An investigation of the effect of music upon the academic, affective, and attendance profiles of selected fourth grade students

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is an effect on the academic, affective and attendance profiles of selected fourth grade students when baroque music is introduced subliminally into the classroom intermittently or continuously throughout the school day. Students were randomly assigned to three classrooms with one of three treatments: music continuously, music intermittently, or a no treatment, control group. Fourteen measures from the Children\u27s Personality Questionnaire, two measures from the Stanford Achievement Test, and attendance and discipline records were used to assess outcomes of this study. Analysis of variance with repeated measures revealed a significant post test score in the sub-test for tension on the children\u27s Personality Questionnaire, showing students in the classroom with no music becoming more tense than those in either classroom with music. Analysis of Variance revealed significantly more absences in the classroom with music continuously than in that with music intermittently or with no music. If questions about the possibility of increasing absences can be addressed, this study might be replicated with a larger population for further investigation of significant results