Effect of Music Education on Students’ Emotional Intelligence Development in Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) is increasingly treated as a school-relevant competence rather than a fixed trait, yet experimental evidence from sub-Saharan African secondary schools remains thin. This study examined the effect of a 12-week structured music education program on trait emotional intelligence among public senior secondary students in Enugu State, Nigeria. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control-group design was used. Eight public secondary schools were assigned to an experimental condition (structured ensemble-based music education; four schools) or a business-as-usual control condition (four schools). The analytic sample comprised 306 students (experimental n = 154; control n = 152; 52.6% female; Mage = 15.42 years, SD = 1.08). Trait EI was measured with the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Adolescent Short Form (TEIQue-ASF). A priori power analysis for a medium-small effect (f = 0.18), α = .05, and power = .80, inflated for modest clustering and 15% attrition, justified a target of 320 recruited participants. Cronbach's alpha coefficients in the main sample were .86 (global EI), .81 (well-being), .73 (self-control), .75 (emotionality), and .71 (sociability). Groups were equivalent at pretest, t(304) = 0.42, p = .67, d = 0.05. A Group × Time mixed analysis of variance yielded a significant interaction, F(1, 304) = 38.74, p < .001, ηp² = .113. Analysis of covariance of posttest global EI, controlling for pretest scores, confirmed a medium effect of music education, F(1, 303) = 31.86, p < .001, ηp² = .095, adjusted d = 0.58. Effects were largest for emotionality (ηp² = .098) and self-control (ηp² = .084) and smaller for well-being (ηp² = .045) and sociability (ηp² = .031). Hierarchical regression showed that group assignment (β = .27) and in-program music intensity (β = .16) uniquely predicted posttest global EI after covariates, ΔR² = .089. Findings support music education as a feasible school-based route to adolescent EI development in Enugu and recommend structured, emotionally explicit music pedagogy rather than incidental song practice.