Reading for Pleasure Early in Childhood Linked to Better Mental Wellbeing Later in Life

In a new study, researchers in the UK and China found that 12 hours a week was the optimal amount of reading, and that this was linked to improved brain structure, which may help explain the findings.

During childhood and adolescence, our brains develop, making this an important time in which to establish behaviors that support our cognitive development and promote good brain health.  However, until now it has been unclear what impact encouraging children to read from an early age will have on their brain development, cognition and mental health later in life.

To investigate this, researchers looked at data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development cohort in the US, which recruited more than 10,000 young adolescents.

The team analyzed a wide range of data including from clinical interviews, cognitive tests, mental and behavioral assessments and brain scans, comparing young people who began reading for pleasure at a relatively early age against those who began doing so later or not at all. 

Of the 10,243 participants studied, just under a half (48%) had little experience of reading for pleasure or did not begin doing so until later in their childhood. The remaining half had spent between three and ten years reading for pleasure.

The team found a strong link between reading for pleasure at an early age and a positive performance in adolescence on cognitive tests that measured such factors as verbal learning, memory and speech development, and at school academic achievement.

These children also had better mental wellbeing, as assessed using a number of clinical scores and reports from parents and teachers, showing fewer signs of stress and depression, as well as improved attention and fewer behavioral problems such as aggression and rule-breaking.

Professor Barbara Sahakian from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge said: “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.”

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Sources:

Yun-Jun Sun, Barbara J. Sahakian, Christelle Langley, Anyi Yang, Yuchao Jiang, Jujiao Kang, Xingming Zhao, Chunhe Li, Wei Cheng, Jianfeng Feng. Early-initiated childhood reading for pleasure: associations with better cognitive performance, mental well-being and brain structure in young adolescence. Psychological Medicine, 2023; 1 DOI: 10.1017/S0033291723001381

University of Cambridge. “Reading for pleasure early in childhood linked to better cognitive performance and mental wellbeing in adolescence.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 June 2023. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230627191516.htm>.

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