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An examination of parent /caregiver attitudes toward music instruction, the nature of the home musical environment, and their relationship to the developmental music aptitude of preschool children
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the attitudes of parents or caregivers of preschool children toward music instruction and the home musical environment, and to determine if selected factors (parent/caregiver attitudes, home musical environment, socioeconomic status, age of child, or gender of child) were predictive of musical potential in young children. A total of 161 preschool children ages three- and four-years-old and their parents or primary caregivers participated. The children were enrolled in 22 preschools that were selected based on the following criteria: (a) the staff were active in early childhood professional development organizations, and (b) the preschools did not offer music instruction beyond simple games and songs taught at most preschools. With the assistance of the preschool directors, the parents/caregivers completed a Parent/Caregiver Survey Regarding Preschool Music (PSRPM) . The PSRPM elicited the following information from the subjects: demographics, the nature of the home musical environments (HOMES, Brand, 1985), parent/caregiver attitudes about music for preschool children (Mallett, 1998), and the children's developing musical potential as measured by the game Audie (Gordon, 1989). The results indicated that the attitudes of the parents/caregivers toward music instruction were relatively positive (M = 4.16 on a five-point scale). The reliability of the attitude measure as determined by computing coefficient alpha was r = .86. The home musical environment analysis indicated that in general these environments represented a somewhat higher than average level of exposure and activity conducive to the musical development of the children (M = 34.59; 47 points possible). The reliability of the HOMES was r = .75 (coefficient alpha). A modest positive relationship between the home musical environment scores and the parent/caregiver attitude scores was indicated based on a correlation coefficient of .4201 ( N = 153, p = <.001). Of the five predictor variables utilized in the simultaneous multiple regression analysis, age of child and home musical environment were predictive of developmental music aptitude.
Subject Area
Music education|Early childhood education|Individual & family studies
Recommended Citation
Mallett, Catherine Ann, "An examination of parent /caregiver attitudes toward music instruction, the nature of the home musical environment, and their relationship to the developmental music aptitude of preschool children" (2000). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9967391.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9967391