Musical Home Environment, Family Background, and Parenting Style on Success in School Music and in School

Abstract

Author Note: This project was sponsored by a grant from the Sounds of Learning Initiative of the NAMM Foundation, with additional support from the GRAMMY Foundation and the Fund for Improvement of Education of the U.S. Department of Education.IntroductionThe influence of a nurturing educational home environment (including parental involvement) has been widely documented by researchers in education to be an important ingredient related to positive academic outcomes (see Fan & Chen (2001) for a review). Home environment and parental involvement also have been the subject of a number of research studies in music (see Zdzinski (1996a; 2001) for reviews). However, the research literature in both education and in music indicates a mixed picture regarding the importance of parental involvement and home environment to success in both musical and other academic areas. A number of factors have contributed to these contrasting results.A major limitation of the parental involvement-home environment literature (in both music and general education) is the lack of a consistent operational definition. Research in general education has begun to identify distinct types of educational home environment. These areas include: (a) parental aspirations and expectations towards study and achievement (Keith & Keith, 1993; Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Darling, 1992), (b) educational home environment and provision of structure (Grolnick & Ryan, 1989; Keith & Keith, 1993), (c) participation in school activities (Keith & Keith, 1993; Steinberg et al., 1992), (d) supporting study behaviors (Grolnick & Ryan, 1989; Keith & Keith, 1993; Steinberg et al., 1992), and (e) assisting/helping with study at home (Grolnick & Ryan, 1989; Keith & Keith, 1993; Steinberg et al., 1992).In music, Brand (1985), examining the musical home environment of second-grade students, identified four music-specific home environment factors through the use of factor analysis. These included: (a) parental attitude towards music/musical involvement with child, (b) parental concert attendance, (c) parental/child ownership of musical materials (i.e., recordings and recording equipment), and (d) parental musical instrument participation. In another factor analysis study conducted with preschool music students, Wills (2011) identified six factors related to musical home environment: (a) musical interactions, (b) concert attendance, (c) musical materials, (d) adult music experience, (e) adult value of music, and (f) music listening. Recently, Zdzinski (2013), using a sample of students in grades 4-12, also examined through factor analysis the construct of parental involvement-home environment (PI-HE) in music. He identified seven factors: (a) parental expectations for music study, (b) musical home structure, (c) current family musical participation, (d) musical home environment, (e) parental attitudes about music study, (f) family musical background, and (g) music program support. The music-specific factors found by Brand (1985), Wills (2011), and Zdzinski (2013) were similar to those found in the general education literature.Variations in the results of parental involvement-home environment studies may also be due to variables interacting with parental involvement. Grolnick, Benjet, Kurowski, and Apostoleris (1997) found that family structure, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES) are related to various levels of parental involvement and educational home environment. Mau (1997) found the same to be the case for culture, and Desimone (1999) found differences by ethnicity as well. Elpus and Abril (2011) found differences in musical participation by ethnicity, SES, and parental education, but did not find significant relationships between family composition and musical participation, similar to Costa-Giomi (1999; 2004) who found no relationships between SES or family structure and either cognitive development or academic achievement. …