Khaberni - A recent study, conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia in the United States and published during the first half of January in the journal PLOS One, revealed the impact of shared nighttime reading between parents and their children in developing creativity and enhancing empathy skills in children aged between 6 and 8 years old.
The researchers reported that daily reading was associated with a significant improvement in cognitive empathy and creative abilities in children, regardless of the reading style adopted.
The study further showed that short pauses during reading contribute to fostering reflection and anticipating events, which supports higher-order thinking skills in children.
The researchers defined empathy as a complex social skill that includes understanding the thoughts of others (cognitive empathy), alongside sharing their feelings and being emotionally affected by them (emotional empathy).
◄ Decline of Empathy in the Technology Era
The study, published by "Middle East," indicated that empathy is a complex behavior influenced by the environment and cognitive experiences, and develops during early childhood through social interaction and learning.
However, recent research has shown a notable decline in empathy levels among children and youth nowadays, as a result of excessive technology use and changing lifestyle patterns.
Given the role of empathy in supporting mental health, enhancing social communication, and improving academic performance, the researchers emphasized the importance of seeking simple and effective ways to develop it at an early age.
◄ Study Methodology
The study was conducted on 41 children from Virginia, aged between 6 and 8, involving a parent or guardian, with the children being randomly divided into two groups:
● Continuous Reading group, where parents read picture books without interruption.
● Pause-for-Thought group, where parents paused once during reading to ask reflective questions related to the characters' feelings and actions.
The experiment continued for two weeks.
◄ Evaluation of Empathy and Creativity
Levels of empathy were assessed before and after the study using a modified version for children of the "Interpersonal Reactivity Index," to measure cognitive and emotional empathy, as well as the ability to adopt others' perspectives through imagination.
Evaluations were conducted individually for each child, controlling for variables that could affect the results, such as age, gender, and previous reading habits.
Creativity was evaluated by monitoring the number of new ideas presented by children in their answers to the questions posed during the pauses.
The data showed that most families practice regular reading prior to starting the study, with 64% reading daily to their children, 19% three to six times weekly, 11% once to three times weekly, and only about 5% rarely doing so.
◄ Reflective Questions.. a Stimulus for Creativity
The results indicated that shared reading generally led to improved empathy levels in children, with no significant differences between the two groups, suggesting that the act of reading itself is a key factor in developing empathy, regardless of the style used.
In contrast, children in the Pause-for-Thought group showed clearer improvements in creative abilities over time compared to their peers in the Continuous Reading group, indicating that posing reflective questions enhances idea generation when repeated.
Imagination-based empathy also showed greater improvement in this group when considering individual differences, such as gender and previous reading experience.
◄ Conclusion
The study concluded that shared reading between parents and children provides a rich environment for learning to adopt others' perspectives and developing empathy towards them, whether or not the reading is accompanied by reflective questions.
Thus, this simple daily practice is an effective and accessible tool to enhance creativity and empathy during early childhood.
