{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T06:17:50Z","timestamp":1787897870946,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787875200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Innovative competence is an important educational outcome, but evidence from music-centered STEAM settings remains limited. This study examined whether students\u2019 perceptions of STEAM-integrated music education (SIM-E) were associated with innovative competence (IC) and whether creative self-efficacy (CSE) and context-specific learning engagement (LE) accounted for distinct portions of that association. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 427 middle school and university students in Shandong Province, China. Maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analysis supported a four-factor measurement model,\n                    <jats:italic>\u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    (428)\u202f=\u202f489.87, CFI\u202f=\u202f0.986, TLI\u202f=\u202f0.985, RMSEA\u202f=\u202f0.018, and SRMR\u202f=\u202f0.038; the one-factor model fit substantially worse (CFI\u202f=\u202f0.601, RMSEA\u202f=\u202f0.099). HTMT values ranged from 0.319 to 0.533. Multigroup CFA further supported configural, metric, and scalar measurement invariance across middle-school and university participants (CFI\u202f=\u202f0.975\u20130.977; absolute \u0394CFI\u202f\u2264\u202f0.002). In standardized composite-score regressions controlling for gender, age, prior music-learning experience, and prior STEAM experience, the adjusted total SIM-E\u2013IC association was\n                    <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f=\u202f0.331 (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001), and the residual direct association after CSE and LE was\n                    <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f=\u202f0.194 (\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). With 5,000 bootstrap resamples, the specific indirect estimates through CSE (0.067, 95% CI [0.028, 0.111]) and LE (0.070, 95% CI [0.038, 0.106]) both excluded zero. Removing LE1, LE5, LE8, and LE9 yielded a reduced five-item engagement composite (LE-R); the LE-R indirect estimate remained 0.067 (95% CI [0.035, 0.103]), and the paired change from the full-LE estimate was 0.003 (95% CI [\u22120.010, 0.016]). An expanded-control sensitivity model that additionally adjusted for music major, digital-music-tool use, and school type also retained both specific indirect associations. Stage-specific bootstrap differences between middle-school and university estimates included zero. An exploratory ordered SIM-E\u202f\u2192\u202fCSE\u202f\u2192\u202fLE\u202f\u2192\u202fIC product was also nonzero (0.040, 95% CI [0.024, 0.060]), but the cross-sectional design cannot establish temporal sequencing. Composite reliability was acceptable and the four-factor structure and discriminant validity were supported, whereas convergent-validity evidence remained mixed because AVE was below 0.50 for SIM-E, LE, and IC. The findings are therefore interpreted as robust parallel cross-sectional indirect associations rather than as causal or temporally ordered mediation.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1923767","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T05:33:12Z","timestamp":1787895192000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Perceived STEAM-integrated music education and students\u2019 innovative competence: parallel indirect associations through creative self-efficacy and context-specific learning engagement"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Jianyun","family":"Wei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Convergence, Kangwon National University","place":["Chuncheon, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yun","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Global Convergence, Kangwon National University","place":["Chuncheon, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weiyi","family":"Huo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Art College, Shandong Management University","place":["Jinan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"331","DOI":"10.3390\/educsci11070331","article-title":"STEM vs. STEAM education and student creativity: a systematic literature review","volume":"11","author":"Aguilera","year":"2021","journal-title":"Educ. 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