The Role of School Music Education in Supporting Adolescent Mental Health: The Potential of Digital Technology

Adolescence is a critical stage in which psychological and social relationships and self-identity are rapidly formed. Under the stresses of academics and identity, the detection rate of adolescent mental health problems has shown an increase. As a major and important setting for adolescence, school shoulders key responsibility for preventing mental health problems and offering psychological support. Under the aforementioned background, this paper will focus on how school music education may support adolescent mental health, comprehensively analyzing empirical studies and review literature concerning adolescent mental health, school music education, digital music education, etc., and further probing how digital technology may expand the forms and functions of traditional music education. Existing research suggests that school music education may support adolescent mental health in several ways, including emotional expression and regulation and the strengthening of social connections. Because digital technology offers immediacy, interactivity, personalization, and shareability, it has increasingly been integrated into traditional music teaching and has become an emerging instructional approach. However, the current study on digital music education mainly focuses on learning performance and participation, while direct effects of digital music education on mental health remain underexplored. Therefore, future research should explore the potential of digital technology and how combining it with face-to-face music education can support adolescent mental health.