Reciprocal effects between reading comprehension and emotional cognitive ability

This study examined the reciprocal relations between children's reading comprehension and emotional cognitive ability (cognitive reappraisal and cognitive empathy). Participants were 920 third-grade primary school children (Mage = 8.54, SD = 0.68; 337 girls) in central China. After controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES), gender, age, and the autoregressive effects, results suggested (1) a unidirectional prediction of reading comprehension on children's cognitive reappraisal; (2) a bidirectional relation between reading comprehension and children's cognitive empathy in grades 4 to 5; and (3) a virtuous circle between reading comprehension and cognitive empathy. These findings provided the first insights into explaining the relationship between reading comprehension and children's emotional cognitive ability, and also suggested that improvements in reading comprehension may enhance children's emotional cognitive ability. Educational relevance and implications statement: This study examined the relationships between reading comprehension and emotional cognitive ability (cognitive reappraisal and cognitive empathy) in 920 third-grade primary school children with three longitudinal measures. Our findings show that reading comprehension and cognitive empathy mutually aid each other in the middle and upper primary grades, whereas reading comprehension unidirectionally promotes cognitive reappraisal. These findings highlight the importance of educators regularly assessing and improving children's reading comprehension and emotional cognitive ability, taking into account their levels and needs.Educators should guide children to experience different situations and characters in reading, develop their cognitive empathy, and teach them effective emotion regulation strategies (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) to help them manage their own and others' emotions in a positive way. In addition, our study indicates that educational assessments or interventions ought to incorporate reading comprehension and emotional cognitive ability, and target interventions based on a comprehensive assessment of both.