Using music therapy in teaching parenting skills to abused and neglected adolescents

Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate the use of music therapy in teaching parenting skills to designate abused and/or neglected students and to determine if a music learning package could influence self-esteem in an adolescent population. The literature indicates clearly the need for teaching parenting skills to persons of all ages, whether or not they currently have children. The subjects who participated in this study were 30 adolescents with a history of abuse and/or neglect. The subjects were randomly selected and assigned to groups of ten: (1) pre-test/post-test assessment only group, (2) pre-test/ post-test music therapy parenting skills package, music group, and (3) pre-test /posttest parenting skills package, no music group. Each group participated in twelve sessions with the appropriate parenting package. The two groups which received parenting skills training were very similar in the amount of change in the self-esteem scores. The music group showed statistically significantly higher mean scores than the no-music group. Parenting skills package groups were significantly higher than the assessment group. Observation, anecdotal reports from staff members, and test scores indicate succes for music therapy in the development of parenting skills and improvement in self-esteem. From this study certain conclusions can be drawn: (1) music therapy can function as an integral part of a program to improve self-esteem and (2) music therapy can facilitate commitment to programs designed to teach appropriate parenting skills.

Keyword(s): Parenting-skills, abused-adolescents, neglected-adolescents, self-esteem.

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