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
Pages (from-to)	1555-1567
Number of pages	13
Journal	Child Development
Volume	96
Issue number	4
Early online date	28 May 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14246
State	Published - 1 Jul 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

EMA
ecological momentary assessment
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.14246

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 = "EMA, ecological momentary assessment, 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",

month = jul,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1111/cdev.14246",

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volume = "96",

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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 - 2025/7/1

Y1 - 2025/7/1

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.

KW - EMA

KW - ecological momentary assessment

KW - infancy

KW - infant-directed song

KW - music

KW - parenting

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SN - 0009-3920

VL - 96

SP - 1555

EP - 1567

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

IS - 4

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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