Figure

V-07a: Percentage of Americans 18 and Older Who Did Creative Writing in the Previous 12 Months, by Age

Data Source and Other Information

Source: National Endowment for the Arts, Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. Data accessed via the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research Data Archive. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).

About the Data

The data on which this indicator is based are from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA). In 2012 the wording of the SPPA creative writing item changed slightly. Whereas from 1982 to 2008, respondents were asked if they did creative writing other than for school or work, in 2012 the question asked respondents to indicate whether they had done creative writing at all, regardless of the context.

Related Indicators

For additional information on Americans and reading, see “Reading to Young Children by Family Members,” “Youth Reading for Fun,” “Book Reading Behavior,” and “Public Attitudes Toward Censorship of Particular Book Topics.”

For measures of students’ writing achievement, see “Writing Proficiency.”

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The Humanities Indicators and Departmental Survey have been made possible in part by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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