ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN LISTENING TO MUSIC, ENGAGING IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, AND THEIR EMOTION REGULATION

Abstract

Background: Physical activity is essential to maintaining children’s health and wellness. However, children are not engaging in physical activity 60 minutes every day, placing them at increased risk for co-morbidities including obesity. Alternative health interventions, including listening to music, have been proposed to increase physical activity engagement and ensure higher emotion regulation. Limited information is available regarding the effect of music on school age children and their physical activity. This study examined whether children’s listening to music was associated with greater physical activity and higher emotion regulation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with children 8-12 years of age who provided demographic data and completed a 40-item survey. Survey questions focused on patterns of listening to music, physical activity, and emotion regulation. Results: A majority of children in the study (63%) were white and self-reported their weight category as ‘about the right weight’ (58%). Regression models were not significant, yet physical activity significantly improved children’s emotion regulation (p = 0.023). The number of days that children listened to music during physical activity did not affect their emotion regulation. Approximately half of the children (52%) reported music helped pump them up during physical activity and for a third elevated their emotions (32%). However, nearly one-fourth of children (23%) found music to be negatively distracting as they performed physical activity. Conclusions: Children can use physical activity to enhance emotion regulation. However more research is needed to clearly identify the effect of children listening to music during physical activity. Nurses can use the findings from this study to develop strategies to promote children and families using music to improve youth’s physical and emotional health.