educ. Issues 6 293–313. 10.5296/jei.v6i1.16986 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Van Schooten E., De Glopper K., Stoel R. D. (2004). Development of attitude toward reading adolescent literature and literary reading behavior. Poetics 32 343–386. 10.1016/j.poetic.2004.07.001 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Walia P. K., Sinha N. (2014). Changing trend in reading habits of teenagers in Delhi: An impact assessment of demographic and environmental variables. Libr Rev. 63 125–137. 10.1108/LR-03-2013-0038 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wernersbach B. M., Crowley S. L., Bates S. C., Rosenthal C. (2014). Study skills course impact on academic self-efficacy. J. Dev. Educ. 37 14–33. [ Google Scholar ]
• Whitten C., Labby S., Sullivan S. L. (2016). The impact of pleasure reading on academic success. J. Multidiscip. Grad. Res. 2 48–64. [ Google Scholar ]
• Winne P. H. (2013). “ Learning strategies, study skills, and self-regulated learning in postsecondary education ,” in Higher education: Handbook of theory and research , ed. Paulsen M. (Berlin: Springer; ), 377–403. 10.1007/978-94-007-5836-0_8 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wu L., Valcke M., Van Keer H. (2019). Factors associated with reading comprehension of secondary school students. Educ. Sci. Theory Pract. 19 34–47. 10.12738/estp.2019.4.003 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

Our wellness advice is expert-vetted . Our top picks are based on our editors’ independent research, analysis, and hands-on testing. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

• Personal Care

Eye Health 101: Things You Should Be Doing Every Day to Take Care of Your Vision

While you can't magically fix vision loss, you can take control of your eye health by implementing these simple habits in your routine.

Simple habits can boost your eye health.

Vision loss is a major problem that interrupts daily life. It's also more common than you think. The US  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 93 million adults in the US are at high risk of vision loss. Although you can't always restore the vision loss you've experienced, it doesn't mean you can't take precautions to protect your eyes going forward.

These are the top habits to integrate into your routine to keep your eyes in good shape for the years ahead.

Read more: 12 Best Foods for Eye Health

Want more health tips? Check out why  omega-3-rich foods offer benefits for your health , why your glasses get foggy and how to stop it  and the  right color of sunglasses for eye health . 

1. Wear sunglasses 

Exposing your eyes to ultraviolet rays may cause damage over time. Wearing sunglasses can block harmful UV light, lowering your risk of eye diseases like cataracts, sunburn, eye cancer and growths around the eye, per the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Polarized glasses with smoke or gray lenses may offer the best protection against the sun's rays and reduce glare.

2. Take screen breaks

Prolonged screen time can cause dry eyes , pain in the neck and shoulders, blurred vision, headaches and digital eye strain, or computer vision syndrome . The American Optometric Association recommends using the 20-20-20 rule to prevent computer vision syndrome. Every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

3. Take book breaks, too

Screen time isn't the only way to strain your eyes. When you read a book, you probably hold it up close for long periods, too. Both activities can lead to nearsightedness , or myopia, which means far-away objects are blurry while up-close things are clear. Just like you should use the 20-20-20 rule to take screen breaks, you should also use this rule for book breaks. If you find yourself engrossed in what you're reading or doing on the computer, set an alarm so you don't miss your 20-minute break.

4. Move your body 

Regular exercise can provide eye health benefits , such as promoting healthy blood vessels and lowering your risk of developing glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, the AAO reports. The CDC recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity every week, plus two days of strength training for your muscles. You can also practice eye exercises to reduce tension and eye strain while sitting at your desk.

Read more: Sneak More Exercise Into Your Daily Routine: 7 Steps That Actually Work

5. Get outside

Children and adults need to get outside often, even if you get your recommended exercise indoors. Research shows that children who spend time outdoors have a lower risk of developing nearsightedness in adolescence and as adults. Playing with your kids at the local playground, walking through the woods or even playing in the backyard can help the whole family stay healthy and active. Be sure to use your sunglasses.

6. Don't smoke

It's well known that smoking is bad for your health. It can also increase your risk of developing eye diseases like cataracts or age-related macular degeneration, according to the Food and Drug Administration . Smokers have a two or three-times higher chance of developing cataracts and up to four times higher risk for AMD. Future research may determine if smoking cigarettes can also cause glaucoma, Graves' eye disease, thyroid eye disease and encourage diabetic retinopathy onset or progression. To improve your health, build a quit plan .

7. Eat balanced meals

The foods you eat every day can improve your eye health . Eating foods rich in vitamins A, C and E, beta-carotene, omega-3 fatty acids, lutein, zeaxanthin and zinc can help cellular growth, lower eye tissue inflammation and limit free radicals that can damage your eyes.

To get the right nutrients for your eyes, eat balanced meals by including some of these foods in your regular diet, as recommended by the AAO:

• Vitamin A and beta-carotene: Apricots, carrots, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, red pepper, ricotta cheese, mango.
• Vitamin C: Grapefruit, oranges, lemons, tangerines, peaches, strawberries, tomatoes, red bell pepper.
• Vitamin E: Avocados, almonds, peanut butter, wheat germ, sunflower seeds.
• Omega-3: Halibut, sardines, salmon, tuna, trout.
• Lutein and Zeaxanthin: Collards, broccoli, eggs, peas, kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, turnip greens.
• Zinc: Lima beans, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, lean red meats, oysters, fortified cereals, poultry.

8. Avoid rubbing your eyes

If you habitually rub your eyes, it could cause eye damage or infections . Dry eyes and eye strain can make you want to rub your eyes, and some may rub them too much or too hard. This can lead to issues such as reduced or blurry vision, headaches, inflammation, eye and light sensitivity. Another reason to avoid eye rubbing is that bacteria or viruses on your fingers or hands could lead to conjunctivitis, commonly called pink eye. Instead of rubbing your eyes, use eye drops or saline to clean your eyes and keep them moist. Resist the urge and find something else to keep your hands busy until you undo the habit.

Read more:   7 Home Remedies for Dry, Itchy Eyes

9. Wash your hands

You should always wash your hands before touching your face or eyes and handling contact lenses. Almost 45 million Americans wear contact lenses  and around one in three wearers develop complications, with one in five infections from contact lenses causing corneal damage. 

Plus, there's no telling what kind of germs are on objects you touch after someone unknowingly contaminated them. Washing your hands regularly can lower your risk of respiratory illness by up to 21% and diarrheal illness by up to 40%, the CDC reports. 

10. Take off your makeup

After a long day, the last thing you might think about is removing your eye makeup before you get into bed. Doing so benefits your eye health and can lower your risk of blepharitis or eyelid inflammation, according to the Optometrists Network. 

You should also adopt good makeup practices that can save your skin and eyes, such as only using products made for eyes, replacing your makeup often (especially after an eye infection), not applying eye makeup in the inner lids and never sharing eye makeup with someone else. If you use brushes or sponges to apply eye makeup, wash them regularly.

Personal Care Guides

• Best Places to Buy Glasses Online
• Best Places to Buy Replacement Prescription Lenses
• Best Eye Drops
• Best Places to Buy Contacts Online
• Best Prescription Sunglasses
• Best Blue Light Blocking Glasses
• Best Electric Toothbrush
• Quip Toothbrush Review
• Best Invisible Braces
• Best Teeth Whitening Strips and Toothpaste
• Best Teeth Whitening Kits
• Best Mental Health Apps
• Best Teas for Stress and Anxiety
• Best Fidget Toys for Anxiety
• Best Online Therapy
• Best Online Couples Therapy
• Best Online Psychiatric Services
• Betterhelp Online Therapy Review
• Cerebral Review
• Talkspace Online Therapy Review
• Talkspace vs. Betterhelp
• Best Sunscreen
• Best Shower Filter
• Best Hand Soap
• Best Period Underwear
• Contact Lens King Coupons
• 1-800 CONTACTS Coupons
• Discount Contact Lenses Coupon Codes
• ContactsDirect Coupons
• EZ Contacts Coupons
• Zenni Optical Promo Codes
• SmartBuyGlasses Coupons
• EyeBuyDirect Coupons

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Books Bound in Human Skin: An Ethical Quandary at the Library

Harvard’s recent decision to remove the binding of a notorious volume in its library has thrown fresh light on a shadowy corner of the rare book world.

By Jennifer Schuessler and Julia Jacobs

The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is the place to inspect some of the most exquisite rare books on the market. But at this year’s event in early April, some browsers may have been unprepared for a small, grayish item on view: a book bound in human skin.

The book, which measures about 3 by 5 inches, came with a price tag of $45,000 — and a colorful back story. According to a statement by its owner, the binding was commissioned in 1682 by an Italian doctor and anatomist identified as Jacopo X, and has been kept by his descendants ever since.

Family lore held that during a dissection, Jacopo recognized the woman on the slab as an actress he had seen in Corneille’s comedy “Le Baron d’Albikrac.” He knew that unclaimed bodies sold to medical schools for dissection were rarely, if ever, given a proper burial. So he removed a piece of skin, and used it to bind a copy of the play.

“There was a sense that this was a tribute,” Ian Kahn, a dealer, explained to onlookers gathered at the counter of his booth before pulling out the book to offer a closer look.

Books bound in human skin — and the sometimes sensational stories surrounding them — have long occupied an odd place in the annals of the rare book world. Over the years, they have been whispered, bragged and joked about.

But over the past decade, the conversation has shifted. Many institutions whose collections include these books have sharply restricted access, as they have found themselves unexpectedly embroiled in the same debates about displaying — or even owning — human remains that have swept across museums .

The conversation was jolted anew last month when Harvard University announced that it had removed the skin binding from a notorious book in its collections, and that it would be seeking “a final, respectful disposition.” The university also apologized for “past failures in its stewardship,” which it said had “further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used” for the binding.

The announcement drew headlines around the world. But so far, the reaction from rare book experts has been muted — and mixed.

“It was a bold move to put out a press release not just about the presence of human skin books, but about a potentially controversial way of dealing with the issue,” said Allie Alvis, a curator at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware. Too many institutions, Alvis says, are unwilling to say much about them at all.

But others are troubled by what they see as the destruction of a historical artifact, and the imposition of 21st-century sensibilities onto objects from different times and contexts.

Megan Rosenbloom, a former medical librarian and the author of “Dark Archives,” a study of the history and science of anthropodermic (or skin-bound) books, said that destroying or disposing of these objects would close off future scholarship and fresh understandings.

“We should treat these books as respectfully as possible, but try not to bury literally and figuratively what happened to these people,” she said. “It’s hubris to think we’ve come to the end of our evolution of how we think about human remains.”

And moves like Harvard’s, Rosenbloom added, could backfire.

“If all anthropodermic books are taken out of institutions,” she said, “the rest of these books on the private market will probably go further underground, where they might be treated less respectfully.”

Rumors and Innuendo

Claims of books bound in human skin have circulated for centuries. But the ability to confirm them scientifically — using a technique called peptide mass fingerprinting — is only about a decade old.

In 2015, Rosenbloom and others started the Anthropodermic Book Project , with the goal of uncovering “the historical truths behind the innuendo.” So far, the project has identified 51 purported examples worldwide, 18 of which have been confirmed as bound in human skin. Another 14 have been debunked.

An unknown number of others sit in private libraries. Kahn, whose firm, Lux Mentis , handles a lot of “challenging material,” as he put it, said he knows of several collectors in Paris who have skin-bound books.

The oldest reputed examples are three 13th-century Bibles held at the Bibliothèque Nationale in France. The largest number date from the Victorian era, the heyday of anatomical collecting , when doctors sometimes had medical treatises and other texts bound in skin from patients or cadavers.

Other examples relate to criminals or prisoners. At the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Scotland, a display about the 19th-century growth of the medical profession includes a small notebook purportedly bound in the skin of William Burke, part of a duo of notorious serial killers who sold their victims’ bodies for dissection. The Boston Athenaeum owns one bound in the skin of a man who, before he died in prison , had asked that two copies of his memoir and deathbed confession be bound in his skin.

While most known skin bindings are from Europe or North America, some involve wild claims, like a book at the Newberry Library in Chicago said to have been “found in the palace of the King of Delhi” during the 1857 mutiny against British rule. (Lab examination, according to the library, concluded it was actually “highly burnished goat.” )

“There’s often a sense of othering of these books,” said Alvis, the curator of Winterthur Museum, who posts about rare books on social media as @book_historia. “They don’t come from the noble white person, but this strange person from foreign climes.”

Current testing cannot identify race or sex of the skin. But at least a half-dozen 19th-century examples involve skin purportedly taken from female patients or cadavers by male doctors, with several used to cover books about female biology or sexuality (like a treatise on virginity held at the Wellcome Collection in London).

And a few examples, both rumored and confirmed, have racial connections that, whatever the intentions behind the bindings, may play uncomfortably today.

Two volumes of poems by Phillis Wheatley , the first person of African descent to publish a book in the United States, have been confirmed as bound in human skin. But a pocket-size notebook at the Wellcome Collection, long claimed to have been bound in the skin of Crispus Attucks, a mixed-race Black and Native man recognized as the first person to die for American independence, is likely bound in camel, horse or goat skin, according to the museum.

A ‘Violated Woman’?

The volume at Harvard, an 1879 philosophical treatise called “Des Destinées de L’Ame,” or “The Destiny of Souls,” was bound by a French doctor named Ludovic Bouland, who inserted a note saying that “a book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering.” It was placed at Harvard’s Houghton Library in 1934 by John Stetson, an heir to the hat fortune, along with another note saying that the skin came from a woman who died in a psychiatric hospital.

According to Harvard, library lore holds that “decades ago” the book was sometimes used to haze unsuspecting student workers. But questions about the library’s recent stewardship emerged in 2014, after the library published a jokey blog post describing the confirmation of the skin binding as “good news for cannibals.”

Paul Needham, a prominent rare book expert who retired from Princeton in 2020, was deeply offended, and began calling on Harvard to remove the skin and give it a “respectful burial.”

“I think that the way the Houghton Library treated this was a disservice to the world of rare book collecting,” he said.

The library imposed some restrictions on access in 2015. Winds shifted further in 2021, when Harvard formed a Steering Committee on Human Remains to examine all of its collections, as an outgrowth of its efforts to reckon with its historic entanglements with slavery.

A single skin-bound book from 19th-century France may seem like a small thing amid the more than 20,000 human remains in Harvard’s collections, including 6,500 from Native Americans, which critics say are not being researched and repatriated quickly enough.

But to Needham, who was involved in starting an affinity group to pressure Harvard into burying the skin of what the group called “the violated woman trapped in the binding,” the moral imperative is clear: The proper disposition of human remains should take ethical precedence, particularly where the person has not given consent.

“What 100 years from now would be the potential new research that would be done?” Needham said. “I just can’t imagine it.”

Harvard’s decision is drawing heightened attention to skin-bound volumes elsewhere, including one at the Cleveland Public Library: an 1867 edition of the Quran, acquired in 1941 from a dealer who had described it as “formerly the property of the East Arab chief Bushiri ibn Salim who revolted against the Germans in 1888.”

For decades, the book typically received a handful of requests a year for access, said John Skrtic, the library’s chief of collections. But earlier this year, the library made it off-limits, pending testing.

“The library has long believed the undocumented claim in the dealer’s catalog, regarding its binding, to be false and finds the claim sensationalistic and deeply offensive,” the Cleveland Public Library said in a statement. The library will “engage leaders in the local Muslim community to chart an ethical path forward.”

Harvard’s approach is also generating strong criticism. Eric Holzenberg, a book scholar who recently retired as director of the Grolier Club in Manhattan, said that the destruction of the binding “accomplishes nothing,” beyond expressing disapproval of “the acts of people long dead.”

“Harvard, it seems to me, has taken the easy way out,” Holzenberg said. “No doubt the proper, cautious, committee-generated, risk-averse approach, but ultimately I fear at the expense of sound scholarship and responsible stewardship.”

Rosenbloom, the author of “Dark Archives,” said she questioned the tendency to pull these objects, which were generally not created or collected in a context of colonialism, into models developed to address those injustices. And she wondered why Harvard had removed the binding before finishing full provenance research.

In response to emailed questions, Thomas Hyry, the director of Houghton Library, and Anne-Marie Eze, its associate librarian, said they did not believe dismantling of the binding would limit future scholarship.

“The decisions we have made to remove the human remains from our volume will not erase what we know about this practice for those studying the history of the book,” they said.

Balancing Research and Respect

Some libraries that have undertaken an ethical review of their anthropodermic books have reached different conclusions.

Brown University’s John Hay Library has four books confirmed as bound in human skin, including an edition of Vesalius’s landmark 1543 anatomical atlas, “On the Structure of the Human Body.” In the past, they were promoted on campus tours and sometimes brought out for Halloween and other events.

But in 2019, the library’s new director, Amanda Strauss, paused any showing of the books, while developing policies that balanced respect for human remains with the library’s research mandate.

“We don’t want to censor access to controversial or disturbing material,” she said. “And we don’t want to shame anyone for their interest.”

Today, images of the books’ pages (but not the bindings) are available online , while access to the physical books is limited to people conducting research on medical ethics or anthropodermic bindings.

Strauss said she would be uncomfortable with any alteration or destruction of the bindings, which she said amounted to “erasure.”

“We can’t pretend this wasn’t a practice and this didn’t happen,” she said. “Because it did, and we have the evidence.”

With any macabre object, the line between morbid curiosity and the pursuit of understanding may be hard to draw.

Kahn, the dealer, said he wanted to “demystify” books bound in skin, which he said can prompt conversations about ethics, knowledge and our own status as animals. At the book fair, many seemed open to those questions and curious, however queasily, to touch the Corneille volume.

One browser, Helen Lukievics, a retired lawyer, said she had read about the Harvard book and shuddered. But she was persuaded, she said, by the idea that this particular binding had been meant as a “tribute” to the actress.

“It’s fabulously appalling,” she said. She paused. “It’s a piece of history.”

Jennifer Schuessler is a culture reporter covering intellectual life and the world of ideas. She is based in New York. More about Jennifer Schuessler

Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times. More about Julia Jacobs

Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Full Topic List

Regions & Countries

• Publications
• Our Methods
• Short Reads
• Tools & Resources

Read Our Research On:

Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center surveys

For the latest survey data on social media and tech use among teens, see “ Teens, Social Media, and Technology 2023 .” 

Today’s teens are navigating a digital landscape unlike the one experienced by their predecessors, particularly when it comes to the pervasive presence of social media. In 2022, Pew Research Center fielded an in-depth survey asking American teens – and their parents – about their experiences with and views toward social media . Here are key findings from the survey:

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand American teens’ experiences with social media and their parents’ perception of these experiences. For this analysis, we surveyed 1,316 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17, along with one parent from each teen’s household. The survey was conducted online by Ipsos from April 14 to May 4, 2022.

This research was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, which is an independent committee of experts that specializes in helping to protect the rights of research participants.

Ipsos invited panelists who were a parent of at least one teen ages 13 to 17 from its KnowledgePanel , a probability-based web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses, to take this survey. For some of these questions, parents were asked to think about one teen in their household. (If they had multiple teenage children ages 13 to 17 in the household, one was randomly chosen.) This teen was then asked to answer questions as well. The parent portion of the survey is weighted to be representative of U.S. parents of teens ages 13 to 17 by age, gender, race, ethnicity, household income and other categories. The teen portion of the survey is weighted to be representative of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 who live with parents by age, gender, race, ethnicity, household income and other categories.

Here are the questions used  for this report, along with responses, and its  methodology .

Majorities of teens report ever using YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. YouTube is the platform most commonly used by teens, with 95% of those ages 13 to 17 saying they have ever used it, according to a Center survey conducted April 14-May 4, 2022, that asked about 10 online platforms. Two-thirds of teens report using TikTok, followed by roughly six-in-ten who say they use Instagram (62%) and Snapchat (59%). Much smaller shares of teens say they have ever used Twitter (23%), Twitch (20%), WhatsApp (17%), Reddit (14%) and Tumblr (5%).

Facebook use among teens dropped from 71% in 2014-15 to 32% in 2022. Twitter and Tumblr also experienced declines in teen users during that span, but Instagram and Snapchat saw notable increases.

TikTok use is more common among Black teens and among teen girls. For example, roughly eight-in-ten Black teens (81%) say they use TikTok, compared with 71% of Hispanic teens and 62% of White teens. And Hispanic teens (29%) are more likely than Black (19%) or White teens (10%) to report using WhatsApp. (There were not enough Asian teens in the sample to analyze separately.)

Teens’ use of certain social media platforms also varies by gender. Teen girls are more likely than teen boys to report using TikTok (73% vs. 60%), Instagram (69% vs. 55%) and Snapchat (64% vs. 54%). Boys are more likely than girls to report using YouTube (97% vs. 92%), Twitch (26% vs. 13%) and Reddit (20% vs. 8%).

Majorities of teens use YouTube and TikTok every day, and some report using these sites almost constantly. About three-quarters of teens (77%) say they use YouTube daily, while a smaller majority of teens (58%) say the same about TikTok. About half of teens use Instagram (50%) or Snapchat (51%) at least once a day, while 19% report daily use of Facebook.

Some teens report using these platforms almost constantly. For example, 19% say they use YouTube almost constantly, while 16% and 15% say the same about TikTok and Snapchat, respectively.

More than half of teens say it would be difficult for them to give up social media. About a third of teens (36%) say they spend too much time on social media, while 55% say they spend about the right amount of time there and just 8% say they spend too little time. Girls are more likely than boys to say they spend too much time on social media (41% vs. 31%).

Teens are relatively divided over whether it would be hard or easy for them to give up social media. Some 54% say it would be very or somewhat hard, while 46% say it would be very or somewhat easy.

Girls are more likely than boys to say it would be difficult for them to give up social media (58% vs. 49%). Older teens are also more likely than younger teens to say this: 58% of those ages 15 to 17 say it would be very or somewhat hard to give up social media, compared with 48% of those ages 13 to 14.

Teens are more likely to say social media has had a negative effect on others than on themselves. Some 32% say social media has had a mostly negative effect on people their age, while 9% say this about social media’s effect on themselves.

Conversely, teens are more likely to say these platforms have had a mostly positive impact on their own life than on those of their peers. About a third of teens (32%) say social media has had a mostly positive effect on them personally, while roughly a quarter (24%) say it has been positive for other people their age.

Still, the largest shares of teens say social media has had neither a positive nor negative effect on themselves (59%) or on other teens (45%). These patterns are consistent across demographic groups.

Teens are more likely to report positive than negative experiences in their social media use. Majorities of teens report experiencing each of the four positive experiences asked about: feeling more connected to what is going on in their friends’ lives (80%), like they have a place where they can show their creative side (71%), like they have people who can support them through tough times (67%), and that they are more accepted (58%).

When it comes to negative experiences, 38% of teens say that what they see on social media makes them feel overwhelmed because of all the drama. Roughly three-in-ten say it makes them feel like their friends are leaving them out of things (31%) or feel pressure to post content that will get lots of comments or likes (29%). And 23% say that what they see on social media makes them feel worse about their own life.

There are several gender differences in the experiences teens report having while on social media. Teen girls are more likely than teen boys to say that what they see on social media makes them feel a lot like they have a place to express their creativity or like they have people who can support them. However, girls also report encountering some of the pressures at higher rates than boys. Some 45% of girls say they feel overwhelmed because of all the drama on social media, compared with 32% of boys. Girls are also more likely than boys to say social media has made them feel like their friends are leaving them out of things (37% vs. 24%) or feel worse about their own life (28% vs. 18%).

When it comes to abuse on social media platforms, many teens think criminal charges or permanent bans would help a lot. Half of teens think criminal charges or permanent bans for users who bully or harass others on social media would help a lot to reduce harassment and bullying on these platforms. 

About four-in-ten teens say it would help a lot if social media companies proactively deleted abusive posts or required social media users to use their real names and pictures. Three-in-ten teens say it would help a lot if school districts monitored students’ social media activity for bullying or harassment.

Some teens – especially older girls – avoid posting certain things on social media because of fear of embarrassment or other reasons. Roughly four-in-ten teens say they often or sometimes decide not to post something on social media because they worry people might use it to embarrass them (40%) or because it does not align with how they like to represent themselves on these platforms (38%). A third of teens say they avoid posting certain things out of concern for offending others by what they say, while 27% say they avoid posting things because it could hurt their chances when applying for schools or jobs.

These concerns are more prevalent among older teen girls. For example, roughly half of girls ages 15 to 17 say they often or sometimes decide not to post something on social media because they worry people might use it to embarrass them (50%) or because it doesn’t fit with how they’d like to represent themselves on these sites (51%), compared with smaller shares among younger girls and among boys overall.

Many teens do not feel like they are in the driver’s seat when it comes to controlling what information social media companies collect about them. Six-in-ten teens say they think they have little (40%) or no control (20%) over the personal information that social media companies collect about them. Another 26% aren’t sure how much control they have. Just 14% of teens think they have a lot of control.

Despite many feeling a lack of control, teens are largely unconcerned about companies collecting their information. Only 8% are extremely concerned about the amount of personal information that social media companies might have and 13% are very concerned. Still, 44% of teens say they have little or no concern about how much these companies might know about them.

Only around one-in-five teens think their parents are highly worried about their use of social media. Some 22% of teens think their parents are extremely or very worried about them using social media. But a larger share of teens (41%) think their parents are either not at all (16%) or a little worried (25%) about them using social media. About a quarter of teens (27%) fall more in the middle, saying they think their parents are somewhat worried.

Many teens also believe there is a disconnect between parental perceptions of social media and teens’ lived realities. Some 39% of teens say their experiences on social media are better than parents think, and 27% say their experiences are worse. A third of teens say parents’ views are about right.

Nearly half of parents with teens (46%) are highly worried that their child could be exposed to explicit content on social media. Parents of teens are more likely to be extremely or very concerned about this than about social media causing mental health issues like anxiety, depression or lower self-esteem. Some parents also fret about time management problems for their teen stemming from social media use, such as wasting time on these sites (42%) and being distracted from completing homework (38%).

Note: Here are the questions used  for this report, along with responses, and its  methodology .

CORRECTION (May 17, 2023): In a previous version of this post, the percentages of teens using Instagram and Snapchat daily were transposed in the text. The original chart was correct. This change does not substantively affect the analysis.

• Age & Generations
• Age, Generations & Tech
• Internet & Technology
• Platforms & Services
• Social Media
• Teens & Tech
• Teens & Youth

Emily A. Vogels is a former research associate focusing on internet and technology at Pew Research Center

Risa Gelles-Watnick is a research analyst focusing on internet and technology research at Pew Research Center

How Teens and Parents Approach Screen Time

Who are you the art and science of measuring identity, u.s. centenarian population is projected to quadruple over the next 30 years, older workers are growing in number and earning higher wages, teens, social media and technology 2023, most popular.

1615 L St. NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 USA (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax (+1) 202-419-4372 |  Media Inquiries

Research Topics

• Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Economy & Work
• Family & Relationships
• Gender & LGBTQ
• Immigration & Migration
• International Affairs
• Methodological Research
• News Habits & Media
• Non-U.S. Governments
• Other Topics
• Politics & Policy
• Race & Ethnicity
• Email Newsletters

ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Copyright 2024 Pew Research Center

Terms & Conditions

Privacy Policy

Cookie Settings

Reprints, Permissions & Use Policy