Reading for Pleasure in Childhood Linked to Better Adolescent Mental Health

Great focus and attention is placed on teaching children to read, a key academic and life skill. But teaching children to love to read, and to read for pleasure, has a whole host of additional benefits for their mental health, Neuroscience News reports.

A new study by researchers from two British universities – the universities of Cambridge and Warwick – as well as Fudan University in China sought to examine whether encouraging children to read from an early age has any impact on their brain development, cognition and mental health later in life.

Looking at data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) cohort in the US, which recruited more than 10,000 young adolescents, they found that children who started reading for pleasure at an early age tend to perform better at cognitive tests and have better mental health when they hit adolescence.

In particular, twelve hours a week was the optimal amount of reading linked to improved brain structure. After that, cognitive results tapered off and even declined, perhaps because an increase in sedentary activity robbed children of other enriching activities, like sports or social experiences.

The team analyzed many types of data – derived from clinical interviews, cognitive tests, mental and behavioral assessments, and brain scans – in order to compare young people who began reading for pleasure at when they were young (between two and nine years old) against those who began doing so later or not at all. The analyses controlled for socio-economic status and other factors.

According to the article, the benefits of early reading for pleasure were many and striking:

• The team found a strong link between reading for pleasure at an early age and a positive performance in adolescence on cognitive tests measuring factors like verbal learning, memory and speech development, and academic achievement.
• The early readers had better mental wellbeing, showing fewer signs of stress and depression.
• They displayed improved attention and had fewer behavioral problems, like aggression and rule-breaking.
• Children who learned to love reading for fun spent less time on screens – whether TV, smartphone, or tablet – when they became adolescents.
• They also tended to get more sleep than their peers.

Brain scans revealed that the early readers “showed moderately larger total brain areas and volumes, including in particular brain regions that play critical roles in cognitive functions,” as well as differences in the regions of the brain known to relate to mental health, behavior, and attention.

According to Professor Barbara Sahakian from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, “Reading isn’t just a pleasurable experience – it’s widely accepted that it inspires thinking and creativity, increases empathy and reduces stress.

“But on top of this, we found significant evidence that it’s linked to important developmental factors in children, improving their cognition, mental health, and brain structure, which are cornerstones for future learning and well-being.”

Professor Jianfeng Feng from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and the University of Warwick, UK, added, “We encourage parents to do their best to awaken the joy of reading in their children at an early age.”

To learn more about reading for pleasure and the brain, read the full article here.

Or read the original research, titled “Early-Initiated Childhood Reading for Pleasure: Associations with Better Cognitive Performance, Mental Well-being and Brain Structure in Early Adolescence,” published in Psychological Medicine.