Psychosocial Significance of Music Among Rural Communities of the Bekwarra People, Bekwarra Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria

Music is embedded in communal life and can serve as a medium through which cultural knowledge, identity, social relationships, and collective values are communicated. This study examines adult and youth perceptions of the psychosocial significance of music among rural Bekwarra communities in Bekwarra Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria. The analysis is based on field responses to nine statements, with 225 adult respondents and 225 youth respondents. The four-point response categories—strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree, were used in the analysis. Descriptive analysis involving percentages and item means and standard deviations using a 1–4 coding scheme was applied. Pearson chi-square tests of independence compared the full four-category response distributions of adults and youths separately for each statement. Adults expressed the highest combined agreement on music as a source of peace (59.1%), while youth expressed the highest agreement on music for cultural cohesion/integration (61.3%). The adult–youth response distributions differed significantly for cultural transmission, χ²(3)=15.51, p=.001; onomastics/environmental learning, χ²(3)=13.07, p=.004; cultural cohesion/integration, χ²(3)=25.47, p<.001; music as a source of peace, χ²(3)=13.36, p=.004; and music as a source of communal disharmony, χ²(3)=18.36, p<.001. Differences were not statistically significant for the other four statements at the .05 level. These results suggest that age-group perspectives are not uniform across all perceived functions of music. aggregate frequency tables also limit the analysis to item-specific group comparisons. adjustment, while four items do not show statistically significant differences at the adjusted threshold. The findings support a nuanced interpretation of music as a social and cultural practice that may be experienced as cohesive or divisive depending on context.