Music Education Program Relates to Social-Emotional Growth for Children Facing Economic Hardship

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

The start of the 21st century has hosted decreased access to music education, particularly for children facing economic hardship and children who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) (McMurrer, 2007). This is problematic in terms of arts equity and social-emotional benefits children may gain via music participation. The present study examines the impact of an afterschool music education program on social-emotional functioning for elementary school children facing risks related to poverty and racism.

Participants were 503 students who attended public elementary schools in a city in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US: 345 students received the Music Education Program (MEP), whereas 158 students enrolled for comparison purposes, did not receive MEP. Of participants, 60.8% were female, and 70.1% Black/African American, 9.0% Latino/Hispanic American, 5.2% Asian American, and 15.6% White/European American. Child age ranged from 7 to 14 years (M = 9 yrs, 7 mo (SD = 1.21 years). Approximately 97.4% of the children had family income-to-needs ratios falling below the federal threshold for poverty status.

Ethical standards were followed, and all procedures were approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). At start-of-year and end-of-year time points, students completed The Brief™ Problem Monitor (Achenbach, McConaughy, Ivanova, et al., 2011), a shortened form of the well validated and widely used Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which provides subscale scores for internalizing problems (fear, anxiety, sadness), attention problems (concentration difficulties and inattention, and externalizing problems (anger and aggression), as well as a total problem score.

Fall problem scores tended to be higher for MEP students in the fall, but were similar to those of the comparison group by spring, demonstrating greater improvement in social-emotional functioning for students in MEP. See Figure 2. Multivariate tests revealed a significant main effect of MEP, with MEP students showing higher internalizing (F = 46.37, p = .00, ηp2 = .099, power = 1.00), externalizing (F = 30.05, p = .00, ηp2 = .066, power = 1.00), and total problems (F = 5.38, p = .021, ηp2 = .013, power = .639). There was also a significant interaction of MEP and time, with MEP students showing greater improvement across the year (Wilks’ Lambda = .894, F = 12.53, p = .000, ηp2 = .106, power = 1.00). Univariate tests indicated a significant interaction of time and MEP for: internalizing (F = 46.66, p = .00, ηp2 = .099, power = 1.00), externalizing (F = 28.77, p = .00, ηp2 = .064, power = 1.00), and total problems (F = 9.59, p = .002, ηp2 = .022, power = .871).

Although the MEP and comparison groups were well matched on a range of demographic indicators, the MEP group showed higher levels of social-emotional problems in fall, suggesting unmeasured “third variables”. Whatever the preexisting differences, MEP participation was associated with greater social-emotional improvement. Although not designed as music therapy, this after school music education program seemed to have something of a therapeutic benefit for participating students.

Authors

• Ellie Brown, West Chester University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Suzanne Varnell, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Blanca Velazquez-Martin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mallory Leigh Garnett, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author

• Keriann Mosley
  Non-Presenting Author