Ecological Momentary Assessment Reveals Causal Effects of Music Enrichment on Infant Mood

Eun Cho; Lidya Yurdum; Ekanem Ebinne; Courtney B. Hilton; Estelle Lai; Mila Bertolo; Pip Brown; Brooke Milosh; Haran Sened; Diana I. Tamir; Samuel A. Mehr

doi:10.1111/cdev.14246

Ecological Momentary Assessment Reveals Causal Effects of Music Enrichment on Infant Mood

Eun Cho, Lidya Yurdum, Ekanem Ebinne, Courtney B. Hilton, Estelle Lai, Mila Bertolo, Pip Brown, Brooke Milosh, Haran Sened, Diana I. Tamir, Samuel A. Mehr

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Music appears universally in human infancy with self-evident effects: as many parents know intuitively, infants love to be sung to. The long-term effects of parental singing remain unclear, however. In an offset-design exploratory 10-week randomized trial conducted in 2023 (110 families of young infants, M_age = 3.67 months, 53% female, 73% White), the study manipulated the frequency of infant-directed singing via a music enrichment intervention. Results, measured by smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA), show that infant-directed singing causes general post-intervention improvements to infant mood, but not to caregiver mood. The findings show the feasibility of longitudinal EMA (retention: 92%; EMA response rate: 74%) of infants and the potential of longer-term and higher-intensity music enrichment interventions to improve health in infancy.

Original language	English
Number of pages	13
Journal	Child Development
Early online date	28 May 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14246
State	Published - 2025
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

Keywords

ecological momentary assessment
EMA
infancy
infant-directed song
music
parenting

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
Education
Developmental and Educational Psychology

Access to Document

10.1111/cdev.14246License: CC BY-NC

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/cdev.14246License: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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title = "Ecological Momentary Assessment Reveals Causal Effects of Music Enrichment on Infant Mood",

abstract = "Music appears universally in human infancy with self-evident effects: as many parents know intuitively, infants love to be sung to. The long-term effects of parental singing remain unclear, however. In an offset-design exploratory 10-week randomized trial conducted in 2023 (110 families of young infants, Mage = 3.67 months, 53% female, 73% White), the study manipulated the frequency of infant-directed singing via a music enrichment intervention. Results, measured by smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA), show that infant-directed singing causes general post-intervention improvements to infant mood, but not to caregiver mood. The findings show the feasibility of longitudinal EMA (retention: 92%; EMA response rate: 74%) of infants and the potential of longer-term and higher-intensity music enrichment interventions to improve health in infancy.",

keywords = "ecological momentary assessment, EMA, infancy, infant-directed song, music, parenting",

author = "Eun Cho and Lidya Yurdum and Ekanem Ebinne and Hilton, {Courtney B.} and Estelle Lai and Mila Bertolo and Pip Brown and Brooke Milosh and Haran Sened and Tamir, {Diana I.} and Mehr, {Samuel A.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s). Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1111/cdev.14246",

language = "English",

journal = "Child Development",

issn = "0009-3920",

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T1 - Ecological Momentary Assessment Reveals Causal Effects of Music Enrichment on Infant Mood

AU - Cho, Eun

AU - Yurdum, Lidya

AU - Ebinne, Ekanem

AU - Hilton, Courtney B.

AU - Lai, Estelle

AU - Bertolo, Mila

AU - Brown, Pip

AU - Milosh, Brooke

AU - Sened, Haran

AU - Tamir, Diana I.

AU - Mehr, Samuel A.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Music appears universally in human infancy with self-evident effects: as many parents know intuitively, infants love to be sung to. The long-term effects of parental singing remain unclear, however. In an offset-design exploratory 10-week randomized trial conducted in 2023 (110 families of young infants, Mage = 3.67 months, 53% female, 73% White), the study manipulated the frequency of infant-directed singing via a music enrichment intervention. Results, measured by smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA), show that infant-directed singing causes general post-intervention improvements to infant mood, but not to caregiver mood. The findings show the feasibility of longitudinal EMA (retention: 92%; EMA response rate: 74%) of infants and the potential of longer-term and higher-intensity music enrichment interventions to improve health in infancy.

AB - Music appears universally in human infancy with self-evident effects: as many parents know intuitively, infants love to be sung to. The long-term effects of parental singing remain unclear, however. In an offset-design exploratory 10-week randomized trial conducted in 2023 (110 families of young infants, Mage = 3.67 months, 53% female, 73% White), the study manipulated the frequency of infant-directed singing via a music enrichment intervention. Results, measured by smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA), show that infant-directed singing causes general post-intervention improvements to infant mood, but not to caregiver mood. The findings show the feasibility of longitudinal EMA (retention: 92%; EMA response rate: 74%) of infants and the potential of longer-term and higher-intensity music enrichment interventions to improve health in infancy.

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KW - parenting

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SN - 0009-3920

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

ER -

Ecological Momentary Assessment Reveals Causal Effects of Music Enrichment on Infant Mood

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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