Research Article: Shared reading and independent book engagement in early childhood: associations with the home literacy environment in a Turkish pediatric outpatient population
Abstract:
To explore parental reading practices and factors associated with parental reading to children and children's independent engagement with books within the Home Literacy Environment (HLE).
This cross-sectional study included 362 parents of children aged 1–6?years who attended the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic of Ankara Bilkent City Hospital between October and December 2025. Parents completed a 28-item questionnaire assessing their demographic characteristics, home literacy practices, parental reading habits, access to books, and children's independent book engagement. Firth's bias-reduced penalized likelihood logistic regression was used for multivariable analyses.
Shared reading was common, occurring daily in 47.3% and 2–3 times per week in 29.3% of families, most often during the evening or bedtime routines (64.2%). Maternal education was strongly associated with parental reading to the child; mothers with a university degree or higher had higher odds of reading to their children than those with a high school education or below [odds ratio (OR)?=?14.31; 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.73–50.21; p <?0.001]. Independent book engagement was associated with older child age (OR?=?1.38 per year; 95% CI: 1.11–1.73, p =?0.004), parental reading (OR?=?3.82; 95% CI: 1.50–9.79, p =?0.005), a home library (OR?=?2.48; 95% CI: 1.18–5.23, p =?0.017), and at least one parent with a regular reading habit (OR?=?2.35; 95% CI: 1.02–5.18, p =?0.044), whereas maternal education was not independently associated with this outcome ( p =?0.121).
Parental reading and children's independent book engagement were associated with different components of the HLE. These exploratory findings suggest that both parental characteristics and everyday home literacy practices may be relevant to shared reading and independent book engagement, and may help inform future efforts to integrate family-centered literacy guidance into pediatric care.
Introduction:
Early childhood is a critical period in which environmental experiences contribute to cognitive, social, emotional, and language development ( 1 , 2 ). Shared book reading is one of the most accessible parent–child activities during this period and has been associated with early language and literacy development ( 3 , 4 ). Reflecting this evidence, the World Health Organization incorporates book-related interactions into its responsive caregiving framework, while the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends…
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