Further discussion of the evidence for an intercohort decline in education-adjusted vocabulary

In their article, Wilson and Gove do not sufficiently consider the implicat ions of the fact that education-adjusted GSS vocabulary scores in the total U.S. adult population declined to an important extent during the period co vered by the GSS data. It is improbable that this decline resulted only fro m period influences: The declines in scores for different age levels over r ime are inconsistent with the usual tendency for period influences to affec t the psychological characteristics of younger persons more than those of o lder persons. Furthermore, the GSS data show no increases in vocabulary sco res within cohorts during middle age, as should have occurred if the interc ohort differences shown by the data reflected only age effects. That an int ercohort decline in time spent reading has contributed to an intercohort de cline in education-adjusted vocabulary scores remains a reasonable hypothes is.