子どもの頃の読書が成人の意識・意欲・行動に与える影響

世代間差に注目して

抄録

This study investigates the effects of childhood reading experiences on adult consciousness, motivations and activities through structural modeling of their relations as mediated by individual annual income. Adult respondents (N＝5,258, age range＝20-69 years) completed a questionnaire and the results of analyses conducted for 2,589 respondents for whom annual income information was obtained suggest that childhood reading experiences have a relatively stronger influence on adult consciousness, motivations and activities than individual annual income. Moreover, the results of multiple population analysis conducted for 1,070 adults with less than ten years of work experience and 1,204 adults with more than ten years work experience indicate that (1) childhood reading experiences had strong influences on adult consciousness, motivations and activities in both populations, and (2) childhood reading experiences only had a significant effect on annual incomes for the group with more than 10 years of work experience. These results suggest that childhood reading experiences are important variables that impacts on the psychological fulfillment of adults. Thus, this study concludes that childhood reading experiences are strongly associated with adulthood consciousness, motivations and activities.