Music Listening in Times of COVID-19 Outbreak: A Brazilian Study

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak required diverse strategies, such as social distancing and self-isolation, to avoid a healthcare system crisis. However, these measures have been associated with the onset or increase of anxiety and depression symptoms in the population. Music listening was previously shown to regulate emotion, consequently reducing depression symptoms. Since previous studies with Brazilian samples have already shown a high prevalence of depressive symptoms during the first confinement period, the aim of this study was threefold: (i) to compare groups with severe depression symptoms and no depression in what concerns to demographic and socio-economic factors as well as symptoms of anxiety and resilience levels, (ii) to explore changes in music listening daily routine during the confinement measures by both groups (no depression and severe depression), and (iii) to investigate which were the main factors influencing both two groups to music listening during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study included 494 Brazilian respondents aged 18 years and above. Our online survey comprised demographics, socio-economic, and COVID-19 related questionnaires, with questions regarding music listening used during social distancing measures on which the participants rated how much each of the 41 potential reasons for listening to music changed in importance compared to the situation before the pandemic and also the evaluation of anxiety, depression, and resilience levels. The respondents with severe depression were younger and showed higher levels of anxiety symptoms and lower resilience level. Furthermore, they were increasingly likely to listen to music to feel emotionally better with the situation, to feel comfort, to forget problems, to be energetic, to decrease sad feelings, to relax, to cheer up, to forget concerns, to express feelings, to reduce anxiety, to remember better times, to relieve boredom, to mentally stimulate themselves, and to ward off stressful thoughts compared to the participants with no depression. The exploratory factor analysis (FA) identified four types of music listening functions during social distancing measures: negative mood management, cognitive functioning, positive mood management, and physical involvement, in which the participants with severe depression revealed significant differences compared to non-depressed participants for the negative mood management factor, which shows the importance of music listening to regulate their negative emotions. As a conclusion, we can argue that most of our respondents used music listening to cope with and regulate their moods during confinement, especially those who presented with severe depression symptoms.

Music in Quarantine: Connections Between Changes in Lifestyle, Psychological States, and Musical Behaviors During COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In addition, a stronger correlation between SLC and "moderate emotion" during SiP than before SiP suggests a general increase in the need for music as a support tool to deal with the pandemic-induced stress. This agrees with the recently reported positive role of music listening for emotion regulation and venting negative emotion during the pandemic (Herrero et al, 2020;Carlson et al, 2021;Ferreri et al, 2021;Granot et al, 2021;Krause et al, 2021;Mak et al, 2021;Martín et al, 2021;Martínez-Castilla et al, 2021;Ribeiro et al, 2021b;Vidas et al, 2021;Ziv and Hollander-Shabtai, 2021).…”

“…For example, music listening time has typically increased during the pandemic (Cabedo-Mas et al, 2021;Carlson et al, 2021;Fink et al, 2021;Hurwitz and Krumhansl, 2021). The increase may be related to another common finding that people listen to music more frequently to cope with stress, regulate moods and emotions, and connect with others during the pandemic than under usual circumstances (Cabedo-Mas et al, 2021;Fink et al, 2021;Granot et al, 2021;Henry et al, 2021;Krause et al, 2021;Ribeiro et al, 2021b;Vidas et al, 2021;Ziv and Hollander-Shabtai, 2021). Remarkably, there are similar observations worldwide, highlighting that music not only serves such functions but is also one of the most common methods for this purpose during the pandemic.…”

Music for hedonia and eudaimonia during pandemic social isolation

“…Use of music as a proxy for social interaction was overall more prominent in people experiencing positive emotions whereas those experiencing negative emotions relied on music for solitary emotion regulation (Fink et al, 2021; see also Ribeiro et al, 2021b). Whereas the latter group were most strongly dissociated on hedonic motivations like distraction, daydreaming, negative emotion venting, comfort, and stress reduction, the former group were most strongly dissociated on eudaimonic motivations like spiritual and aesthetic experience, cultural connection, and identification with the artists and others.…”

“…When asked directly, most participants reported increased music listening during lockdown (Cabedo-Mas et al, 2021;Carlson et al, 2021;Ferreri et al, 2021;Fink et al, 2021;Mas-Herrero et al, 2020;Ribeiro et al, 2021aRibeiro et al, , 2021bSteinberg et al, 2021;Ziv & Hollander-Shabtai, 2021)-paradoxically, also for Spotify (Hurwitz & Krumhansl, 2021). Individual differences are, however, substantial, and some studies found no to little change (Carlson et al, 2021;Krause et al, 2021;Ziv & Hollander-Shabtai, 2021).…”

“…People who were young (Balsamo & Carlucci, 2020;Ribeiro et al, 2021b;H. Wang et al, 2020), female (Balsamo & Carlucci, 2020;Torales et al, 2020;, single, separated or divorced (Balsamo & Carlucci, 2020;Groarke et al, 2020;Ribeiro et al, 2021b;Torales et al, 2020), or possessed lower education levels (Mazza et al, 2020) were especially affected. Other risk factors included excessive exposure to COVID-19-related news and social media content (Ni et al, 2020;H.…”