FUNCTIONAL READING DIFFICULTIES IN DENMARK - A STUDY OF ADULT READINGOF COMMON TEXTS

In this first Danish study of adult reading skills, 1124 adults betwee n 18 and 67 years of age participated in an interview about reading ha bits and skills, and 445 were tested individually at home using six co mmon texts. Great care was taken to ascertain that subjects were repre sentative of the whole adult population and that the texts covered mos t types of everyday reading. Three percent of the participants were fo und to have severe functional reading difficulties and a further 9 per cent to have moderate difficulties. Regression analyses found several unique predictors of reading difficulties: age (adults over 45 years r eading more poorly than younger adults), limited basic education, no v ocational training nor higher education, and a small amount of reading needed at work. The rate of poor readers was about four times higher among persons with low income than among others. Men and women read eq ually well although men tended to rate themselves lower as readers tha n women did. Methodological issues and some educational implications a re discussed.