Reading for pleasure during childhood has a substantial influence on a person's vocabulary 30 years later, researchers at the Institute of Education (IOE) have found.

The IOE study, Vocabulary from Adolescence to Middle Age, builds on previous work that Sullivan and Brown have done which showed that reading for pleasure was linked to intellectual development up to age 16, especially in vocabulary but also for mathematics. “We have now shown - for the first time, we believe - that reading for pleasure, both in childhood and adulthood, has a positive impact on the vocabulary of people in their early forties,” Professor Sullivan said.