Is music training linked to self-regulation and other creative achievements and what is the role of family in these relationships? An update since MIC 2023

Eminent creative achievers such as Einstein are often accomplished music performers. Anecdotal evidence often suggests that music instrument training leads to skills that enable creative achievement in other domains, such as art and science. We propose that acquiring self-regulation skills is crucial to this creative transfer. Long-term music training requires long-term rehearsals, knowledge and expertise, during which learners need self-regulation skills to control their emotions, behaviors and cognition. Past studies showed that family support could help music learners become aware of their self-regulation skills. Family support might therefore moderate the transfer of self-regulation skills acquired through music training to other creative domains. To explore these conjectured relationships, we conducted a survey study (n = 402) in a student sample. Contrary to our expectations, the results showed that the amount of music training participants received was negatively related to self-regulation. The partial moderating effect of family support was negative on self-regulation. Lastly, our study showed that certain aspects of self-regulation (performance and self-reflection) were negatively associated with music training. Furthermore, positive correlations between self-regulation and creative achievement found previously were not replicated. We speculate that focusing mainly on the quantity of music training did not help us unravel other quality aspects of participants’ training. Our findings enable us to investigate next the effects of sub-constructs of self-regulation on different creative domains and with different styles of family support. We shed light on an understudied topic that could potentially reveal how creative transfer is facilitated.