A Preliminary Investigation of the Relationship Between Parenting, Parent-Child Shared Reading Practices, and Child Development in Low-Income Families

Abstract

This study examined relations between parenting, shared reading practices, and child development. Participants included 28 children (M = 24.66 months, SD = 8.41 months) and their parents. Measures included naturalistic observations of parenting and shared reading quality, assessments of child cognitive and language development, and home reading practices. Higher quality parenting was found to be significantly, positively correlated with higher quality shared reading interactions. Of the specific domains of parenting behaviors assessed, teaching behaviors demonstrated the strongest relationship with shared reading quality. Parental self-report of reading frequency was not correlated with observed shared reading quality. Shared reading quality was predictive of children’s receptive language outcomes; the addition of shared reading frequency did not improve prediction. Early childhood educators can benefit from knowing the potential importance of specific parenting practices and high-quality parent-child shared reading interactions in facilitating children’s language development.