Parenting Journal · Volume 2 · Issue 4 · Licensed source edition
Shared reading is associated with fewer emotional/behavioral problems and better prosocial behavior in preschool children: a cross-sectional study in western China
Originally published 2026-06-24 · Frontiers in Psychiatry
Frontiers Media SA · DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1858077 ↗
Editorial reading guide · Collaboration
Which aspects of reading together were captured besides the number of books?
The researchers examined shared reading alongside parent-reported behavioral and prosocial measures. The breadth of the sample and its observational design answer different questions.
Who was studied?
21,366 parent–child pairs recruited through 189 kindergartens in western China.
Age / stage: Preschool years
Read with three questions
- Could a child's prior behavior also influence how often a family reads together?
- Which measures came from the same participant, and which had an independent source?
- How did the authors distinguish the adult’s participation from the child’s engagement?
Keep the limits in view
A cross-sectional account measures variables in the same period. It cannot establish which came first; participants reporting more than one measure may also introduce shared reporting bias.
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Original authorship, publication date, journal and DOI are preserved. This issue’s TRICK placement and reading questions are editorial additions, not claims made by the original authors.
Hongli Sun; Huifang Zhang; Huiping Zhang; Yudan Zhang (2026). Shared reading is associated with fewer emotional/behavioral problems and better prosocial behavior in preschool children: a cross-sectional study in western China Frontiers in Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1858077
Permissions checked against the saved article notice; repository publication notices screened 2026-11-04. This is not a new peer-review decision. The source authors and publishers are not represented as endorsing this issue.