Music reception and emotional regulation in adolescence and adulthood

Abstract

Two forms of music reception (attentive–analytical and emotional listening) can be differentiated to understand and explain how individuals adapt to stress through regulating their emotions (accommodative coping and rumination). We asked whether (1) more reflective and complex music reception (i.e., attentive–analytical listening) would be related to accommodative coping and (2) emotional listening would be related to rumination. In addition, we investigated age differences in adolescence and adulthood. In Study 1 (cross-sectional, 521 participants, aged 18–86 years), attentive–analytical listening to music showed positive relations to accommodative coping, whereas emotional listening showed a positive relation to rumination. No age differences were found in music reception in adulthood. Study 2 (cross-sectional, 152 adolescents ranging in age from 12–17 years) investigated the relation between music reception, accommodative coping, and rumination and replicated the results of Study 1. The transition from adolescence to adulthood (12 to 23 years) was critical for the development of music reception. A comparison of adolescents and young adults revealed that attentive–analytical listening was negatively associated with age up to approximately 17 years, after which the correlation between age and attentive–analytical listening became positive. Adolescents demonstrated age increments in emotional listening. We argue that music reception is not only a possible avenue for investigating emotional regulation over the life course, but also provides a basis for possible interventions aimed at modifying emotional regulation processes in adulthood.