Exploring children's attitudes toward musical creative practice: A comparative analysis of cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions

Attitudinal measures of specific educational activities have been instrumental in helping educators understand the level and structure of students' attitudes. However, existing research lacks a deeper understanding of students' attitudes toward musical creative practices, particularly the nuanced interplay between cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions across demographic variables. To address this, our study aimed to explore three key research questions: (1) how children's cognitive, affective, and behavioral attitudes toward musical creative practice differ across age groups in terms of mean scores and distribution patterns; (2) whether there are statistically significant differences in these three dimensions across age groups; (3) whether there are statistically significant differences in these dimensions between gender groups. A self-report scale was administered to 247 elementary school students aged 7–12 from two schools in Changsha City. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and Mann-Whitney U tests. Descriptive analyses revealed that cognitive attitudes toward musical creative practice consistently scored higher than the affective and behavioral intention dimensions across all age groups. Statistical tests indicated significant differences in cognitive attitudes across age groups, while affective and behavioral intention dimensions showed no significant age-related variations. In contrast, Mann-Whitney U tests revealed significant gender differences across all three dimensions. These findings validate the tripartite structure of attitudes in the context of musical creative practice and clarify how age and gender shape these attitudes, thereby contributing to the theoretical framework and highlighting the need for tailored approaches to foster children's musical creativity. • Across all ages, children’s cognitive attitudes toward musical creativity are consistently stronger than their affective and behavioral responses. • Significant age differences emerge only in cognitive attitudes, with a notable dip observed at ages 9–10 • Gender differences are significant across all three attitude dimensions toward musical creative practice