Presenter: Saurav Neupane 

Title: “Arts Participation and Academic Achievement Of Canadian Boys and Girls: A Causal Mediation Analysis” 

Date: December 10, 2024, 9:00 am

Location: Health Sciences Building, Room 104

Adolescent girls consistently report higher academic achievement than boys. Girls also tend to participate in arts more than boys, which is notable since adolescents participating in arts tend to reach a higher level of academic achievement. This study addresses a gap in the literature by examining whether arts participation may partially account for the differences in academic achievement between girls and boys. To that end, we estimate (1) the causal effect of arts participation on academic achievement and (2) the potential mediating role of arts participation in the relationship between girls' and boys' academic achievement. Utilizing data from the 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, our analysis demonstrates a positive causal effect of arts participation on academic achievement. Specifically, adolescents who participate in arts have 1.37 times higher odds of achieving excellent marks compared to those who do not. Furthermore, our findings suggest that providing boys with the same rate of arts participation as girls could potentially reduce differences in academic achievement by approximately 14.3 %. This study highlights that arts participation can improve adolescents' academic achievement and may contribute significantly to the observed differences in academic achievement between boys and girls. The results advocate for policies that increase arts education opportunities for all adolescents to foster academic equity in Canadian schools.

Everyone is welcome.