Extracurricular music and visual arts activities are related to academic performance improvement in school-aged children

The present longitudinal study examined whether extracurricular activities in the arts and corresponding scores in art classes have a positive association with general academic performance. Data were collected from 488 seventh-grade children (259 boys and 229 girls) for over two years. Information regarding their participation in extracurricular activities in music and visual arts, grade points in general academic performance (i.e., Japanese, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, and English), music, and arts were obtained at the end of the seventh and ninth grades. Structural equation modeling revealed that participation in extracurricular activities in both music and visual arts was positively associated with improvements in general academic performance from the seventh and ninth grades, and these associations were related to changes in music and visual arts scores. This finding suggests that arts education can contribute to improving general academic performance; however, the current study shows correlational relationships. Future research should examine the causal relationship between art involvement and academic performance by controlling for other factors (e.g., IQ, motivation, etc.).