Longitudinal, Experimental, and Population-Based Studies on the Impact of Arts Engagement on Child Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Researchers and education policymakers have indicated that engagement in and education in the arts and music during childhood is associated with positive benefits for cognitive, academic, social-emotional, and physiological development. However, relatively little research exists that take into account the nature of that engagement when addressing what the optimal conditions are for arts engagement to have an impact on youth outcomes, such as where (e.g., in school, out of school), how often (e.g., breadth, intensity), and under what socio-demographic conditions arts engagement occurs. This symposium extends knowledge of the value and impact of the arts for children, by presenting new research findings that account for the varying and diverse ways of engaging with the arts, and by bringing together interdisciplinary, international researchers from developmental psychology, education policy, cognitive neuroscience, epidemiology, and sociology.
Three presentations will examine longitudinal outcomes of various ways students engage with the arts in school-based settings in the US, such as taking arts electives, going on arts-based field trips, and participating in compulsory music education. A fourth presentation will include developmental outcome results from three longitudinal, population-based studies of British youth, taking into account both in and out of school engagement, as well as the child’s artistic ability.
The studies in this symposium highlight the unique characteristics of arts engagement that lead to optimal youth outcomes. These findings may have implications for the extent to which educators, parents, and policymakers include structured and unstructured arts-based activities in childcare, parenting, formal and informal education, and intervention-prevention programming.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Melissa Menzer, National Endowment for the Arts

Individual Presentations

• Arts in Middle School Predict High School Academic Outcomes: More Years of Arts are Better - Presenting Author: Adam Winsler, George Mason University; Non-Presenting Author: Alenamie Alegrado, George Mason University; Non-Presenting Author: Tevis Lee Tucker, George Mason University

• An Experimental Evaluation of Arts Field Trips - Presenting Author: Heidi Erickson, Kennesaw State University; Non-Presenting Author: Angela Watson, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: Jay Greene, University of Arkansas

• Early Childhood Musical Abilities: Associations with Developing Cognitive and Academic Performance and Socioeconomic Status - Presenting Author: John Iversen, University of California - San Diego; Non-Presenting Author: Tim T Brown, University of California - San Diego; Non-Presenting Author: Naomi T Lin, University of California - San Diego; Non-Presenting Author: Sarah Dowling, University of California, San Diego; Non-Presenting Author: Hilda Parra, University of California - San Diego

• Predictors and Benefits of Arts Engagement on Children’s Development - Presenting Author: Hei Wan Mak, University College London (UCL); Non-Presenting Author: Daisy Fancourt, University College London