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Psychological-Educational Studies
2025. Vol. 17, no. 4, 179–195
doi:10.17759/psyedu.2025170411
ISSN: 2587-6139 (online)

Features of reading traditional and interactive books by mothers to young children

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. The interaction of modern parents and children takes place in highly technological conditions. In particular, the format of books that adults read to their children has changed today: e-books have appeared, one of the most popular variants of which are interactive books. At the same time, there is a shortage of works in Russia showing the features of child-parent interaction in the process of reading interactive books. Objective. This study aims to examine the peculiarities of mother-child interaction at an early age during reading of interactive and traditional books. Hypothesis. The interaction of a mother and a young child while reading interactive and traditional books differs in the characteristics of joint attention and communication. Methods and materials. The study used a structured video surveillance method. The analysis of 18 parameters of interaction in pairs "mother-child" in the process of joint reading of traditional and interactive books is carried out. Sample: 21 mother–child pairs: 21 children (12 girls, 57,1%) aged 11 months to 38 months (M = 21,7, SD = 7,14); 21 mothers aged 24 to 43 years (M = 33,5, SD = 6,25). Results. When reading an interactive book, the mother more often shifts the child's attention than when reading a traditional book. Children often listen to the text in its entirety and generally listen longer to their mother's reading of traditional books compared to interactive ones. Reading a traditional book is also more frequently accompanied by a discussion of its content. At the same time, it is shown that not only children but also mothers initiate interaction that is not solely based on content when reading an interactive book. Conclusions. The interaction between mothers and children while reading traditional books is more meaningful than in the process of reading interactive books, characterized by a number of positive aspects.

General Information

Keywords: early age, reading, interactive books, joint attention, parent-child interaction, communication

Journal rubric: Psychology of Education

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/psyedu.2025170411

Received 20.08.2025

Revised 27.10.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Ryabkova, I.A., Kuzmina, Yu.V., Lykova, T.A. (2025). Features of reading traditional and interactive books by mothers to young children. Psychological-Educational Studies, 17(4), 179–195. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/psyedu.2025170411

© Ryabkova I.A., Kuzmina Yu.V., Lykova T.A., 2025

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Irina A. Ryabkova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor, Chair of Preschool Pedagogy and Psychology at the Faculty of Educational Psychology, Moscow State University of psychology and education, Senior Researcher, Laboratory «The Center for Socio-Cultural Problems of Modern Education», Federal Scientific Centre for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2274-0432, e-mail: ibaladinskaya@gmail.com

Yulia V. Kuzmina, Master’s Degree Student, Chair of Preschool Pedagogy and Psychology, Faculty of Psychology of Education, Moscow State University of psychology and education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4990-4815, e-mail: kuzminajulia@gmail.com

Tatiana A. Lykova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Leading Researcher of the Laboratory “Center for Sociocultural Problems of Modern Education”, Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, Professor, Russian Institute of Theatrical Art, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6494-978X, e-mail: feo.tatiana@gmail.com

Contribution of the authors

Irina A. Ryabkova — research idea; research planning; control over research, interpretation of results, statistical processing.

Yulia V. Kuzmina — study preparation; data collection, data processing; interpretation of results.

Tatyana A. Lykova — writing and formatting of the manuscript, annotation, presentation of research results.

All authors participated in the discussion of the results and agreed on the final text of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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