The relationship between parental literacy involvement, socio-economic status and reading literacy,

© 2016 Educational Review. In this article, we explore the relationship between parental literacy activities with the child, socio-economic status (SES) and reading literacy. We draw upon the Bourdieusian theory of habitus development to explore this relationship. Multilevel analyses of a survey of 43,870 pupils (with an average age of 10 years) in 10 Western European regions reveal a positive relation between early parental involvement in literacy activities (before primary school) and an increasing level of reading literacy and parental education. Students with a lower SES also have lower reading literacy and reading attitudes than students with a higher SES. We also find that children with a lower SES experience more late parental involvement in literacy activities (during the fourth year of formal schooling) than children with a higher SES. We also show that late parental involvement in literacy activities is an adjustment for worse or better reading literacy during primary school.peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=cedr20status: publishe