Cross-Sectional Predictors of Reading to Young Children Among Participants in the Texas WIC Program

This study reports the results of a cross-sectional analysis of variables associated with parents' reading to young children among participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Texas. The participants were 600 WIC mothers visiting WIC clinics in Texas. The data were collected by survey, and the requested information concerned reading to young children, environmental support for reading (access to books), perceived barriers to reading to children (such as cost of books and being too busy), outcome expectations concerning reading, self-efficacy concerning reading, and demographic variables. Mplus was used to analyze a structural equation model predicting reading to young children. The model results indicated that outcome expectations concerning the benefits of reading to children and access to books were positively related to reading to children, and that perceived barriers were negatively related. Self-efficacy to select books and mother's education did not account for parents' reading to children when included in the model. The implications of the findings for interventions to increase reading to children are discussed.