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

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.

COVID-19 pandemic: Does musicianship matter?

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively influenced mental health and the music industry. The present study examined the relationship of between personality traits and emotional regulation with emotional problems and compared this relationship across three groups of individuals living in Türkiye during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 542 participants (238 musicians, 97 artists excluding musicians, and 207 participants who engaged in no form of art). The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Form (DERS-16), and Basic Personality Traits Inventory were used. Findings showed that difficulties in emotion regulation were positively associated with stress, depression, and anxiety in all groups. The pattern of the relationship between personality traits and outcome measures was similar across musicians and participants who engaged in no form of art, whereas that of difficulties in emotional regulation with personality traits was almost the same across the three groups. Except for the personality traits of extraversion and openness, group comparisons showed no differences across different measures. These findings suggest that difficulties in emotional regulation need to be a target for psychological interventions to reduce emotional problems for all three groups. Being a musician did not make any difference in terms of emotional regulation or the experience of psychological problems.

Confronting ethical and social issues related to the genetics of musicality

New interdisciplinary research into genetic influences on musicality raises a number of ethical and social issues for future avenues of research and public engagement. The historical intersection of music cognition and eugenics heightens the need to vigilantly weigh the potential risks and benefits of these studies and the use of their outcomes. Here, we bring together diverse disciplinary expertise (complex trait genetics, music cognition, musicology, bioethics, developmental psychology, and neuroscience) to interpret and guide the ethical use of findings from recent and future studies. We discuss a framework for incorporating principles of ethically and socially responsible conduct of musicality genetics research into each stage of the research lifecycle: study design, study implementation, potential applications, and communication.

Revival of positive nostalgic music during the first Covid-19 lockdown in the UK: evidence from Spotify streaming data

This work shows that positive old music listening surged during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, suggesting a rise in preference for nostalgia and positivity in music. Using the music streaming data of Spotify users in the UK and employing multivariate regression analysis, this work documents that users were more likely to listen to songs older than 5 years during the national lockdown that began in late March 2020 compared with the pre-lockdown period. Such a change in preference was not observed in the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, more frequent listening to old music is found in samples of positive songs and also negative songs. This suggests that the preference for nostalgic music is to a certain extent independent of the positivity bias during the pandemic found in the literature. Yet, this work also provides evidence that the nostalgia-seeking behaviour and the preference for positive songs reinforced each other during the lockdown as the surge in positive old music was more persistent than that in positive recent music.

The Study on the Identification of Musical Passages for an Emotion Perception Scale for People With Developmental Disabilities

BACKGROUND

Emotion recognition is essential to the social adjustment and social interaction of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). Given that music is a medium for expressing and conveying human emotion, we conducted this preliminary study to identify musical passages representing the basic human emotions of happiness, sadness, and anger, with the goal of developing a music-based emotion perception scale for IDDs.

METHODS

To identify musical passages for emotion perception, 20 certified music therapists evaluated 100 selected musical passages and established 60 pieces that yielded the highest agreement for each emotion category. During the second phase of this study, 300 neurotypical participants rated 60 passages in terms of the perceived type and intensity of emotions expressed.

RESULTS

The 60 passages showed high reliability and were statistically classified into three factors: happiness, sadness, and anger. The k-means cluster analysis yielded a cut-off score of 41 for the low emotion perception group (F = 1120.63, P < 0.001). The hierarchical logistic regression analysis revealed that only model 3 (musical passages) was significantly associated with low emotion perception (step χ² = 227.8, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The selected musical passages demonstrated high reliability and established three factors for identifying perceptions of happiness, sadness, and anger. Neither psychological status nor individual demographic characteristics affected the emotion perception results.

Music engagement is negatively correlated with depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic via reward-related mechanisms

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected the mental health of millions of people. We assessed which of many leisure activities correlated with positive mental health outputs, with particular attention to music, which has been reported to be important for coping with the psychological burden of the pandemic. Questionnaire data from about 1000 individuals primarily from Italy, Spain, and the United States during May-June 2020 show that people picked music activities (listening to, playing, singing, etc.) most often as the leisure experiences that helped them the most to cope with psychological distress related with the pandemic. During the pandemic, hours of engagement in music and food-related activities were associated with lower depressive symptoms. The negative correlation between music and depression was mediated by individual differences in sensitivity to reward, whereas the correlation between food-related activities and improved mental health outputs was explained by differences in emotion suppression strategies. Our results, while correlational, suggest that engaging in music activities could be related to improved well-being with the underlying mechanism being related to reward, consistent with neuroscience findings. Our data have practical significance in pointing to effective strategies to cope with mental health issues beyond those related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Infant's Question on COVID-19 and Music: Should I Attend My Online Classes?

In the last few months, we all have faced a profound challenge to balance our lives amidst fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The reactions to this coronavirus pandemic have no doubt affected all aspects of our everyday normalcy as they have called for an extended set of measures that have greatly impacted our social interactions and well-being. During this unprecedented global situation, the pandemic has also taken its toll on education, as schools, universities, and other educational institutions have suspended their programs or moved online to retain educational momentum. Among the programs that tried to adapt to this online model was the early years music education. This mini-review article aims to discuss the framework of online existence for the early years music programs amid the COVID-19 crisis, while considering their benefits and character under these extraordinary circumstances.

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

Music is not only the art of organized sound but also a compound of social interaction among people, built upon social and environmental foundations. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, containment measures such as shelter-in-place, lockdown, social distancing, and self-quarantine have severely impacted the foundation of human society, resulting in a drastic change in our everyday experience. In this paper, the relationships between musical behavior, lifestyle, and psychological states during the shelter-in-place period of the COVID-19 pandemic are investigated. An online survey on musical experience, lifestyle changes, stress level, musical behaviors, media usage, and environmental sound perception was conducted. The survey was conducted in early June 2020. Responses from 620 people in 24 countries were collected, with the large proportion of the responses coming from the U.S. (55.5%) and India (21.4%). Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed causal relationships between lifestyle, stress, and music behaviors. Elements such as stress-level change, work risk, and staying home contribute to changes in musical experiences, such as moderating emotion with music, feeling emotional with music, and being more attentive to music. Stress-level change was correlated with work risk and income change, and people who started living with others due to the outbreak, especially with their children, indicated less change in stress level. People with more stress-level change tended to use music more purposefully for their mental well-being, such as to moderate emotions, to influence mood, and to relax. In addition, people with more stress-level change tend to be more annoyed by neighbors' noise. Housing type was not directly associated with annoyance; however, attention to environmental sounds decreased when the housing type was smaller. Attention to environmental and musical sounds and the emotional responses to them are highly inter-correlated. Multi-group SEM based on musicians showed that the causal relationship structure for professional musicians differs from that of less-experienced musicians. For professional musicians, staying at home was the only component that caused all musical behavior changes; stress did not cause musical behavior changes. Regarding Internet use, listening to music via YouTube and streaming was preferred over TV and radio, especially among less-experienced musicians, while participation in the online music community was preferred by more advanced musicians. This work suggests that social, environmental, and personal factors and limitations influence the changes in our musical behavior, perception of sonic experience, and emotional recognition, and that people actively accommodated the unusual pandemic situations using music and Internet technologies.

"It All Makes Us Feel Together": Young People's Experiences of Virtual Group Music-Making During the COVID-19 Pandemic

We know little about the psychological experiences of children and young people who have participated in virtual group music-making during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Adopting a mixed-methods design, we worked across three music education hubs in the UK, with a total 13 virtual music groups. These included a range of mainstream ensembles, inclusive ensembles targeting young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and inclusive music production spaces, targeting young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Reported progress in intra- and inter-personal psychological outcomes was investigated using quantitative and qualitative staff session reports, which were collected since before the pandemic (n1 for in-person sessions = 87, n2 for virtual sessions = 68), and surveys distributed to tutors, young people, and their parents during the first and second United Kingdom (UK) national lockdowns (n3 for qualitative responses = 240, n4 for quantitative responses = 96). Satisfaction of three basic psychological needs of self-determination theory and their relation to joint music-making in virtual spaces was also observed in real time by the researchers performing quantitative checklist observations on 16 separate occasions. Findings indicated that virtual music groups represented a meaningful psychological resource for the participating children and young people, especially considering the lack of opportunities offered by their schools and other extra-curricular activities. Through their participation with virtual group music-making activities, young people used music as a tool for self-expression and emotion management, restored lost musical identities and confidence, and preserved treasured social connections. Virtual alternatives to group music-making appear to indirectly nurture the sense of belongingness, mediated by supportive staff behaviors, but their direct connection, which has been widely reported for in-person group music-making experiences, has not been observed in virtual music groups.

Engagement in Music-Related Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic as a Mirror of Individual Differences in Musical Reward and Coping Strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to mitigate its impact (e.g., confinement orders) have affected people's lives in profound ways that would have been unimagable only months before the pandemic began. Media reports from the height of the pandemic's initial international surge frequently highlighted that many people were engaging in music-related activities (from singing and dancing to playing music from balconies and attending virtual concerts) to help them cope with the strain of the pandemic. Our first goal in this study was to investigate changes in music-related habits due to the pandemic. We also investigated whether engagement in distinct music-related activities (singing, listening, dancing, etc.) was associated with individual differences in musical reward, music perception, musical training, or emotional regulation strategies. To do so, we collected detailed (~1 h-long) surveys during the initial peak of shelter-in-place order implementation (May-June 2020) from over a thousand individuals across different Countries in which the pandemic was especially devastating at that time: the USA, Spain, and Italy. Our findings indicate that, on average, people spent more time in music-related activities while under confinement than they had before the pandemic. Notably, this change in behavior was dependent on individual differences in music reward sensitivity, and in emotional regulation strategies. Finally, the type of musical activity with which individuals engaged was further associated with the degree to which they used music as a way to regulate stress, to address the lack of social interaction (especially the individuals more concerned about the risk of contracting the virus), or to cheer themselves up (especially those who were more worried about the pandemic consequences). Identifying which music-related activities have been particularly sought for by the population as a means for coping with such heightened uncertainty and stress, and understanding the individual differences that underlie said propensities are crucial to implementing personalized music-based interventions that aim to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms.

"Help! I Need Somebody": Music as a Global Resource for Obtaining Wellbeing Goals in Times of Crisis

Music can reduce stress and anxiety, enhance positive mood, and facilitate social bonding. However, little is known about the role of music and related personal or cultural (individualistic vs. collectivistic) variables in maintaining wellbeing during times of stress and social isolation as imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. In an online questionnaire, administered in 11 countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK, and USA, N = 5,619), participants rated the relevance of wellbeing goals during the pandemic, and the effectiveness of different activities in obtaining these goals. Music was found to be the most effective activity for three out of five wellbeing goals: enjoyment, venting negative emotions, and self-connection. For diversion, music was equally good as entertainment, while it was second best to create a sense of togetherness, after socialization. This result was evident across different countries and gender, with minor effects of age on specific goals, and a clear effect of the importance of music in people's lives. Cultural effects were generally small and surfaced mainly in the use of music to obtain a sense of togetherness. Interestingly, culture moderated the use of negatively valenced and nostalgic music for those higher in distress.