305 mothers completed the survey. Only two parents declined participation, citing time constraints. 89 mothers provided narrative comments.
Descriptive data: The demographic data is shown in Table 1. All the participants were mothers, consistent with the cultural norm in Jordan where mothers assume the majority of childcare responsibilities, including education and doctor’s visits.
More fathers than mothers had at least a four-year college education (54.4% vs 22.6% p = 0.001). However, the majority of mothers (70.1%) reported having at least a 2-year tertiary education (community college diploma or university). National statistics report that 37% of males and 31% of females in Jordan have attained tertiary education.(33)
In our study 34.2% of mothers reported being employed outside the home, compared to national employment rates for women of 22%.
Most households were middle- to low-income, with only 11.5% making over 1000 Jordanian dinars JOD; (1400 USD) per month (the average household income in Jordan is JOD 445 equivalent to 637 USD per month).
Table 1
Participant demographics.
Demographic variable | | |
Child’s age | Mean: 5.3 | Range: 3–8 |
Gender M:F | N = 137:168 | 44.9%:55.1% |
Mother’s age | 33 years | 19–49 |
Number of children in the house | 3 years | 1–9 |
Mother’s marital status: Married | N = 292 | 95.7% |
Mother’s employment: employed | N = 104 | 34.1 |
Household income <JOD 500 500–1000 > 1000 | n 121 148 35 | % 39.7 48.5 11.5 |
Mother’s education Elementary school Secondary school Community college University degree Graduate or professional degree | n 7 85 144 47 22 | % 2.3 27.9 47.2 15.4 7.2 |
Father’s education Elementary school Secondary school Community college University degree Graduate or professional degree | n 19 84 33 125 44 | % 6.2 27.54 10.8 41 14.3 |
As shown in Table 2, 45.5% of households reported having less than 10 books in the home other than schoolbooks, and 57.1% had fewer than 10 children’s books. In contrast, 99.9% of households had at least one television set and one smartphone. 94.5% of households had at least two smartphones.
Mothers almost universally (98%) agreed that reading is beneficial for children, and the majority (69.8%) reported helping their children with schoolwork daily. However, only 16.4% reported reading to their children daily. Additionally, mothers reported little personal reading of books (6.2%), newspapers or magazines (11.2%) daily compared to 48.2% who reported reading articles on the Internet. The majority of mothers also reported higher than recommended screen time exposure and low levels of physical activity for their children.
Table 2
Home literacy environment
Home literacy Environment | N | % |
Number of books in the household other than school books No books Less than 10 books 10–50 books More than 50 books | 34 102 109 60 | 11.2 33.4 35.7 19.6 |
Number of Children’s books in the household other than school books Do not have any books Less than 10 10–50 More than 50 | 37 137 113 18 | 12.13 44.9 37.0 5.9 |
Number of Screen devices in the household One of more TV sets One or more computers One or more smart phone 2 or more smart phones One or more electronic tablets | 304 199 304 288 132 | 99.6 64.3 99.6 94.1 43.3 |
X box or play station | 64 | 21.0 |
Automatic washing machine | 278 | 91.5 |
Mother’s activities and attitudes Read books or magazines daily | 19 | 6.2 |
Read articles on the internet daily | 147 | 48.0 |
Read to their child daily | 50 | 16.4 |
Help their children with school work daily | 213 | 69.8 |
Believe that reading is beneficial to children | 299 | 98.0 |
Do not have time to read for self | 137 | 44.9 |
Do not have time to read to children Children’s books are too expensive | 65 62 | 21.3 20.3 |
Prefer television Child activities by mother’s report | 68 | 22.3 |
Watches television more than one hour a day | 188 | 61.6 |
Plays games on electronic tablet | 175 | 57.4 |
Plays outdoors less than one hour per day | 179 | 58.7 |
Does homework more than one hour per day | 146 | 55.3 |
Reads more than one hour per day other than homework | 18 | 5.9 |
The factors that were associated with daily, shared reading on univariate analysis were: the number of books at home (p = 0.0004), the number of children’s books at home (p = < 0.0001) and mother’s educational level (p = 0.0062), mother helping children in the home with homework, (p = 0.007), and mother personal reading (p < 0.0001). Father’s education, household income, child’s gender, number of children in the household, number of hours watching TV or playing videogames, or playing outdoors were not associated with shared reading (Table 3).
On multivariable analysis, the factors that were independently associated with shared reading included: number of children’s books in the home, mother’s education, help with homework, and mother’s personal reading. Table 3
Table 3
Multivariate analysis of factors found to be associated with shared reading on univariate analysis.
Factor | Odds Ratio | 95% Wald Confidence Limits | p-value |
Child books in home: >=10 vs 0/<10 | 5.26 | 2.39 | 11.56 | < .0001 |
Mom education: Community college/BA/Grad/professional degree vs < = Secondary school | 2.14 | 0.87 | 5.24 | 0.097 |
Help with homework: Daily vs < daily | 0.32 | 0.16 | 0.67 | 0.0025 |
Mom personal book reading: >=once weekly vs Did not do | 2.65 | 1.33 | 5.28 | 0.0058 |
The odds of daily shared reading were 5.26 times higher if there were more than 10 children’s books in the home and 2.65 times higher if the mother regularly engaged in personal reading. The mother’s post-secondary education increased the odds of shared reading by 2.1 times and approached but did not reach statistical significance as an independent variable associated with shared reading (p = 0.097, CI 0.87–5.242). Notably, helping the child with homework correlated inversely with shared reading (p = 0.0025). The odds of shared reading were 0.32 if the mother assisted with homework daily compared to those who provided less assistance with homework.
Narrative comments
89 of the 305 mothers provided narrative comments at the end of the survey. The comments were analyzed using a phenomenological and iterative process. Two of the investigators reviewed the narrative comments and independently generated themes. The two investigators met and discussed and reconciled the list of themes that were generated. The results of this initial analysis and the comments from the primary analysis were then reviewed by the other investigators independently and comments were sent to the 2 primary reviewers. The input from the group was incorporated into a final draft that was cycled back to the group for revision and approval.
The parents’ narrative comments fit into 2 main themes. The first theme revolved around perceived barriers to shared reading, which included the affordability of books, a lack of public libraries, and the perception that many books that were available were of poor quality. Mothers also reported their perception that the home, school and societal environments did not encourage children to read for pleasure.
The second theme revolved around qualities of children’s books that parents thought were desirable. Those qualities included books written in correct Classical Arabic, that are culturally relevant. They also preferred books with a moral, a lesson or having some other kind of educational value. Finally, they liked books that have developmentally appropriate language and realistic and attractive illustrations. The result of this analysis is presented in Table 4, including quotes from the parents.
Table 4
Analysis of narrative comments.
Category | Themes and example narrative comments | Number |
Barriers to Reading | Books are expensive Quality books are expensive | 10 |
No encouragement for reading (to children) in the society, schools and homes Unfortunately, neither the society nor the parents encourage reading Reading is not encouraged even at schools there is little interest or emphasis on children’s literature from Arab authors and writers | 18 |
Quality Children’s books not available “it is difficult to find quality children’s books, especially for young children”. | 10 |
Lack of access to libraries We do not have public libraries | 8 |
Available books lack moral and an educational goal Unfortunately, most of the available books are silly, without meaning and are pointless. | 12 |
Electronic devices took away from reading. smart electronic devices moved us away from reading | 3 |
Characteristics of books preferred by parents | Culturally appropriate content Children’s books must reflect our values and traditions | 3 |
Classical Arabic We need books in correct classical Arabic, and with diacritics | 7 |
Developmentally appropriate: books for younger children Sentences should be short and the book not too long” | 6 |
Importance of size of the book, small is preferred a small book is attractive and encourages reading | 13 |
Importance of quality of illustrations I prefer realistic illustrations Colorful illustrations are important | 8 |