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

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

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

Keywords

EMA
ecological momentary assessment
infancy
infant-directed song
music
parenting

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",

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doi = "10.1111/cdev.14246",

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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.

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

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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