Beyond positive and negative trait affect: Flourishing through music engagement

Abstract

Background: Mental health is not only the absence of mental illness, but also the presence of positive well-being. Music is often cited as an effective tool for regulating emotions and may also promote well-being because music facilitates one's ability to regulate the experience and expression of emotions. Methods: This study aimed to examine the pathways by which music use for cognitive and emotional regulation purposes may predict mental health outcomes, as measured by self-reports of well-being and negative emotional states, while controlling for trait affect. The mediating effects of emotion regulation were examined in a diverse sample of 565 working adults (126 male, 439 females) between the ages of 18 and 68 (M = 24.00, SD = 6.21). Results: Results demonstrated that music engagement for the purposes of cognitive and emotional regulation predicts flourishing in life, through the mediation pathway of cognitive reappraisal, even after controlling for trait affect.

Strategies and mechanisms in musical affect self-regulation: A new model

“…The study of strategies within musical affect regulation is especially challenging due to the unfitness of general affect regulation models to the case of music (Randall, Rickard, & Vella-Brodrick, 2014) and the difficulty in defining strategies and differentiating them from other concepts such as musical goals and tactics (Baltazar & Saarikallio, 2016). Studies differ in whether the strategy as a concept refers to processes identified in general affect regulation or processes encountered specifically in music, but overall, music has been reported to facilitate strategies such as reappraisal (Chin & Rickard, 2014a;Randall et al, 2014), entertainment/fun seeking (Gebhardt, Kunkel, & Von Georgi, 2014;Saarikallio & Erkkilä, 2007), relaxation (Van Goethem & Sloboda, 2011), revving up/ energizing (DeNora, 1999;Saarikallio, 2011), and finding solace (Saarikallio & Erkkilä, 2007) (see a complete compilation in Baltazar & Saarikallio, 2016). Recent work has also noted that different strategies have differing impacts on development, wellbeing, and psychological health (Carlson et al, 2015;Chin & Rickard, 2014a;Gebhardt et al, 2014;Marik & Stegemann, 2016;Schäfer & Sedlmeier, 2009;Thoma, Ryf, Mohiyeddini, Ehlert, & Nater, 2012;Thomson, Reece, & Di Benedetto, 2014).…”

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Adaptive Functions of Music Listening Scale

“…At the same time, there have been relatively few direct investigations of the relationship between self-reported functions of music listening and specific wellbeing outcomes (Laukka, 2007 ; Thoma et al, 2012 ; Chin and Rickard, 2014a , b ; Papinczak et al, 2015 ; Saarikallio et al, 2015 ; Randall and Rickard, 2017 ). The limited number of studies is perhaps due to the lack of suitable measures.…”

“…The limited number of studies is perhaps due to the lack of suitable measures. Some of these studies have used well-developed psychometric measures of FML (Chin and Rickard, 2014a , b ; Saarikallio et al, 2015 ), whereas other studies have used a limited number of researcher-selected lists of FML without carrying out further scale development or validation. This suggests that a new integrative measure of music listening functions that is psychometrically sound may be a useful addition to the emerging field of music, health, and wellbeing.…”

“…This view is consistent with some available research. For example, the cognitive and emotion regulation factor on the MUSE questionnaire was associated with higher subjective, psychological and social wellbeing (Chin and Rickard, 2014a , b ). These effects were fully mediated by increased use of the affect regulation strategy reappraisal.…”

Experiência com a música, bem-estar e saúde mental: que relações?

“…), estudos compreensivos de como a música é criada, interpretada e experienciada, e estudos de como usamos a música e a importância que ela tem na vida de indivíduos. Estes estudos referem que a música é uma atividade de lazer com a capacidade de melhorar o bem-estar (RICKARD; MCFERRAN, 2012apud MACDONALD et al, 2012CHIN;RICKARD, 2014) e ter impacto sobre os sintomas de doença mental, como depressão e ansiedade (MARATOS et al, 2008;BRADT et al, 2011;SIEDLIECKI;GOOD, 2006 apud CHIN;RICKARD, 2014).…”