Understanding parents’ attitudes towards complexity in children's books

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Aram, Dorit Deitcher, Deborah Bergman Adar, Gali
Copyright Year	2017
Abstract	Experts in children’s literature and child development value complexity in the language, socioemotional content, and structure of books, yet little is known regarding parents’ attitudes toward these aspects. This study thus examined how parents’ gender, education, and profession; children’s age and gender; and frequency of parent–child reading interactions predict parents’ support for complexity in children’s books. Participants were 104 parents to children ages 4–7. Parents completed questionnaires measuring frequency of shared book reading and levels of support for complexity of children’s narrative books in three areas: language, socioemotional content, and structure. Results show that parents supported complexity of socioemotional content most, followed by language, and structural complexity least. Only parents’ profession and frequency of shared book reading interactions predicted support for complexity in books. Parents who read more to their children and parents in social professions showed greater support for complexity. The study stresses the importance of guiding parents to consider a variety of aspects when selecting books to read with their children.
Starting Page	3
Ending Page	3
Page Count	1
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Volume Number	56
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3339&context=reading_horizons
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article