More Parents Reading to Their Preschoolers

Race, income, education have a direct effect on whether reading aloud is a daily activity

By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 8/1/2007

A growing number of parents are reading to their preschoolers at home daily, but black and Hispanic children are less likely than whites and Asians to benefit from this important form of literacy development, according to the latest government report on the well-being of the nation’s children.

Overall, in 2005, 60 percent of children ages three to five who were not yet in kindergarten were read to daily by their caregivers, compared to only 53 percent in 1993, according to “America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being,” a recent report by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. The forum is a consortium of federal agencies that includes the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Census Bureau, and the Administration for Children and Families.

But only 45 percent of Hispanic and 50 percent of black children were read to daily by a family member, compared to 68 percent of white and 66 percent of Asian kids, the report says.

Regionally, some 66 percent of children in the Northeast, 62 percent in the Midwest, and 61 percent in the West were more likely than preschoolers in the South (56 percent) to benefit from daily read-alouds.

Income and levels of education seem to play a role. Children who come from families with incomes that are 200 percent or higher than the poverty level are 65 percent more likely to have a family member read to them. Meanwhile, at least 72 percent of mothers who had at least a bachelor’s degree read to their little ones every day. But that number dropped to 41 percent for those who had less than a high school diploma, the study says.

Single-parent families were also less likely to read to their kids, with 62 percent of children living in two-parent households being read to, compared with 53 percent living with one parent.

Studies show that reading to young children promotes language skills and is linked to literacy development, which later helps improve reading comprehension and overall student achievement. “The percentage of young children read to daily by a family member is one indicator of how well young children are being prepared for school,” the report says. For a full copy of the study, visit www.childstats.gov/pubs.asp.