The influence of musical training on acculturation processes in migrant children

Abstract

Music is a promising candidate for the enhancement of cultural integration through increased group cohesion and social support. This study assessed the impact of a music program on elementary school-aged migrants’ cultural orientation, as measured via the Frankfurt Acculturation Scale for Children (Frankenberg et al., 2013). The music program is an extension of schools’ regular curriculum and provides students with basic introduction to music and instrument lessons (Years 1 and 2), followed by school-wide music performances within an ensemble (Years 3 and 4). Results showed that music program participants who had performed in musical ensembles showed larger increases in orientation to mainstream culture over a period of 1.5 years than control students who had not received extended music tuition. For younger program participants who had not yet participated in ensemble play, no such differences were found. Results indicate that it was the experience of collaborating and performing within a larger group which led to stronger host culture orientation. Thus, programs providing young migrants with the opportunity to perform music within a larger, culturally heterogeneous group can be viewed as an effective intervention to encourage adaptation to mainstream culture and integration within and beyond the classroom.

Keywords

acculturation children cultural integration Germany migrants music tuition social integration

The successful integration of migrants presents one of the biggest challenges for settler societies of our time. Music lends itself as a candidate for the non-linguistic enhancement of cultural integration for various reasons. First of all, music is widespread among all human societies (Merriam, 1964). Second, musical behaviours are effective means of emotion regulation (Mitchell, McDonald, Knussen, & Serpell, 2007; Sloboda & O’Neill, 2001). Third, recent studies suggest interactions between music and such domains as language (Patel, 2008) and emotional empathy (Rabinowitch, Cross, & Burnard, 2013), implying transfer effects of music learning to general cognitive and emotional development. This article explores music tuition as a means of reaching the goal of successful cultural integration in order to provide a starting point for the development of future forms of intervention. In particular, it focuses on the effect of a musical training programme on migrants’ acculturation processes. The term acculturation, as used here, describes the intra-individual changes resulting from long-term cross-cultural encounters (e.g. Berry, 1980). This change process can be described by means of two dimensions: 1) Maintenance of cultural identity and characteristics, and 2) Desire for contact with members of mainstream society and valuing of the adoption of the host nation’s culture (Bourhis, Moise, Perreault, & Senecal, 1997). Acculturation outcomes associated with high orientation to mainstream culture and the simultaneous maintenance of migrants’ culture of origin, that is, integration, has repeatedly emerged as being most beneficial to migrants’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation (e.g. Berry, 1997; Frankenberg, Kupper, Wagner, & Bongard, 2013; Phinney, Horenczyk, Liebkind, & Vedder, 2001; Sam, Vedder, Ward, & Horenczyk, 2006). Efforts which promote orientation to mainstream culture within an environment that endorses cultural diversity and mutual support may therefore also serve the goal of facilitating young migrants’ psychological and socio-cultural adaptation.

Music and acculturation

Since the 1980s, the effect of music on different areas of life has been the subject of increased research interest, leading to the formation of the field of music psychology. Early on, interdisciplinary research yielded results indicating that music comprises not only cognitive but also emotional and social components. Research has focused on the expression of emotion and communication via music (e.g. Juslin & Sloboda, 2001), the effects of musical performance on the individual and group level (e.g. Parncutt & McPherson, 2002) as well as the connection between music and non-musical aspects of development and behaviour. The list of non-musical characteristics of development, behaviour and attitude, on which musical skills appear to exert some type of influence, is long. It includes intelligence (e.g. Schellenberg, 2004), memory (Roden, Grube, Bongard, & Kreutz, 2013; Roden, Kreutz, & Bongard, 2012), academic achievement (e.g. Southgate & Roscigno, 2009) and specific skills such as reading comprehension (see Butzlaff, 2000), achievement motivation and self-esteem (e.g. Lillemyr, 1983) and positive attitude toward one’s environment (see North & Hargreaves, 1997).

With regard to the social relevance of music, Hargreaves, Marshall, and North (2003) describe four levels of influence: the individual, interpersonal, institutional and cultural. The social influence of music on the individual level is conveyed mainly via the concept of identity (Hargreaves et al., 2003). Typical dimensions of individual differences that have been the subject of psychological research include gender, age, and personality. Music is seen as a medium through which people shape and reshape their identities, including their national identity (Hargreaves et al., 2003; Hargreaves, Miell, & MacDonald, 2002; Ruud, 1997, 1998). Playing an instrument has also been shown to further students’ self-esteem and to strengthen their sense of identity (Harland et al., 2000).

The interpersonal level refers to the effects of music on the intersubjective or group level and includes phenomena such as cooperating while working together on a creative task (e.g. MacDonald, Miell, & Mitchell, 2002). This collaboration among students may be relevant to the integration of individual students within the classroom. Pitts (2007), for example, suggested that extra-curricular music programmes facilitated the formation of friendships among likeminded children and adolescents. As Hargreaves and colleagues (2003) note, ‘Most musical activity is carried out with and for other people – it is fundamentally social – and so can play an important part in promoting interpersonal skills, teamwork, and co-operation’ (p. 160). Accordingly, music making has been linked to increases in spontaneous cooperative and helpful behavior (Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010).

Research examining the influence of institutions such as schools and music organizations on musical behaviour focuses on the institutional level. Bastian (2000), for example, found that an extended musical curriculum within elementary schools led to fewer students being excluded from and rejected by the class community (as measured with the statements ‘I like this student’ and ‘I don’t like this student’). The curriculum included learning to play a musical instrument and playing music within an ensemble. Weber, Spychiger, and Patry (1993; see also Spychiger, Patry, Lauper, Zimmermann, & Weber, 1995) also present results which support the positive impact of music on intergroup relations by showing that additional music lessons in school lead to stronger cohesion within the class, greater self-sufficiency, stronger social adaptation and more positive attitudes among children.

The cultural level includes national and regional traditions and cultures (see Hargreaves et al., 2003) and is thus that which is most relevant to the present study. However, little is known about the impact of music programmes on acculturation processes. The few existing studies focus on the impact of music on intercultural relations and yield inconsistent results. Bergh (2007), for example, studied the long-term effects of a 3-year music project in Norwegian schools. The project aimed at furthering positive relations between different ethnic groups through music by presenting students with performances of traditional folk and classical music from different immigrant groups. In a retrospective evaluation 13 years later, participants reported having enjoyed the performances, but that the project had not affected their daily lives or their relationship with other ethnic groups. Bergh surmised that the participants had not connected the musicians and their music to the local minorities representing the specific cultures. The author called into question the suitability of music as a representation of social groups. A study by Sousa, Neto, and Mullet (2005), on the other hand, showed a music programme to be effective in reducing negative stereotyping of minorities in Portuguese children aged 9 to 10 years. Similarly, Odena (2010) reported that cross-community music education projects served to reduce prejudice among Protestant and Catholic adolescents in Northern Ireland, though the effectiveness may have been limited due to contextual factors, including socio-economic setting. Gilboa, Yehuda, and Amir (2009) also observed a strong impact of music on intercultural relations. The authors reported that the attendance of a 24-week music therapy group containing immigrants and Israeli-born second-generation immigrants led to stronger identification with both native cultural roots and the Israeli host culture among all participants. This was assessed in terms of ‘collective self-esteem’ and interpreted by the authors as a development in the direction of the integration acculturation attitude. Additionally, the weekly sessions led to an improvement of the participants’ ability to listen to and show acceptance for one another. Gilboa et al. (2009) interpreted their findings as the formation of a common identity by means of group processes, musical presentations and joint activities. Although this was not assessed within the study, the authors proposed the possibility that this dual identity may further the participants’ integration¹ into the Israeli society (Gilboa et al., 2009).

These studies have already provided first evidence of the positive influence of musical experiences on cultural identity formation and competencies facilitating intergroup contact. This positive effect is highly relevant for acculturation research. According to Berry (1997), multicultural school curricula, in general, represent a source of potential social support, which in turn has consistently been shown to be a good predictor of psychological adaptation. As described above, music programmes may be viewed as a form of social support for immigrant students insofar as they encourage cooperation within the classroom and create a sense of community and group cohesion (Bastian, 2000; Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010; Weber et al., 1993). Social support, in the form of strong ties to one’s heritage culture, host culture or both, is a structural variable said to positively influence the acculturation process (e.g. Furnham & Alibhai, 1985; Furnham & Shiekh, 1993; Jayasuriya, Sang, & Fielding, 1992; Vega & Rumbaut, 1991; see also Berry, 1997). Evidence further suggests bicultural connections, as well as a sense of belonging to two cultures, lead to the most adaptive outcomes (e.g. Phinney et al., 2001; Sam et al., 2006; see Berry, 2006 for further references).

As an extension of the existing research on the social effects of musical group activities of children and adolescents, this study aims to assess the specific effect of an in-school music programme on immigrant students’ cultural orientation. If music can be seen as a means of gaining access to different cultures, one can expect musical training to exert an influence on cultural orientation. Through the experience of playing music together, (migrant) children within the music groups come into closer contact with their (non-migrant) classmates and are encouraged to develop a stronger sense of community and cohesion. For immigrant students, this may represent a key opportunity for social and cultural inclusion within the classroom and, from there, within wider mainstream society. It may also allow them to feel more comfortable with regard to their culture of heritage via increased feelings of being accepted – and via changes in the attitudes of their non-migrant classmates. Collaboration within a music group may have a similarly large impact on German students. Non-migrant students may benefit not only in terms of general inclusion within the class but also in terms of opportunities to interact with members of other cultures within a cooperating group.

Acculturation has long been recognized as being a reciprocal process in which all groups and individuals involved can be affected by cross-cultural contact (e.g. Sam, 2006). Migrants’ cultural integration and healthy adaptation to mainstream society requires a multicultural society that endorses the integration of migrants and acknowledges the right of migrants to maintain their culture of origin while adopting aspects of the national culture (e.g. Van Oudenhoven, Ward, & Masgoret, 2006). Two main models dominate discussion of culturally heterogeneous societies today (e.g. Berry 2006). The melting pot model describes a dominant society which gradually incorporates minority groups until the latter is no longer detectable as a separate entity. Cultural pluralism, or Salad bowl approaches, represent multicultural models in which the larger society is composed of many individual ethno-cultural groups. Groups interact within the arena of the larger society while retaining their cultural heritage (Berry, 2006). Neither of these models suffices to describe today’s reality. Many European host countries hold fast the view that a large melting pot is the ultimate goal while the individual ‘metals’ refuse to be melted into one giant amalgam (Berry & Sam, 2013).

Programmes which affect cultural orientations and attitudes in both members of the host society and migrant groups may serve to influence the development of any one of these types of multicultural societies. Insofar as they promote migrants’ adoption of aspects of mainstream society, they may further the development towards a melting pot nation. If, however, they also succeed in supporting migrants’ maintenance of their heritage culture as well as an endorsement of integration by non-migrants – both of which, as pointed out above, are important aspects of healthy adaptation – then this might be viewed as a step in the promotion of cultural pluralism. School-based music programmes, then, may be seen as means of reducing discrepancies between immigrant and host society acculturation attitudes and thus of improving intergroup relations (see e.g. Rohmann, Florack & Piontkowski, 2006, Zagefka & Brown, 2002).

We thus aim at shedding light on the question of whether music programmes serve to support migrants’ integration into host society by promoting a stronger orientation to the host culture and their cultures of origin, possibly via increased cohesion and social support within the multicultural group context found in classrooms. The answer to this question may provide a basis for future interventions aimed at promoting young immigrants’ socio-cultural adaptation to the host society. This in turn can be expected to have a positive effect on their further social and emotional development and the success of their participation in the society at large (Bastian, 2000; Weber et al., 1993). The effect of in-school music programme participation on non-migrant students’ cultural orientation or acculturation attitude (e.g. Nigbur et al., 2008) is equally compelling and thus formed the research question for a second study, the results of which will be reported elsewhere.

Hypotheses

Hypothesis Cluster I

Based on past findings by Bastian (2000), Spychiger et al. (1995) and Weber et al. (1993), we expect the participation in an in-school music programme – and especially its component of integration into a music group – to foster migrants’ orientation to mainstream culture. We hypothesized that music programme participation would promote young migrants’ orientation to German culture both by confronting them with an aspect of German culture – music – and by providing them with social support via mutual assistance and cooperation within the music group. We thus expected music programme participants to be more strongly oriented to German mainstream culture when compared with children who received no such tuition. Since the standard music programme did not include music from the children’s cultures of origin, we did not expect students’ orientation to their heritage culture to be affected by their programme participation. Thus, no group differences were expected for the music and control groups with regard to orientation to their culture of origin.

Hypothesis Cluster II

In order to gain insight into the mechanism behind the postulated effect of music training on acculturation, we analysed whether potential differences in cultural orientation would be mirrored by differences in students’ experience of social integration within their class, that is, their feeling of being accepted by classmates, and their perception of the social relationships within the classroom. Again, music programme participation was expected to be associated with higher scores in terms of social integration and classroom relationships when compared to children without music tuition.

Method

Music programme

Data for the study were collected as part of a multi-measure, longitudinal study assessing the effect of a music programme on different cognitive and emotional variables. The programme, ‘Jedem Kind ein Instrument’ (JeKi, An Instrument for Every Child), is aimed at supporting the cultural and musical education of elementary school students irrespective of their social background by complementing the regular music curriculum in schools (see http://www.jedemkind.de/englisch/index.php for details). It provides elementary school students with an introduction to different musical instruments and the basic elements of music (1st year), followed by weekly, 45-minute music lessons on the instrument of their choice (2nd and subsequent years). These are taught in small groups which meet during school hours within the school and contain an average of 5 students. From the third year on, lessons are increased to two sessions a week, and students perform songs and instrumental pieces in a school-wide ensemble. The programme claims to be suitable for children of all cultural and social backgrounds, since playing music together provides a form of communication which bridges social, language and cultural gaps (Stiftung Jedem Kind ein Instrument, 2012). One of the aims of the present study was to verify this claim of the programme’s suitability with regard to fostering social inclusion and cultural integration.

Participants and procedure

Of the original study sample, a total of 159 elementary school children with immigrant backgrounds, from 14 different public schools in the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (49.7%) and Hesse, completed a measure of acculturation twice – once at the beginning of the second or third school year in the fall of 2009 (T1) and once again an average of 18 months later (T2). Participants for the study were recruited in a quasi-randomized procedure from a list of all schools participating in the music programme. Recruitment was carried out separately for the four major cities in the region in order to ensure the cities’ equal representation within the sample. For economical reasons, school with fewer than 10 participating students were excluded from the study.

At the time of the first data collection, participants were aged 7–11 years (mean age at T1 = 7.84; SD = .82; T2: M = 9.28, SD = .74). The majority (n = 105) of the children attended grade 2 at the beginning of the study, forming the younger of two cohorts (Cohort 1; mean age = 7.54, SD = .64); the remaining 54 students attended grade 3 at T1 (Cohort 2; mean age = 8.54, SD = .70). Of the 159 students, 62 had participated in the JeKi-music programme for at least 2 entire school years at the time of the second data collection, 23 of whom were also members of a choir. Music students in Cohort 1 had not participated in the music ensemble playing described above while students in Cohort 2 had played in an ensemble for more than 1 schools year.

In order to distinguish the effect of the music programme from the expected increase of orientation to host culture with time (e.g. Phinney, Berry, Vedder, & Liebkind, 2006), music programme participants were compared to a control group of students who received no extra in-school music education. The control group consisted of 97 children, 41 of whom also attended a choir. In data analyses, the effect of choir group membership was statistically controlled for via its inclusion as a covariate within an ANCOVA design in order to avoid possible confounding influences.

Of the total sample, 55.3% were girls. The sample was culturally heterogeneous, including over 30 countries of origin. Children of Turkish descent (30.2%) formed the largest group, followed by children of Russian or Ukrainian (23.9%) and of Polish (6.2%) descent. This roughly reflects the distribution of ethnic groups living in Germany (see Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, 2010). Most children (87.4%) were born in Germany. No differences with regard to cultural background were found between the experiment and control group (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Distribution of countries of origin for the music and non-music groups.

Country of origin	Music (n = 62)	Non-music (n = 97)	Total (N = 159)	χ²
Turkey	16 (25.8%)	32 (33%)	48 (30.2%)	.926, n.s.
Russia, Ukraine	10 (16%)	28 (28.9%)	38 (23.9%)	3.374, n.s.
Others*	58 (37%)	37 (38.1%)	73 (54.0%)	–

Distributed across 27 countries, each represented by fewer than 5 participants in at least one of the two groups.

Assessment tools

The overall study included nine questionnaires and tests administered during two school lessons over the course of two days, though only those measures relevant to the present research question will be described in this article. Demographic data was assessed via questionnaires completed by the participants and by their parents. The parent questionnaires were handed out to the children who were asked to pass them on to their parents on the first day of test administration. In the sample for this study, the return rate for parent questionnaires was 66% (105 out of 159). Participants’ socioeconomic status was assessed via a Rasch-scaled composite score of fourteen variables, including parental migration background, social and education status (number of books in the household; highest educational achievement, job and net income of both parents) and parental support in school.

Frankfurt Acculturation Scale for Children (FRACC-C)

Acculturation was assessed using the Frankfurt Acculturation Scale for Children (FRACC-C; Frankenberg & Bongard, 2013). The FRACC-C comprises two subscales, measuring children’s Orientation to their Culture of Origin (C-Origin) and their Orientation to Host Culture (C-Host) in terms of behaviour and attitudes in such domains as language use, music and national pride. Participants mark their answers on a 5-point Likert scale visualized by balloons of increasing size, following the example of Nigbur et al. (2008), and ranging from ‘not at all true’ to ‘completely true.’

At T1, the subscales yielded the following internal consistency scores: C-Origin α = .79; C-Host α = .62. At T2, internal consistency was: C-Origin α = .78; C-Host: α = .74.

Questionnaire for the assessment of emotional and social school experiences of elementary school students (FEESS; Fragebogen zur Erfassung emotionaler und sozialer Schulerfahrungen von Grundschulkindern)

The FEESS (Rauer & Schuck, 2003b) is a questionnaire designed to assess psychologically relevant views, evaluations and attitudes of elementary school-aged children using seven subscales. For time-saving reasons, the assessment within the present study was restricted to two subscales: ‘Social Integration’ (Soziale Integration), which measures the extent of a child’s feeling of being accepted as a ‘full-fledged member of the group’ by his or her peers (Rauer & Schuck, 2003a) and ‘Class Atmosphere’ (Klassenklima), which assesses a child’s perception of the social relationships within the classroom. The higher the score, the more a child feels valued by his classmates and the more positive a child regards his or her social contacts within the class. Internal consistency for the Social Integration subscale commonly ranges from .69 to .72 (Rauer & Schuck, 2003a) and was equally high in the present study (Social Integration: α_T1 = .74, α_T2 = .79; Class Atmosphere: α_T1 = .68, α₂ = .75). For second-graders, the items of each scale were read aloud to the students who were then asked to rate their amount of agreement before the next item was read, and so on.

Results

One-way between-groups analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to assess possible baseline differences in Orientation to Host Culture and Orientation to Culture of Heritage. To this end, participants were divided into four groups according to age cohort and music programme participation. Analyses indicated the existence of group differences, F(3, 155) = 3.98, p = .009, for C-Host, which Tukey post-hoc tests showed to be limited to baseline differences between music students from Cohort 1 and controls from Cohort 2 (p = .005; see Table 2). No baseline differences existed for C-Origin, F(3, 151) = .76, p = .520. Wei and Zhang (2001) emphasize that even non-significant baseline imbalances can influence results. Thus, in order to control for possible baseline effects on outcome scores (law of initial value, Wilder, 1962; unequal regression-to-the-mean, Wei & Zhang, 2001), the respective values at T1 were included as (additional) covariates in all following analyses pertaining to C-Host or C-Origin at T2. This resulted in a final analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) strategy with Music Group (music education vs. no supplemental music education) and Cohort (younger vs. older) as independent variables, C-Host at T2 and C-Origin at T2, respectively, as dependent variables and sex, choir membership and baseline ratings as covariates. ANCOVA on outcome data (e.g. C-Host at T2) yields the same result as ANCOVA on change from baseline (Laird, 1983; see also Wei & Zhang, 2001). We chose the former for the main analyses for reasons of clarity but add descriptive data on change scores for illustrative purposes.

Table 2.

Mean ratings (SD in parentheses) for the music and non-music groups on the FRACC-C-subscales C-Host and C-Origin at baseline.

	Music		Non-Music
	Cohort 1 (n = 46)	Cohort 2 (n = 16)	Cohort 1 (n = 59)	Cohort 2 (n = 38)
C-Host	2.39 (.83)	2.61 (.85)	2.55 (.75)	2.95 (.65)
C-Origin	2.62 (1.10)	2.57 (.78)	2.71 (1.04)	2.39 (.97)

Note. C-Host: Orientation to host culture; C-Origin: Orientation to culture of origin; Music: Music programme participants; Non-music: Control group.

For C-Host scores, the main effect for Cohort was not significant, F(1, 151) = .004, p = .952. Music programme participation had a small, marginally significant effect, F(1, 151) = 2.97, p = .087, r = .14, suggesting a tendency for music students (M = 2.82)² to report slightly stronger orientation to mainstream culture at T2 than non-music students (M = 2.61) after age cohort, sex and choir membership were controlled for. Analyses also revealed a significant interaction between Group and Cohort, F(1, 151) = 4.27, p = .041, which was of small effect size, r = .17 (see Cohen, 1988 and Olejnik & Algina, 2003; see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Mean C-Host scores for the music and non-music groups in Cohorts 1 and 2 at T2, controlling for C-Host at T1, sex and choir membership

This indicates that the two cohorts were affected differently by music group experience. As illustrated in Figure 1, within Cohort 1, music (M = 2.66) and non-music group students (M = 2.61) did not differ in terms of C-Host at T2, F(1, 100) = .11, p = .739, after controlling for C-Host at T1, sex and choir membership. For Cohort 2, however, there was a significant, medium-sized effect of music group. Music students reported stronger C-Host (M = 3.11) than students without special music tuition (M = 2.62), after controlling for C-Host at T1, sex and choir membership, F(1,48) = 6.44, p = .014, r = .34. Reflecting these results, positive changes from baseline were found for music students (M = .32, SD = .79) but not for controls (M = -.26, SD = .66). The latter group even had a lower C-Host at T2 than at T1.

For the subsample of 105 children for whom information on socioeconomic status (SES) was available, analyses were repeated with SES entered as a fourth covariate. When the influence of SES was controlled for, the main effect for music group within the entire migrant sample became significant and was of moderate effect size, F(1,97) = 5.12, p = .026, r = .23. The cohort-music group interaction, on the other hand, was no longer significant, F(1, 97) = 1.12, p = .292. However, since the effect size for the interaction was only slightly smaller than for the analyses conducted without SES as covariate (r = .11 vs. r = .17, see above), follow-up analyses were again conducted for the two cohorts separately. Once again, one-way ANCOVAs revealed a significant effect for music group in Cohort 2, F(1,32) = 6.84, p = .013, but not Cohort 1, F(1,61) = .86, p = .356, reflecting the results found within the first analysis using the larger sample.

Hierarchical multiple regression analyses, using C-Host at T1, choir membership, SES and music group as predictors and C-Host at T2 as the outcome variable, showed that for Cohort 2, inclusion of music group led to an increase of explained variance by 10.6%, p = .014, while the contribution made by choir membership (5.6%) was not statistically significant, p = .107. The model as a whole explained 48.5% of variance of C-Host at T2 (see Table 3). Age did not make a unique contribution and was excluded from analyses.

Table 3.

Hierarchical multiple regression analysis for Cohort 2.

	△R²	B	SE B	ß
Step 1	.23**
Constant		1.55	0.42
C-Host at T1		0.46	0.14	.47**
Step 2	.09*
Constant		0.95	0.49
C-Host at T1		0.41	0.14	.43**
Socioeconomic status		0.28	0.01	.30*
Step 3	.07
Constant		0.64	0.50
C-Host at T1		0.43	0.13	.44**
Socioeconomic status		0.30	0.01	.32*
Choir		0.39	0.20	.26
Step 4	.11*
Constant		0.22	0.40
C-Host at T1		0.50	0.13	.51***
Socioeconomic status		0.03	0.01	.33*
Choir		0.46	0.19	.31*
Music		0.55	0.21	.34*

Note. C-Host: Orientation to Host Culture; Choir: Choir membership; Music: Music programme participation.

p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.

As expected, two-way between-groups ANCOVA assessing group differences in C-Origin at T2 revealed no significant main effect for music group or age cohort, Fs(1, 145) < .35, p > .479, and no significant cohort-music group interaction, F(1, 145) = 1.76, p = .186.

In order to test Hypothesis Cluster II, two further sets of analyses were conducted on subsamples of students for whom complete sets of data were available, using self-reported Social Integration (n = 88) and Class Atmosphere (n = 90) as dependent variables, respectively. Information on SES was available for too few of the children of the two subsamples and thus was excluded from analyses due to sample size-related loss of power. A two-way between-groups ANCOVA with music programme and age cohort as independent variables revealed a medium-sized main effect of music programme participation on Social Integration at T2, after controlling for Social Integration at T1, sex and choir membership, F(1, 81) = 5.60, p = .020, r = .25. Children with music tuition reported feeling more strongly integrated into their class (M = 9.93) than those without extra tuition (M = 8.81). No significant effects were found for cohort, for the covariates Social Integration at T1, choir membership and sex, or for the music group-cohort interaction.

Similarly, music group membership was found to be related to perceived relationships within the classroom (Class Atmosphere) at T2, F(1, 83) = 4.90, p = .031, r = .24. Music group students reported feeling more positive with regard to the social relationships within the classroom (M = 8.32) than controls (M = 7.00). A significant, medium-sized effect emerged for the covariate Class Atmosphere at T1, F(1,83) = 11.09, p = .001, r = .34. Again, no significant effects were found for cohort, for the covariates choir membership, sex, or for the music group-cohort interaction.

In a final step, moderated hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to ascertain whether the effect of music group participation on C-Host found for cohort 2 was moderated by students’ self-reported social integration and/or perceived class atmosphere. Neither of the standardized interaction terms reached statistical significance (Music Group × Social Integration at T2, △R² = .00, p = .670; Music Group × Class Atmosphere: △R² = .02, p = .198). Hence, there was no evidence of a moderating influence by Social Integration or Class Atmosphere on the association between music tuition and C-Host at T2.

Discussion

The JeKi-Programme represents an extension of elementary schools’ regular music curriculum and enables students at participating schools to learn how to play a musical instrument of their choice. According to its mission statement, the programme’s two main goals are furthering children’s musical and social competencies. The benefits of musical tuition for children are well-documented: Transfer effects have been found for domains such as psychological well-being (Harland et al., 2000; Lillemyr, 1983), creativity and several areas of cognitive functions such as intelligence (e.g. Butzlaff, 2000; Schellenberg, 2004), working memory (Roden et al., 2013) and verbal memory (Roden et al., 2012). Research has also provided evidence that musical training can contribute to a reduction of stereotyping and prejudice (Odena, 2010; Sousa et al., 2005), as well as to higher acceptance of others (Bastian, 2000). It can increase group cohesion and helping behaviour among group members (Kirschner & Tomasello, 2010; Spychiger et al., 1995).

To our knowledge, the present study is one of the first to assess the effectiveness of an extended music education programme in increasing young migrant students’ orientation to host culture (see also, e.g., Marsh, 2012). We hypothesized that the increased social support and cooperation experienced within the music group would lead participants to be more strongly oriented to German culture than students who were taught according to the normal curriculum. We conducted our analyses while controlling for baseline imbalances and the effect of another form of music tuition: choir membership. The baseline differences detected in preliminary analyses were likely, in part, the result of an unequal distribution of age within the music and non-music groups. The average age within the non-music group was slightly higher than that in the music group. Results supported our hypotheses only for older children who attended grade four at the time of the second data collection. For these children, music programme participation was associated with a stronger orientation to German culture at T2 than for the control group. Thus, students with music tuition showed an increase in orientation to mainstream culture while those without special tuition did not. Among younger children, no differences were found between music group members and those without special tuition with regard to orientation to mainstream culture.

A possible reason for this difference may be that the two age cohorts differed with regard to duration and type of music tuition they had received. Within the music programme, only children attending Grades 3 and 4 take part in music ensembles, in which students collaborate to perform music pieces together on a wide variety of different instruments. This requires children to listen and pay attention to each other, and to work together on the creation of music performances. The younger of the cohorts was just beginning Grade 3 at the time of the second data collection and thus had not had much time to experience ensemble playing. Choir membership, on the other hand, provides the experience of performing music in a group regardless of school grade. The fact that choir membership was related to orientation to mainstream culture in both cohorts may be an indication that it is the experience of collaborating and performing within a larger group that affects students’ acculturation behaviour and attitude. However, choir music, too, can represent a certain cultural repertoire (e.g. Western-German), thus strengthening participants’ connection to mainstream culture. Further research is necessary in order to gain insight into the dynamics of the impact of music group or choir participation on cultural orientation. In particular, it is unclear what effect a non-Western music repertoire might have on children’s cultural orientation and attitudes.

In the present study, a possible reason for the lack of a general effect of music programme participation on orientation to culture of origin may be that most participants chose Western instruments, with only 2.2 and 3.3%, respectively,³ selecting the Cajón (Djembe) or the Turkish instrument Bağlama as the instrument of their choice. This gross under-representation of non-Western instruments may also explain why migrant students’ orientation to their heritage culture was unaffected by music group participation in either age cohort. When individuals are given the opportunity to present their traditional music, they experience this as interest in their culture, which can increase self-worth and wellbeing (Dorfer, 2009). And, as mentioned above, maintenance of one’s culture of heritage is a necessary component of healthy adaptation. The future development of JeKi and similar music programmes should therefore aim to encourage the inclusion of music from participating children’s culture of origin and, if possible, include explicit teaching units on the cultural aspects of music. The inclusion of a non-German music repertoire in the form of special lesson units devoted to instruments from the children’s countries of origin and/or corresponding music pieces in the programme is also likely to influence the effect on non-immigrant student’s acculturation attitudes in general and their attitudes towards their migrant classmates in particular. As mentioned above, results regarding the current JeKi programme’s effect on non-migrant students’ attitudes will be reported elsewhere.

A further result of this study suggests that music programme participation has a positive impact on students’ social integration and perceived atmosphere within the classroom regardless of participation in ensemble play. Music programme participants of both cohorts reported feeling more accepted by their peers and feeling more positively regarding relationships within the classroom than students who had not participated in a music programme. This finding corroborates previous work by Bastian (2000), Spychiger et al. (1995) and Weber et al. (1993). No evidence was found that social integration or perceived quality of classroom relationships moderated the impact of music programme on acculturation outcome. Thus, other factors seem to be at play with regard to host culture orientation, and the cultural level of influence of musical training appears to be limited to ensemble experience.

In the study by Bergh (2007), the lack of effect of music programme participation on individuals’ relationships with other ethnic groups was presumed to be due to the participants’ lack of connection between music and local minorities representing specific cultures. Similarly, music programme participants may very well not have connected the music to German mainstream culture. Membership to a larger, predominantly German group such as the music ensemble, however, may have led to stronger orientation to mainstream culture via other factors such as cultural identity. The latter was not specifically assessed within this study.

Research has shown musical enculturation to be vulnerable to confounding influences. For example, a large-scale study on long-term choir membership found the lowest-level school type to be underrepresented and higher educational qualifications to be overrepresented in a large sample of choir singers (Kreutz & Brünger, 2012). Within our study, we were able to rule out that the differences found between students with music tuition and those without were due to systematic differences in terms of educational level and socioeconomic status. In fact, when socioeconomic status was taken into consideration, the effect of music group participation on orientation to mainstream culture became more salient. The fact that the music group-cohort interaction was no longer significant after controlling for socioeconomic status is likely due to a loss of power associated with the decrease in sample size, since the effect size for the interaction remained about the same. However, since information on socioeconomic status was not available for all students, results may be different for the entire sample and conclusions drawn from the present results regarding the impact of socioeconomic status require further research in order to be confirmed. As described above, approximately two-thirds of the sample returned the parent questionnaires. This is a good return rate, considering the age of the participants. Still, this method may have resulted in a bias with regard to data on SES, since families with higher SES may have been more likely to return the questionnaire.

A further limitation of this study is that it did not include measures assessing details of children’s choir participation. We found a positive association between choir membership and orientation to mainstream culture for the entire sample, but this effect was no longer significant once SES was controlled for. This seems to suggest that choir membership was confounded with other factors, mirroring findings by Kreutz and Brünger (2012). However, the lack of information on intensity and duration of choir singing prevents us from drawing conclusions regarding the relationship of choir singing and cultural orientation.

Finally, the vast majority of participants was born in Germany thus limiting the generalizability of results to this population. Future research should focus on the differential effects programmes such as JeKi have on first- and higher generation migrants. Past research suggests migrants’ orientation to both host and heritage culture changes from one generation to the next (e.g. Frankenberg & Bongard, 2013), thus posing different premises for interventions aimed at affecting cultural orientation.

To sum up, there have been great advances in the field of research on immigrant youth in Germany (see also Frankenberg et al., 2013). However, some important areas have been widely neglected. For example, many studies focus on the disadvantages and discrimination faced by young migrants (see also Sauer, 2007), instead of aiming at identifying resources and possibilities of supportive intervention. Music and the development of musical abilities is one such resource suggesting a great and yet almost untapped potential to foster integration of young immigrants. More research is needed to assess the mechanisms of potential effects of such interventions. The present study shows that music education can be seen as a significant and effective long-term strategy to facilitate young migrants’ adaptation to mainstream culture and their integration within and beyond their classroom.

Footnotes

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which was awarded to the fifth and sixth authors (FKZ:01KJ0808).

Notes

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