Popular Musician Occupational Stress and Psychological Ill Health: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Popular musicians are exposed to many occupational stressors, including unpredictable work schedules, touring and economic precarity, that have been associated in prior studies with psychological ill health. This study sought to identify occupational stressors most strongly associated with depression, anxiety, and alcohol misuse in popular musicians. METHODS: An online survey was completed by 317 popular musicians that included the Musician Occupational Stress Scale (MOSS), a validated measure of occupational stress in popular musicians. An exploratory principle-factor analysis (EFA) investigated the dimensions of response patterns in the items comprising the MOSS. RESULTS: Four factors were identified that predicted 50% of musician occupational stress: Work Insecurity Stress, Tour Stress, Performance Stress, and Professional Relationship Stress. In addition to financial distress, each factor was significantly associated with depression and anxiety and Tour Stress also was associated with alcohol misuse. After adjusting for all other factors and financial distress, only Work Insecurity Stress remained associated with depression (odds ratio [OR]= 5.42; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.23–9.09) and anxiety (OR=5.95; 95% CI = 3.51–10.11). Tour Stress became inversely associated with depression (OR= 0.59; 95% CI = 0.40–0.89) and anxiety (OR=0.60; 95% CI = 0.40–0.89). After adjustment, alcohol misuse was associated with Professional Relationship Stress (OR=1.66; 95% CI = 1.04–2.65) but inversely correlated with Performance Stress (OR=0.60; 95% CI = 0.40–0.91). CONCLUSIONS: The four-factor model was shown to reliably simplify driving associations of occupational stressors that negatively impact psychological functioning in popular musicians. Dissemination of these findings could have practical implications in developing effective outreach messaging to promote psychological resilience and guide psychotherapeutic intervention strategies for this high-risk occupational group.