Changes in reading habits during COVID-19 confinement in Spain (Cambios en los hábitos lectores durante el confinamiento por COVID-19 en España)

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Spanish population remained confined for almost two months, leading to new academic, work and leisure routines. This study analysed the reading habit changes during confinement and their relationship with the type of reading, gender, age and audiovisual consumption in 4,013 Spanish adults who responded to an online survey on their reading habits taking three moments as a reference: before, beginning and during the confinement. The results highlight that the reading time increased at the beginning of the confinement and remained stable throughout. By type of reading, leisure reading continued to increase, and news reading decreased compared to the beginning of the confinement, although both changes occurred in the younger population. Besides, those who used more audiovisuals were found to read more. Lastly, women read more than men and also increased their reading time to a higher extent. Assuming that reading promotes well-being and that its increase was part of an overall increase in healthy habits, we suggest that educational policies should consider this function of reading when fostering reading habits.