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Group music training and children's prosocial skills

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Schellenberg, E. Glenn, Corrigall, Kathleen A., Dys, Sebastian P., Malti, Tina·2015·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0141449PMC PMC4624672
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Abstract

We investigated if group music training in childhood is associated with prosocial skills. Children in 3rd or 4th grade who attended 10 months of music lessons taught in groups were compared to a control group of children matched for socio-economic status. All children were administered tests of prosocial skills near the beginning and end of the 10-month period. Compared to the control group, children in the music group had larger increases in sympathy and prosocial behavior, but this effect was limited to children who had poor prosocial skills before the lessons began. The effect was evident even when the lessons were compulsory, which minimized the role of self-selection. The results suggest that group music training facilitates the development of prosocial skills.

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  • Several longitudinal studies have found benefits of musical training in emotional development and empathy, prosocial skills, self-esteem, academic self-esteem, and mood and quality of life.

    “Along these lines, several longitudinal studies have found benefits in such types of domains: emotional development and empathy (Rabinowitch et al., 2013), prosocial skills (Schellenberg et al., 2015), self-esteem (Costa-Giomi, 2004;Rickard et al., 2013), academic self-esteem (Degé et al., 2014;Degé & Schwarzer, 2018), and mood and quality of life (Seinfeld et al., 2013).”

    From Please don't stop the music: A meta-analysis of the cognitive and academic benefits of instrumental musical training in childhood and adolescence (2022) · cites this paper as Schellenberg et al., 2015

  • Schellenberg et al. (2015) conclude that ukulele groups foster sympathy, social cohesion, cooperation, and prosocial behaviour among children.

    “Schellenberg et al. (2015) conclude that ukulele groups foster sympathy, social cohesion, cooperation, and prosocial behaviour among children”

    From The relationship between musical development and social inclusion in small-group instrumental teaching (2026) · cites this paper as Schellenberg et al. (2015)

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Authors
Schellenberg, E. G., Corrigall, K. A., Dys, S. P., & Malti, T.
Affiliations
University of Toronto (CA)
Corresponding author
Schellenberg, E. Glenn
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2015-10-27
Volume
10
Issue
10
Pages
e0141449
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0141449
PMC
PMC4624672
OpenAlex
W1841455886
Cited by
208
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 6
FWCI
254.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Diverse Music Education Insights
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
Keywords
prosocial skills, children, music lessons, sympathy, prosocial behavior, social development (developmental psychology), early childhood, compulsory music education
MeSH terms
Child, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Music, Schools, Social Behavior

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