Strong reading skills have been linked to many personal, social, and economic benefits. According to research published in Psychological Science, reading ability at age seven may be linked to socio-economic status several decades later.
Following more than 17,000 people in England, Scotland, and Wales over about 50 years (from birth in 1958 to the present day), Stuart Ritchie and Timothy Bates of the University of Edinburgh found that participants’ reading and math abilities at age seven were linked to their social class a full 35 years later.
Participants who had higher reading and maths skills as children later had higher incomes, better housing, and better jobs in adulthood. The data suggest, for example, that achieving one reading level higher at age seven was associated with a £5,000 (roughly $7,750) increase in income at age 42.
“These findings imply that basic childhood skills, independent of how smart you are, how long you stay in school, or the social class you started off in, will be important throughout your life,” state Ritchie and Bates.