THE IMPACT OF ART CHOIRS ON THE MENTAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT OF LEFT BEHIND CHILDREN IN RURAL CHINA——A CASE STUDY OF THE “XIAOXILIU” CHOIR

Abstract

Rural children faces a series of problems such as survival, psychology, socialization, and learning due to being left behind in China. The study aimed to see whether there are any differences in the mental health of children who are in the choir and who did not participate in the choir，including self efficacy, self-confidence, resilience. As well as whether participating in a choir will have an impact on the parent-child relationship of left behind children.The study adopted LevVygotsky’s Social Development Theory for children, which emphasize the importance of social interaction in children’s cognitive development. This study takes the “Xiaoxiliu” choir of Dongcun Central Primary School in Xinyu City of China , as an example, and uses questionnaire surveys. 44 students who participated in the Choir and other 44 students of similar age 9-12, were selected for the questionnaire survey. 88 primary school pupils in all, and data analysis is done using SPSS software. The finding shows that participating in the choir has a positive impact on left behind children to varying degrees in terms of self-efficacy, confidence, resilience, and parent-child relationship. Additionally, the students of the choir are more lively, outgoingand confident than before in their studies and daily lives.