Music Therapy and Empathic Response in Adolescent Females
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Author
May, Damian
Date
2008
Degree
Master of Arts in Music Therapy
Abstract
This study was inspired by an observed low level of empathic response among girls living in
a residential facility. Current research indicates a growing emphasis on the role that empathy
plays in emotional and social awareness and education; however, the music therapy literature
concerning empathy is relatively minimal. Participants in this study consisted of 30 girls
between the ages of 15 and 18 in a residential facility, the majority of which came from
troubled backgrounds and struggled with issues of poor self-esteem, aggression, and lower
levels of cognitive functioning. A pre/post-test design was utilized. The pre-test allowed the
researcher to gather an overall baseline emotional empathy score. Participants were then
placed in either a music therapy (experimental) group or a non-music therapy group (control)
group. In the final analysis, due to the fact that the control group had only one participant, the
groups could not be compared and thus the data from the control group was omitted leaving
only the experimental group to be compared with itself. Over a 6-week time period girls in
the experimental groups participated in a variety of music therapy experiences designed to
promote and enhance emotional and social awareness. After the experimental phase, all
participants were re-tested, and results were analyzed. Despite evidence of improvement in
individual scores of the emotional empathy measure, results were not clinically significant. In
this paper the author discusses the need for further research and experimentation in this area
with improved control for variables of frequency, consistency, and time.