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Music education reduces emotional symptoms in children: A quasi-experimental study in the Guri Program in Brazil

Bortz, G.; Ilari, B.; Germano, N. D. G.; Jackowski, A. P.; Cogo-Moreira, H.; Lucio, P. S.

2024-11-12 psychiatry and clinical psychology
10.1101/2024.11.12.24317159 medRxiv
Show abstract

The transferability of music education to cognitive and social skills has been explored recently, but its causal effects remain debatable. This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the impact of a music education program (Guri) on aspects attention, working memory and socioemotional skills in children from underserved communities of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The music group (n = 38, 5-9 years) was recruited from 10 centers (polos) distributed across the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo and the control group (n = 67) consisted of aged-matched children who attended public schools surrounding the polos. The ABEP SES questionnaire and the Raven test were used as control variables, the SDQ questionnaire, the Digit-span subtest from WISC-IV, the PARB-Q questionnaire, and the BPA test were used as subject variables. A significant effect of the intervention in emotional symptoms in the music group as opposed to controls was found (F(1,89) = 4.562, p = 0.035, {eta}2 = 0.049), indicating benefits for the music group. Children whose mothers had low levels of education benefited with gains between 0.70 and 0.95 standard deviations in both groups for divided attention, indicating a significant interaction with maternal education.

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