Parental Involvement, Musical Achievement, and Music Attitudes of Vocal and Instrumental Music Students

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among selected aspects of parental involvement, music aptitude, grade level, and gender upon the musical achievement and musical attitude scores of vocal and instrumental music students in grades 8-12. Two hundred forty-eight vocal and instrumental music students were given the Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA) (Gordon, 1989), the Iowa Tests of Music Literacy (ITML) (Gordon, 1991), Fortney's (1992) Music Attitude Inventory (MAI) and Zdzinski's (1987, 1992) Parental Involvement Measure (PIM). The PIM was related to all measures, accounting for 10% and 7.8% of the variance in ITML and MAI scores, respectively. Items dealing with asking about progress, talking about music, taping performances, listening to and assisting with practice, concert attendance, purchasing musical materials, and providing transportation were related to both measures. The PIM was related to the MAI for both vocal and instrumental students, while the PIM was related to ITML scores only among vocal students. PIM correlations with the ITML were stronger among junior high subjects, while correlations with the MAI were stronger among senior high subjects. MANOVA analyses revealed several interaction effects with parental involvement.