ERIC Number: EJ1047641
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0144-3410
EISSN: N/A
Arts Involvement Predicts Academic Achievement Only When the Child Has a Musical Instrument
Young, Laura N.; Cordes, Sara; Winner, Ellen
Educational Psychology, v34 n7 p849-861 2014
We examined the associations between academic achievement and arts involvement (access to a musical instrument for the child at home, participation in unspecified after-school arts activities) in a sample of 2339 11-12-year-olds surveyed in the USA between 1998 and 2008. We compared the contributions of these variables to other kinds of cognitive stimulation at home (e.g. books), participation in after-school sports, and socioeconomic factors. Involvement in after-school arts was positively related to academic achievement only for those children who also reported access to a musical instrument. Access to a musical instrument predicted academic achievement independently of socioeconomic status. We consider the possibilities that the results may be indicative of differing parental attitudes in homes with musical instruments and/or a causal link between instrumental music learning and academic achievement.
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Prediction, Musical Instruments, Socioeconomic Status, Correlation, Extracurricular Activities, Art, Comparative Analysis, Parent Attitudes, Family Environment, Music, Mothers, Academic Aspiration, Stimulation, Cognitive Development, Educational Attainment, Longitudinal Studies, Multiple Regression Analysis, Predictor Variables
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Home Observation for Measurement of Environment
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A