Skip to main content

Advertising Disclaimer »

Main menu

  • Journals
    • Pediatrics
    • Hospital Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics in Review
    • NeoReviews
    • AAP Grand Rounds
    • AAP News
  • AAP Policy
    • Topic/Program Collections
    • Policy
  • Pediatric Collections
  • Multimedia
    • Video Abstracts
  • Alerts
    • Table of Contents
    • Insights
  • AAP Career Center
  • Subscribe
  • Other Publications
    • American Academy of Pediatrics

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
American Academy of Pediatrics

AAP Gateway

Advanced Search

AAP Logo

  • Log in
  • Journals
    • Pediatrics
    • Hospital Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics in Review
    • NeoReviews
    • AAP Grand Rounds
    • AAP News
  • AAP Policy
    • Topic/Program Collections
    • Policy
  • Pediatric Collections
  • Multimedia
    • Video Abstracts
  • Alerts
    • Table of Contents
    • Insights
  • AAP Career Center
  • Subscribe

Study: Parents, toddlers interact more when reading print books vs. e-books

Melissa Jenco, News Content Editor
March 25, 2019

Electronic books are convenient, but they may not be as beneficial for toddlers’ development as print books, according to a small study.

Researchers from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found parents and toddlers interacted more when reading print books together.

“Shared reading promotes children’s language development, literacy and bonding with parents,” lead author Tiffany Munzer, M.D., said in a news release. “… We found that when parents and children read print books, they talked more frequently and the quality of their interactions were better.”

The team studied 37 pairs of parents and their 2- or 3-year-olds in a lab set up to look like a living room. Each pair read three Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer with a different format — print, basic electronic or enhanced electronic, which had features like sound effects.

Parents were more likely to ask their children open-ended questions to get their opinion on the story or what might happen next when reading print books compared to both basic and enhanced e-books. They also put stories into context, relating the material to the child’s own experiences. With electronic books, they spent time talking about the device itself, distracting from the story, according to the study “Differences in Parent-Toddler Interactions with Electronic Versus Print Books” (Munzer TG, et al. Pediatrics. March 25, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2012).

Toddlers also talked more in general and about the stories when they were in print, perhaps due in part to their parents’ prompting.

Researchers said the tablets used to read electronic books may have been seen as “individually used, rather than shared objects,” and toddlers may have been distracted by tapping and swiping. They noted children were missing out on beneficial interactions when they read e-books.

“Parents strengthen their children’s ability to acquire knowledge by relating new content to their children’s lived experiences,” Dr. Munzer said. “Research tells us that parent-led conversations (are) especially important for toddlers because they learn and retain new information better from in-person interactions than from digital media.”

Authors suggested pediatricians recommend print books to families and that parents who choose e-books try to engage in the same way they would with print books.

That recommendation was echoed by authors of a related commentary who praised the study for being able to compare experiences within each parent-toddler pair and called for more research on electronic books.

“In the meantime, pediatricians should help parents understand that enhancements often found in electronic books will not help child development as much as enhancements provided by parental interaction,” they wrote.

Resources
  • AAP literacy toolkit
  • Reach Out and Read
  • Information for parents from HealthyChildren.org on reading with 2- and 3-year-olds
Copyright © 2019 American Academy of Pediatrics

Advertising Disclaimer »

Download PDF
Email News Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Academy of Pediatrics.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Study: Parents, toddlers interact more when reading print books vs. e-books
(Your Name) has sent you a message from American Academy of Pediatrics
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the American Academy of Pediatrics web site.
Share
Study: Parents, toddlers interact more when reading print books vs. e-books
Melissa Jenco
March 25, 2019
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
  • Digital Edition Current Issue
  • Latest Daily News
  • Archives
  • Collections
  • Columns
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe to AAP News Magazine
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Pediatrics
  • Pediatrics in Review
  • Hospital Pediatrics
  • NeoReviews
  • AAP Grand Rounds
  • AAP Career Center
  • shopAAP
  • AAP.org
  • AAP News
  • Visit AAP News on Facebook
  • Follow AAP News on Twitter
American Academy of Pediatrics

© 2019 American Academy of Pediatrics