What do mothers say? Korean mothers' perceptions of children's participation in extra-curricular musical activities

Abstract

A recent study of Korean middle-class mothers' perceptions and parenting practices associated with children's participation in musical activities reported unique forms of musical parenting, which closely correspond with previous studies of concerted cultivation in Western middle-class families. Are these unique patterns exclusive to middle-class families? This study aims to explore typical Korean mothers' general perceptions and parenting practices regarding their children's participation in extra-curricular musical activities. In addition, this study also looks at how their perceptions and musical parenting practices differ from those of Korean middle-class mothers. Fourteen Korean mothers, whose children (aged 5 to 15) were engaged in some type of musical activities, participated in in-depth telephone interviews that explored their beliefs, expectations and parenting practices regarding their children's musical activities. Findings, analysed through the lens of concerted cultivation, revealed that most mothers had strong beliefs about the values and significance of their children's musical engagement. However, in spite of the mothers' strong beliefs and their active support, the extent to which mothers supported their children's extra-curricular musical activities varied considerably, depending on their socio-economic status, and some other prominent characteristics (e.g. high competitiveness, musical involvement as a way to reinforce their social status) shared by Korean middle-class mothers did not emerge in the current study.