Emotional intelligence helps children become better readers

Children who are better at recognizing and managing emotions tend to become better readers over time—but how does that connection work? A new longitudinal study published in Learning and Individual Differences offers an in-depth look at how emotional intelligence contributes to reading comprehension in children, and how this relationship differs depending on the type of text and a child’s family background. The researchers found that emotional intelligence predicted later reading comprehension in both narrative and non-narrative texts, and that this connection was shaped by vocabulary, word reading, and, for non-narrative texts only, working memory.

The researchers conducted this study to better understand how emotional development contributes to academic outcomes—specifically, reading comprehension. While much past research has focused on the importance of language and cognitive skills like vocabulary and memory, fewer studies have examined how non-cognitive skills such as emotional intelligence might influence children’s reading ability.

Emotional intelligence includes the ability to understand, manage, and use one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. These emotional skills are increasingly seen as important not only for mental health and social relationships, but also for learning and academic success. The researchers also aimed to explore whether these effects might vary depending on the type of reading material—narrative stories versus informational texts—and whether children’s socioeconomic background plays a role in shaping these relationships.

To investigate these questions, the research team tracked a group of 689 Chinese children starting in the third grade (average age 9.2 years) and followed them through fifth grade, collecting data in three waves over two years. The study included nearly equal numbers of boys and girls and drew from a range of family income and education backgrounds. At the start of the study (wave 1), the researchers assessed each child’s emotional intelligence using a questionnaire that measured self-awareness, emotional regulation, and ability to understand others’ emotions. They also measured non-verbal intelligence and reading comprehension.

A year later (wave 2), the children completed a series of tests designed to assess vocabulary knowledge, word reading, and working memory. Vocabulary was measured by having students define a set of two-character Chinese words, and word reading was assessed by asking students to read aloud from a list. Working memory was measured through digit span tasks, which required children to repeat a sequence of numbers forward and backward.

In the final year (wave 3), the students again completed reading comprehension tests, which included both narrative texts (such as stories) and non-narrative texts (such as informational or expository passages). The researchers then analyzed whether emotional intelligence in third grade predicted reading comprehension in fifth grade, and whether vocabulary, word reading, or working memory explained that connection.

The researchers found that emotional intelligence at age 9 was significantly linked to reading comprehension at age 11, even after controlling for early reading ability, intelligence, and gender. This relationship held true for both narrative and non-narrative texts, but the pathways connecting emotional intelligence to reading comprehension differed slightly between the two types of text.

For both text types, word reading and vocabulary knowledge served as important stepping stones. Children with higher emotional intelligence in third grade tended to have stronger word reading and vocabulary knowledge in fourth grade, which in turn predicted better reading comprehension in fifth grade. The effects were statistically significant, though modest, with word reading showing a standardized effect size of 0.04 for both narrative and non-narrative texts, and vocabulary showing effects of 0.03 for narrative and 0.02 for non-narrative texts.

However, working memory only played a role when it came to non-narrative texts. Emotional intelligence at age 9 was associated with stronger working memory at age 10, which then predicted better comprehension of non-narrative texts at age 11. This suggests that emotional skills may help children process and remember the more abstract, structured information found in non-narrative texts. Interestingly, working memory did not serve as a bridge between emotional intelligence and narrative comprehension, possibly because stories are more familiar and easier to follow, placing fewer demands on memory.

The researchers also found that family socioeconomic status significantly influenced these relationships. For children from low-income or less-educated families, emotional intelligence had a stronger impact on vocabulary, word reading, and working memory than it did for their higher-income peers.

In other words, emotional intelligence mattered more for academic outcomes among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is consistent with the “shift-and-persist” model, which suggests that children from lower-income families may rely more heavily on internal emotional strengths to navigate challenges and succeed academically.

Interestingly, the study also found that for narrative texts, word reading played a larger role in reading comprehension for children from high-income families compared to those from low-income families. One possible explanation is that children from more advantaged homes may already have exposure to narrative texts and storytelling from an early age, so their comprehension depends more on how quickly and accurately they can decode the words. In contrast, children from less advantaged homes may face multiple barriers to comprehension—less exposure to books, fewer reading strategies, and weaker word reading skills—so no single factor has an outsized influence.

Although the study offers valuable insights, the authors acknowledge several limitations. One concern is the reliance on self-reported emotional intelligence, which can be biased, especially in younger children. Future studies could strengthen measurement by incorporating teacher or caregiver assessments and observational methods. Additionally, the researchers did not examine other possible mediators, such as attention, listening comprehension, or anxiety, which may also connect emotional intelligence to reading performance. Finally, while the findings point to differences between narrative and non-narrative reading, more work is needed to understand how these genres engage different skills and strategies.

The study, “Emotional intelligence and reading comprehension: Examining mediating roles of word reading, vocabulary, and working memory,” was authored by Liyan Yu and Xiuhong Tong.