People tend to participate in musical activities-whether it is making or listening to music-for reasons that are related to basic psychological needs. This study explored whether the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) has changed the reasons for participating in musical activities and examined the relationship between these reasons and well-being during as well as before the pandemic. In total, 246 people (between 18 and 35 years) completed a survey during the pandemic, which contained questions relating to the reasons for participating in musical activities-namely the promotion of identity and agency, mood regulation, relaxation and company, enjoyment-and to subjective and eudaimonic well-being before and after the outbreak of the pandemic. Results showed that during the pandemic compared with before, people more often chose music to promote identity and agency, mood regulation, and relaxation and company. Two of the reasons that were invoked more often-namely identity and agency and mood regulation-positively predicted eudaimonic and subjective well-being, respectively, during the pandemic as well as before. Thus, people's reasons for participating in musical activities during the pandemic compared with before changed in a direction consistent with increasing both eudaimonic and subjective well-being.
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.
In 2020, when the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic surfaced in the United States, physical distancing and quarantine practices terminated group music rehearsals, such as choirs and bands. This study explores the experiences of individuals who created music independently during the pandemic using a phenomenological approach. Using the qualitative methodology and semi-structured interviews, 14 participants who sang or played instruments independently during Covid-19 shared their experiences on music creation's impact on their mental health. Two themes emerged from the data: music creation for comfort and mood management. It is important to understand how music creation can affect the mental health of individuals.