The impact of parental influence on the reading habits of Gen-Y adults: a generalised linear model analysis

Abstract

This study explores the impact of parental influence on reading habits of Gen-Y adults. A total of 206 respondents comprising of business students from a private higher education institution in Malaysia participated in this survey. Factor analysis reveals the presence of five categories of readers based on their reading attitudes and three categories of parental influences. Female respondents enjoy reading and they read to gain knowledge. However, the male respondents disliked reading and were not interested in acquiring knowledge. Children of concerned and positive parents enjoyed reading as opposed to children of high-expectation parents who did not like reading even though they are good in the English language. The impact of parent’s education level, when tested individually, on the reading habits, was found significant for the disadvantaged readers. An interaction effect of the combined parents’ education level was found to play a major role on the knowledge purpose readers. A further study on the interaction effect reveals that it is the working mothers (with a degree/masters education) who play significant roles in developing the reading habits of their children as far as acquiring knowledge is concerned.