Home-based shared book reading and developmental outcomes in young children: a systematic review with meta-analyses
Open accessAbstract
The aim of this systematic review was to measure the strength of the relationship between home-based shared book reading and child development. We identified 46 studies (N = 56,576) that provided quantitative data on the home literacy environment and developmental outcomes for groups of 10 or more children (maximum N = 10,533) who had a mean age of <4 years, and had not commenced compulsory, formal schooling. Most studies (n = 28/46; 61%, N = 24,859) reported correlation coefficients, which were used to calculate mean effect sizes in a series of meta-analyses. The results estimated large and statistically significant relationships between home-based shared book reading and developmental outcomes [r = 0.303, 95% CI = (0.258, 0.349)], language outcomes [r = 0.381, 95% CI = (0.289, 0.474)], and vocabulary outcomes [r = 0.314, 95% CI = (0.291, 0.336)]; as well as a moderate and significant relationship between frequency of home-based shared book reading and expressive vocabulary [r = 0.259, 95% CI = (0.099, 0.419)]. These findings indicate that home-based shared book reading is positively related to various developmental outcomes, particularly spoken language skills.
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Children relying more on libraries may also have fewer books at home.
“Access to books is highly stratified by SES (Galea et al., 2025), so children relying more on libraries may also have fewer books at home.”
From Participation in extracurricular activities predicts academic growth and mediates socioeconomic inequalities in primary school (2026) · cites this paper as Galea et al., 2025
The Discussion reports that 10 of 13 studies considering SES found an association with the home literacy environment or child developmental outcomes. It does not establish that access to books specifically is highly stratified by SES. The suggestion about library use follows the citation and is the citing authors’ inference, not a finding attributed to Galea et al. (LLM, conf=0.80)
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Brunet, L., Rémeau, M., Houdé, O., & Borst, G. (2026) · British Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjep.70127
- Authors
- Galea, C., Jones, A., Ko, K., Salins, A., Robidoux, S., Noble, C., & McArthur, G.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Australian Catholic University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Galea, Claire
- Venue
- Frontiers in Language Sciences
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2025-03-31
- Volume
- 4
- ISSN
- 2813-4605 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4408990292
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 3
- FWCI
- 3.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Language Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Macquarie University
- United Way
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- shared book reading, home literacy environment, early childhood development, language development, vocabulary development, expressive vocabulary, preschool children, parent-child interaction, reading to children
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