Disparities in Early Exposure to Book Sharing Within Immigrant Families (Pediatrics)
This study examined the early developmental context of children in immigrant families (CIF), measured by the frequency with which parents share books with their children.
Trends in the frequency with which parents report book sharing, defined in this analysis as reading or sharing picture books with their young children, were analyzed across immigrant and nonimmigrant households by using data from the 2005, 2007, and 2009 California Health Interview Survey.
In this study, 57.5 percent of parents in immigrant families reported daily book sharing (DBS), compared with 75.8 percent of native-born parents. The lowest percentage of DBS was seen in Hispanic families with 2 foreign-born parents (47.1 percent). CIF with two foreign-born parents had the lowest odds of sharing books daily.
There is an association between the lower odds of DBS and parental immigrant status, especially for Hispanic and Asian children. This relationship holds after controlling for variables thought to explain differences in literacy-related practices, such as parental education and income.
Because book sharing is central to children's development of early literacy and language skills, this disparity merits further exploration with the aim of informing future interventions.
Publication Authors:
- Natalia Festaa
- Pooja D. Loftusa
- Mark R. Cullen
- Fernando S. Mendoza