Growth of shared book reading in the first two years and its effects on children’s development

Abstract

This study aims to explore the impact of shared book reading (SBR) on child development beyond language and literacy at the very beginning of children’s lives. Utilizing the latent growth curve model, the study analyzed data collected from 4,441 Taiwanese children at 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months old. The results revealed that, on average, parents spent 13 min per week reading books to their 3-month-old children. This reading time increased from 3 to 24 months, at an approximate rate of 5 min every 3 months. Notably, parents with higher educational levels, better occupations, and higher family incomes tended to spend more time reading at the 3-month mark and exhibited higher growth rates in the time allocated to reading. Additionally, the study provides evidence that engaging in SBR during the infant stage significantly contributes to children’s cognitive, language, social, and emotional development in the toddler stage.