Children who read for pleasure have better cognitive performance and mental well-being as teenagers than those who don’t read for pleasure. The corresponding study was published in Psychological Medicine.
Childhood is a critical period for brain development and neuroplasticity. Studies show that behavior established during this period is key to healthy brain development and well-being later in life. While research has established that reading induces functional and anatomical changes in the brain, how reading for pleasure during childhood affects the young adolescent brain remains unclear.
In the current study, researchers analyzed data from 10, 243 young adolescents. Data included clinical interviews, cognitive tests, mental and behavioral assessments, and brain scans. Altogether, 52% of participants read for pleasure for between three and ten years, while 48% reported little experience of reading for pleasure between the ages of two and nine years old- or did not report doing so until later in childhood.
After analyzing the data, the researchers found a long-standing childhood 'reading-for-pleasure habit was linked to better performance in cognitive tests and lower mental health problem scores in adolescence. It was also linked to moderately larger total brain areas and volumes than non-readers. This was especially true for areas of the brain linked to cognitive function, mental health, behavior, and attention.
Early reading for pleasure also negatively correlated with screen time on electronic devices such as TV, cellphone and tablet, and positively correlated with sleep duration.
The researchers noted that the benefits of reading peaked at 12 hours per week. Reading beyond this, however, was linked to a gradual decrease in cognition, perhaps due to excess sedentary time and less time in activities such as sport or social activities.
Study author, Professor Jianfeng Feng from Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and the University of Warwick, UK, said in a press release: “We encourage parents to do their best to awaken the joy of reading in their children at an early age. Done right, this will not only give them pleasure and enjoyment, but will also help their development and encourage long-term reading habits, which may also prove beneficial into adult life.”
Sources: Science Daily, Psychological Medicine
