Parental influence on child interest in shared picture book reading

Children's early interest in shared reading is thought to be important to l ater reading achievement. However, influences on such interest have not bee n adequately studied. The present study evaluated whether parents can affec t their children's interest in shared reading, using a multimethod assessme nt. Twenty-five parents and their preschool-aged children were randomly ass igned to either an intervention group or an attention-control group. Parent s in the interest intervention group learned strategies thought to be impor tant to fostering interest in shared reading. After one week, children in t he intervention group were more interested in shared reading compared to ch ildren in the attention control group. After four weeks, intervention paren ts still reported increased child interest, though direct observations sugg ested somewhat diminished effects. These results provide a rare experimenta l evaluation of parental influence on interest, and suggest potential value in further developing interest interventions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science In c. All rights reserved.