Relationship Between Direct Aggression and Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Attention and Intelligence Among Children at Risk for Behavioral Problems.

This study aimed to investigate the influence of attention and intelligence in the prediction of prosocial behavior by direct aggression (proactive or reactive) in school-aged children at risk for behavioral problems. The sample was composed of 64 children aged 6 to 8 years screened for risk of behavioral problems, who were enrolled in a clinical trial. Multiple regression models were tested to investigate the prediction of prosocial behavior by direct aggression (proactive or reactive), attention, and intelligence.

Long-term music instruction is partially associated with the development of socioemotional skills.

This study aims to investigate the development of pitch-matching, rhythmic entrainment, and socioemotional skills in children who received formal music instruction and other non-music based after school programs. Eighty-three children, averaging 6.81 years old at baseline, were enrolled in either a music, sports, or no after-school program and followed over four years.

Music, drama, and social development in Portuguese children.

Introduction: Social competence plays a fundamental role in children's development, and in their functioning at school and in life. Social skills, as learned behaviors that allow children to positively interact with others, are important for success in both academic and peer-group settings. Children's participation in collective music and other arts education has been associated with the development of social skills.

Musical participation and positive youth development in middle school.

Introduction: Music is central in the lives of adolescents. While listening is usually the most common form of engagement, many adolescents also learn music formally by participating in school-based and extracurricular programs. This study examined positive youth development (PYD), school connectedness (SC), and hopeful future expectations (HFE) in middle school students ( = 120) with four levels of musical participation in school-based and extracurricular music programs.

Perceptions of Parenting, Parent-Child Activities and Children's Extracurricular Activities in Times of COVID-19.

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of parenting and parent-child activities in American families with children aged 0-16 after social distance measures were put in place. Through an online questionnaire, we examined the extent to which parental role, age, education, and perceptions of work productivity impacted parent perceptions of six parenting categories (positive parenting, inconsistent discipline, positive relationships, positive emotions, self-efficacy, and routine management) during the initial months of the pandemic. We also examined children's participation in extracurricular activities, before and after measures of social distancing were implemented.

Mothers as Home DJs: Recorded Music and Young Children's Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt our lives in unimagined ways, families are reinventing daily rituals, and this is likely true for musical rituals. This study explored how parents with young children used recorded music in their everyday lives during the pandemic. Mothers ( = 19) of child(ren) aged 18 months to 5 years living in the United States played the role of home DJ over a period of one week by strategically crafting the sonic home environment, based on resources provided by the authors, in response to their children's mood and state.

Changes in auditory cortical thickness following music training in children: converging longitudinal and cross-sectional results.

Evidence is accumulating to suggest that music training is associated with structural brain differences in children and in adults. We used magnetic resonance imagining in two studies to investigate neuroanatomical correlates of music training in children. In study 1, we cross-sectionally compared a group of child musician (ages 9-11) matched to non-musicians and found that cortical thickness was greater in child musician in the posterior segment of the right-superior temporal gyrus (STG), an auditory association area that is involved in processing complex auditory stimuli, including pitch.

Effects of Music Training on Inhibitory Control and Associated Neural Networks in School-Aged Children: A Longitudinal Study.

Inhibitory control, the ability to suppress an immediate dominant response, has been shown to predict academic and career success, socioemotional wellbeing, wealth, and physical health. Learning to play a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities including inhibition and task switching. While music training has been shown to benefit cognitive and language skills, its impact on inhibitory control remains inconclusive.

Music training and child development: a review of recent findings from a longitudinal study.

Evidence suggests that learning to play music enhances musical processing skills and benefits other cognitive abilities. Furthermore, studies of children and adults indicate that the brains of musicians and nonmusicians are different. It has not been determined, however, whether such differences result from pre-existing traits, musical training, or an interaction between the two.

Childhood Music Training Induces Change in Micro and Macroscopic Brain Structure: Results from a Longitudinal Study.

Several studies comparing adult musicians and nonmusicians have shown that music training is associated with structural brain differences. It is not been established, however, whether such differences result from pre-existing biological traits, lengthy musical training, or an interaction of the two factors, or if comparable changes can be found in children undergoing music training. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on the developmental trajectory of children's brain structure, over two years, beginning at age 6.

Assessing Music Perception in Young Children: Evidence for and Psychometric Features of the M-Factor.

Given the relationship between language acquisition and music processing, musical perception (MP) skills have been proposed as a tool for early diagnosis of speech and language difficulties; therefore, a psychometric instrument is needed to assess music perception in children under 10 years of age, a crucial period in neurodevelopment. We created a set of 80 musical stimuli encompassing seven domains of music perception to inform perception of tonal, atonal, and modal stimuli, in a random sample of 1006 children, 6-13 years of age, equally distributed from first to fifth grades, from 14 schools (38% private schools) in So Paulo State. The underlying model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis.

The Development of Musical Skills of Underprivileged Children Over the Course of 1 Year: A Study in the Context of an El Sistema-Inspired Program.

Developmental research in music has typically centered on the study of single musical skills (e.g., singing, listening) and has been conducted with middle class children who learn music in schools and conservatories.

An equal start: absence of group differences in cognitive, social, and neural measures prior to music or sports training in children.

Several studies comparing adult musicians and non-musicians have provided compelling evidence for functional and anatomical differences in the brain systems engaged by musical training. It is not known, however, whether those differences result from long-term musical training or from pre-existing traits favoring musicality. In an attempt to begin addressing this question, we have launched a longitudinal investigation of the effects of childhood music training on cognitive, social and neural development.