Making music improves family relationships
According to an Oldenburg study published in the journal Musicae Scientiae, around ten percent of all families in Germany with children of primary school age play music or sing every day. Music improves family relationships in the long term.
According to the Oldenburg researchers, the analysis of the data shows that there is greater familiarity in families that play a lot of music together than in those in which music does not play an important role. In addition, parents in these families rated their children's social behavior more positively than other parents. The data also indicated that music facilitates non-verbal communication within a family. The researchers attribute this to the fact that sensory perception and attention play a major role in music-making.
Oldenburg researchers Gunter Kreutz from the Institute of Music and Michael Feldhaus from the Institute of Social Sciences used data from the so-called pairfam study (Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics), a longitudinal sociological study launched in 2008 that researches partnerships and families in Germany.
Original article:
Gunter Kreutz, Michael Feldhaus: "Does music help children grow up? Parental views from a longitudinal panel study". Musicae Scientiae, doi: 10.1177/1029864918782581
