Frontiers in pediatrics
Shared reading and independent book engagement in early childhood: associations with the home literacy environment in a Turkish pediatric outpatient population
By Kilic EK, Kalayci F, Çelebier K and 4 others.
Abstract
Objective
To explore parental reading practices and factors associated with parental reading to children and children's independent engagement with books within the Home Literacy Environment (HLE).
Methods
This cross-sectional study included 362 parents of children aged 1-6 years who attended the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic of Ankara Bilkent City Hospital between October and December 2025. Parents completed a 28-item questionnaire assessing their demographic characteristics, home literacy practices, parental reading habits, access to books, and children's independent book engagement. Firth's bias-reduced penalized likelihood logistic regression was used for multivariable analyses.