ABSTRACT

This study examined frequently discussed parental characteristics and their importance in determining the frequency with which mothers and fathers read to 5 year-old children. It combined theories from various disciplines, focusing on the role of gender ideology, intensive parenting, educational resources and psychological well-being. It extends previous research by including composite effects, i.e. the combination of mothers’ and fathers’ characteristics.

Mothers’ and fathers’ reading frequency were analysed with ordered logistic regressions and average marginal effects, using wave 3 from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (N = 4,415 families). The results indicated that education and psychological well-being, as well as agreement with intensive parenting views, of both parents play a crucial role in determining their reading frequency: Parents with higher levels of education, those not suffering from depressive symptoms, and those holding intensive parenting values had a higher probability of reading more frequently. Additionally, the results suggested an interaction effect between parents’ levels of education, reinforcing the association between education and reading frequency. These are promising findings for the implementation of educational interventions: informing parents about the importance of frequently reading with their children and its benefits for their development might help reduce social inequalities in children’s early literacy, even in disadvantaged families.

摘要

这项研究检查了经常讨论的父母特征及其在确定父母给 5 岁儿童阅读的频率方面的重要性。它结合了不同学科的理论，重点关注性别意识形态的作用、强化育儿、教育资源和心理健康。它扩展了先前的研究，包括复合效应，即母亲和父亲特征的组合。

使用英国千年队列研究的第 3 波，通过有序逻辑回归和平均边际效应分析母亲和父亲的阅读频率（N = 4,415 个家庭）。结果表明，父母双方的教育和心理健康以及对强化育儿观点的认同在决定他们的阅读频率方面起着至关重要的作用：受教育程度较高的父母、未患抑郁症的父母以及持有强化育儿价值观的阅读频率更高。此外，结果表明父母的教育水平之间存在相互作用，加强了教育和阅读频率之间的关联。这些是实施教育干预的有希望的发现：告知父母经常与孩子一起阅读的重要性及其对他们发展的好处可能有助于减少儿童早期识字的社会不平等，