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Parent
Reading Style Impacts Children's Social Skills According
to New Study
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According to a new study, how parents read stories to their
4- and 5-year-old children may directly impact how
successful their children are at social interaction. The
study found that there was a strong relationship between the
amount of attention parents paid to the emotions, desires,
and thoughts of story characters and children's
understanding of the way internal states are related to
behavior. This type of understanding has been linked to
successful social skills, such as the ability to make
friends and resolve conflict, in both younger and older
children. Furthermore, children whose parents strongly
emphasized these aspects of the story were more likely to
recall these details of the story later on.
Lead researcher Joelle Greene, a visiting professor of
psychology at Pomona College and The Claremont Graduate
University, presented her findings at the Biennial Meeting
of the Society for Research in Child Development this past
April in Tampa, Florida.
"Storytelling may represent a largely unexplored domain for
studying the transmission of social skills from adults to
children," explains Greene. "While educational and
psychological researchers have long focused on the benefits
of reading and constructing stories with adults and the
academic benefits are robust and well-documented, we haven't
paid much attention to the other types of learning that may
take place in this setting. Our preliminary findings are
very exciting and confirm what we've suspected: that parents
teach their children about more than just literacy when they
read together."
This summer, Greene and her research assistants are
expanding the research project to include storytelling
between grandparents and their 4- to 5-year-old
grandchildren. "We think grandparents may bring a unique
perspective to storytelling with young children based on
their life-experience and historical perspective, " comments
Greene. "We're very eager to see how grandparents approach
storytelling and how it compares to the approach parents
use." This phase of the project was conceived and designed
by Shana Yu, a member of the class of 2006, in collaboration
with Professor Greene. Yu and Greene received an Irvine
Foundation Grant from Pomona College to conduct the study
this summer.
The Pomona College Storytelling Project is seeking
grandparents with regular (at least monthly) contact with
grandchildren between the ages of 4 and 5 years to
participate in the study on the campus of Pomona College in
Claremont. The study consists of approximately one hour of
activities, including storytelling, a vocabulary measure for
children and some short questionnaires. In exchange for
their participation, families received a $25 dollar gift
certificate to a local bookstore. To receive more
information, or to arrange an appointment, please call (909)
607-8217 or (909) 607-3758, or email
Joelle.Greene@pomona.edu.
Pomona College, one of the nation's premier liberal arts
colleges, offers a comprehensive program in the arts,
humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Founded
in 1887, its hallmarks include small classes, close
relationships between students and faculty, and a range of
opportunities for student research.
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