Book-rich Home Environments and Academic Performance

In the current paper was researched the effect of having books present in a students’ household on their academic performance. Academic performance was measured in dimensions of reading performance, mathematic performance and science performance. Of these, reading performance was expected to be most affected by book possession. The expectation was that for all three types of performance, the effect would be mediated by reading engagement (attitudes towards and practices of reading). The study sample consisted out of 4765 Dutch 15-year old students, who were part of the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Linear regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. The relationships were controlled for sex, speaking the language of the PISA test at home, the age of starting primary school, ESCS (similar to SES), subjective wellbeing, and being bullied. The results of the study show that indeed books at home correlate positively with academic results in all three performance dimensions. This effect is mediated by reading engagement, as expected. The found effect is also strongest for reading performance. The study contributes to literature on elements of the home environment that predict academic performance and supplies unique evidence for the value of book access at home and reading engagement for academic performance.