Effects of student- and school-level music concert attendance on subjective well-being: A longitudinal study of Korean adolescents

Students’ subjective well-being is not only an important prerequisite for positive development but also a desired outcome of education. Music concert attendance could be a critical factor in enhancing students’ subjective well-being. This study investigates the effect of music concert attendance on subjective well-being through an examination of the different effects of music concert attendance according to students’ initial subjective well-being. Data from 3,633 middle school students in two waves of the Seoul Education Longitudinal Study (seventh grade, eighth grade) were utilized. Hierarchical linear modeling shows that both student- and school-level music concert attendance predicted subsequent subjective well-being after controlling for initial subjective well-being, peer relation, grade point average, and gender. Furthermore, school-level music concert attendance facilitated increases in subjective well-being among students who showed low subjective well-being during the first wave of the study. The results indicated that student- and school-level music concert attendance could improve students’ subjective well-being, especially for students with lower levels of subjective well-being. Educational contexts or policies to encourage both school and student participation in music concerts should be developed and implemented.