Improved Cognitive Development in Preterm Infants with Shared Book Reading

Purpose: To examine the effect of shared book reading on the cognitive development of children born preterm and to determine what factors influence shared book reading in this population.

Design: Secondary analysis using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, a large, nationally representative survey of children born in the United States in 2001.

Sample: One thousand four hundred singleton preterm infants (22–36 weeks gestation).

Main Outcome Variable: Cognitive development measured using the Bayley Mental Scale score from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development Research Edition.

Results: Adjusting for neonatal, maternal, and socioeconomic characteristics, reading aloud more than two times a week is associated with higher cognitive development scores in two-year-old children born preterm (p < .001). Race/ethnicity and maternal education affect how often parents read to their children. Shared book reading holds potential as an early developmental intervention for this population.