Parental influence on child interest in shared picture book reading

Children's early interest in shared reading is thought to be important to later reading achievement. However, influences on such interest have not been adequately studied. The present study evaluated whether parents can affect their children's interest in shared reading, using a multimethod assessment. Twenty-five parents and their preschool-aged children were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or an attention-control group. Parents in the interest intervention group learned strategies thought to be important to fostering interest in shared reading. After one week, children in the intervention group were more interested in shared reading compared to children in the attention control group. After four weeks, intervention parents still reported increased child interest, though direct observations suggested somewhat diminished effects. These results provide a rare experimental evaluation of parental influence on interest, and suggest potential value in further developing interest interventions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.