Reading for pleasure impact study

Children who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers, according to research from the Institute of Education in the UK. The study found that readers made more progress in math, vocabulary, and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read. Researchers found that reading for pleasure was more important for children’s cognitive development between ages 10 and 16 than their parents’ level of education. combined effect on children’s progress of reading books often, going to the library regularly and reading newspapers at 16 was four times greater than the advantage children gained from having a parent with a degree. Children who were read to regularly by their parents at age 5 performed better in all three tests at age 16 than those who were not helped in this way.
Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown. (2013). Social inequalities in cognitive scores at age 16: The role of reading. London: Centre for Longitudinal Studies.
http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/news.aspx?itemid=2740&itemTitle=Reading+for+pleasure+puts+children+ahead+in+the+classroom%2C+study+finds&sitesectionid=27