Modeling Music-Selection Behavior in Everyday Life: A Multilevel Statistical Learning Approach and Mediation Analysis of Experience Sampling Data

Examining students' music listening willingness and engagement to foster their musical achievement and development in higher educational institutions

Drawing upon self-determination theory, this study explores how listening music willingness (LMW) and music engagement (ME) impact musical development and achievement (MDA) via the mediating role of music aesthetic experience (MAE) and music listening behavior (MLB) among 299 university music students in Chinese higher educational institutions (HEIs). Employing structural equation modeling (SEM), the results reveal that LMW significantly influences MLB but not musical development and achievement. ME significantly affects both music aesthetic experience and MDA, with a significant correlation between MLB and MDA. Besides, the relationship between MAE and MDA is positively significant. Mediation analysis reveals that music listening behavior fully mediates the LMW-MDA relationship, while the relationship between ME and MDA is partially mediated by musical aesthetic experience. These findings offer insights for crafting music educational strategies emphasizing positive listening behavior, active engagement, and enriched aesthetic experiences to enhance effectiveness in HEIs. For policymakers particularly in China, understanding the pivotal role of MLB as a mediator between willingness and achievement suggests interventions targeting listening habits can positively influence overall MDA. Furthermore, recognizing the partial mediation by aesthetic experience in the relationship between engagement and MDA suggests programs enhancing musical aesthetic experiences could amplify the impact of music education initiatives.

Functions of music, focused on the context of music listening, and psychological well-being in late adolescence regarding gender differences

Late adolescences, as a developmentally challenging transitional period between childhood and adulthood, provides a number of pressures that impact well-being of youth. Among approaches for facilitating well-being, music is reported to be one of the most effective ones, which was especially proven during Covid-19 pandemic. Given the significance of music and music listening in late adolescence, our study sought to examine the relationship between psychological well-being and music listening among university students (N = 603; Nfemale = 356, Nmale = 247) with a focus on the social, intrapersonal, and sociocultural context of music listening. The RESPECT music scale, the SPWB, and the PANAS were used to measure positive and negative affect as well as the six components of psychological well-being. The findings revealed that, while there were no gender differences in the sociocultural setting, females reported to listen to music more frequently than males in intrapersonal and social contexts. In two areas, female students rated their psychological well-being higher than male students: personal growth and positive relationships with others. They also reported experiencing positive and negative affect more frequently than men. Regression analyses revealed that the functions of music explained only a small amount of the variance in psychological well-being. Specifically, music listening in a social and sociocultural context significantly explained two aspects of psychological well-being: personal growth and positive relations with others. The intrapersonal context of music listening predicted a positive affect, while the social context predicted a negative affect. Our study highlights several implications of music listening in youth regarding gender either in everyday activities or in educational and clinical setting.

Personal and contextual variables predict music consumption during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Canada

The global COVID-19 lockdowns shattered familiar routines, plunging individuals into a disorienting emotional landscape characterized by loss, uncertainty, and a deep yearning for social bonds. Many employed coping strategies such as cleaning, dancing, and mindfulness-based practices to ameliorate negative emotions. Music listening was one of the most widely used coping strategies, moderated by personal and contextual variables. We obtained data from a Canadian national survey conducted in April 2020 to examine the role of personal (sex, age, education level, pre-pandemic income, minority status, feelings about music, and Schwartz's "personal values") and contextual variables (level of worry, changes to income, COVID-19 status and risk, having children at home, and internet access) in predicting music listening for stress relief, changes to music listening, changes to music watching, and music discovery. Our results indicate that women, younger adults, individuals who like or love music, and those reporting high levels of worry were more likely to listen to music to relieve stress. Personal variables were more significantly associated with music listening for stress relief than contextual variables.

An ecological momentary music intervention for the reduction of acute stress in daily life: A mixed methods feasibility study

Background: Despite the growing potential of mobile-based technologies, innovative interventions targeting the reduction of acute stress in daily life remain under-researched. Music listening is an easy-to-administer activity that is associated with lower levels of biological and self-reported stress. However, the application of music as an intervention in moments of acute stress in daily life remains to be examined. We developed a just-in-time intervention delivering music in moments of stressful experiences in daily life and tested its feasibility using a mixed methods approach.

Methods: In this uncontrolled pilot study, the ecological momentary music intervention (EMMI) was tested by 10 chronically stressed women aged 23.5 ± 3.3 years. Over 18 consecutive days, whenever participants reported stressful experiences, they were encouraged to listen to a self-compiled playlist. Subjective stress levels and saliva samples were assessed at three time points per stress report (T₀, upon reporting a stressful situation; T₁, directly after music listening/15 min after T₀ in case of no music listening; T₂, 15 min after T₁). We analyzed app-based log data, in-the-moment responses, questionnaire data, and semi-structured interview data.

Results: On average, participants’ compliance with the study protocol lay at 70%. Overall, 65 stressful experiences were reported, 51 of which were followed by music listening, for an average duration of 12:53 min. Complete data (i.e., self-reports and saliva samples at all three time points) were provided for 46 stressful experiences. Participants reported immediate relaxation and distraction through music listening. The interviews revealed that the intervention was easy to use and that music listening in moments of perceived stress was viewed as a new and pleasant activity. Several aspects of the protocol (e.g., number of items and prompts) were identified, which should be improved in future studies.

Conclusion: Since repeated stressful experiences in daily life can pose a threat to physical and mental integrity, interventions that are easily applicable and deliver support when needed most are necessary. Following minor adaptations, the EMMI can be considered as a feasible approach to target psychobiological stress responses in daily life, which is worthy of investigation in future larger-scale trials.

Modulation of Negative Affect Predicts Acceptance of Music Streaming Services, While Personality Does Not

Music streaming services (MSS) offer their users numerous ways of choosing and implementing their individual approaches to music listening. Personality, uses of music, and the acceptance of MSS can be conceptualized as interdependent. This study investigates whether negative affect modulation strategies explain differences in the acceptance of MSS and integrates findings from previous research into a structural equation model. As for measurements, the Big Five Inventory 2, the Inventory for the Assessment of Activation and Arousal modulation through Music, and adapted scales from previous research on the Technology Acceptance Model were used. A convenience sample of 825 participants (24.3 years; 74% females and 89% students) successfully completed an online questionnaire. In total, 89 percent of the sample reported using MSS regularly. The results show that the tendency to modulate negative affect through music is positively influenced by openness and neuroticism. In turn, the tendency to modulate negative affect through music is shown to increase the perceived usefulness of MSS. However, this study failed to replicate the previous findings that openness increases the attitude toward using and that neuroticism decreases the perceived usefulness. This implies that uses of music are more effective than personality traits at predicting the individual acceptance of MSS. However, personality can be viewed as a predictor for uses of music. The interwovenness of stable and situational factors of music choices is supported. MSS seem to assist their users in coping with negative affect in everyday life, increasing wellbeing. MSS should expand their personalization features to optimize user experience with respect to individual uses of music.

The Efficacy of Music for Emotional Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Spain: An Analysis of Personal and Context-Related Variables

The strict lockdown experienced in Spain during March-June 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis has led to strong negative emotions. Music can contribute to enhancing wellbeing, but the extent of this effect may be modulated by both personal and context-related variables. This study aimed to analyze the impact of the two types of variables on the perceived efficacy of musical behaviors to fulfill adults' emotional wellbeing-related goals during the lockdown established in Spain. Personal variables included age, gender, musical training, personality, resilience, and perception of music's importance. Contextual variables referred to living in a region with a high COVID-19 impact, perception of belonging to a risk group, being alone, having caring responsibilities during confinement, and amount of time of music listening as compared to prior to the crisis. The study was conducted retrospectively during August-December 2020, when the strict lockdown was over in Spain. An online survey was disseminated among the general population and groups of musicians, and the answers of 507 adults (from 18 years on, 73.9% females, 51.3% musically trained adults) were analyzed. Only personal, but not COVID-19 context-related variables, showed an impact on music's efficacy. The youngest age group of adults and those with musical training reported the highest efficacy of music for wellbeing enhancement, and music's importance was found to be the main significant predictor of music's perceived efficacy. Our findings suggest that the people who have been reported to be emotionally more vulnerable during the lockdown, due to either a strong impact on their daily lives or their lower resilience, perceive a higher benefit from musical behaviors. Being musically trained, even for a small number of years, also leads to a perception of higher efficacy of music for the achievement of emotional wellbeing goals. However, this effect is explained by the musically trained individuals' higher perception of music's importance. Although musical behaviors can be generally considered as important for wellbeing enhancement, our study highlights who are the potential individuals who could benefit the most from music-related activities for obtaining better levels of wellbeing, at least within the current context of the COVID-19 crisis.

Modeling Evaluations of Low-Level Sounds in Everyday Situations Using Linear Machine Learning for Variable Selection

Human sound evaluations not only depend on the characteristics of the sound but are also driven by factors related to the listener and the situation. Our research aimed to investigate crucial factors influencing the perception of low-level sounds as they—in addition to the often-researched loud-level sounds—might be decisive to people’s quality of life and health. We conducted an online study in which 1,301 participants reported on up to three everyday situations in which they perceived low-level sounds, resulting in a total of 2,800 listening situations. Participants rated the sounds’ perceived loudness, timbre, and tonality. Additionally, they described the listening situations employing situational eight dimensions and reported their affective states. All sounds were then assigned to the categories natural, human, and technical. Linear models suggest a significant difference of annoyance ratings across sound categories for binary loudness levels. The ability to mentally fade-out sound was the most crucial situational variable after valence, arousal, and the situation dimensions positivity and negativity. We ultimately selected the most important factors from a large number of independent variables by applying the percentile least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) regularization method. The resulting linear regression showed that this novel machine-learning variable-selection technique is applicable in hypothesis testing of noise effects and soundscape research. The typical problems of overfitting and multicollinearity that occur when many situational and personal variables are involved were overcome. This study provides an extensive database of evaluated everyday sounds and listening situations, offering an enormous test power. Our machine learning approach, whose application leads to comprehensive models for the prediction of sound perception, is available for future study designs aiming to model sound perception and evaluation.