Musicians have better educational opportunities
Young people who have had music lessons from a young age have better grades at school than others. They are also said to be more conscientious, open-minded and ambitious. At least that is what a study based on data from the long-term Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin claims.
For their Germany-wide representative study, the DIW researchers analyzed the data collected between 2001 and 2012 from almost 4,000 young people. In their calculations, the researchers focused on 17-year-olds who had been playing music since the age of eight.
In their analyses, the researchers were able to prove that there is a direct correlation between music lessons at a young age and better educational success, according to the press release. The correlation remains even if numerous characteristics of the parents are statistically taken into account, such as their level of education and income. The educational success of young people who play music can only partly be explained by their parents' homes. (cf)
Link to the study:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775714000995
