Rachelle Kisst Hackett

Background: The main objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the impact of a classroom activity involving music on anxiety associated with preparing for and taking an assessment. Methods: Two hundred and two (202) pharmacy students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions of the experimental study: active music playing (n = 103) versus passive music listening (n = 99). All students completed a pre-test, a mid-test, and a post-test including: an “Attitudes and Perceptions” survey, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults (STAI Survey), and a knowledge assessment. Data were analyzed to determine the impact each of the music interventions had on students’ test anxiety. Results: Both types of musical interventions produced similar results in terms of anxiety reduction. Faced with an upcoming test prior to the musical intervention, average state-trait anxiety scores increased; after the musical intervention, state-trait anxiety scores decreased. Conclusions: The use of music helped to reduce test anxiety, even after one brief musical intervention, regardless of whether students passively listened to music or actively played music.

This study preliminarily examined the multiple dimensions of Chinese family involvement in early childhood education across demographic variables through a pilot translation and validation of a revised 36-item measure of the Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ; Fantuzzo, J., E. Tighe, and S. Childs. 2000. "Family Involvement Questionnaire: A Multivariate Assessment of Family Participation in Early Childhood Education." Journal of Educational Psychology 92 (2): 367-376) for use in Chinese kindergartens. Participants were 311 parents or caregivers (Mean age = 35.74) of children (Mean age = 5.53) enrolled in kindergartens in Shanghai, China. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure similar to the original (non-Chinese) FIQ: school-based involvement, home-based involvement, and home-school conferencing. However, 12 items were removed because they either had cross loadings or did not load onto any factors. As expected, based on prior research with the original FIQ, differences in the Chinese Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ-C, hereafter) dimension scores across subgroups based on parents' educational levels and monthly family income were found using MANOVA. Implications for future research and cross-cultural studies on family involvement are discussed.