“So sad and slow, so why can’t I turn off the radio”: The effects of gender, depression, and absorption on liking music that induces sadness and music that induces happiness

Abstract

Huron (2011) theorized that listening to music that induces sadness could lead to higher levels of prolactin, which would lead to increased liking of music that induces sadness, but this relationship would depend on individual factors of age, gender, depression, and personality. This study explored the link between these individual factors on liking music that induces sadness and music that induces happiness to determine if further testing would be viable. This study surveyed 488 college students (338 women, 146 men) and included measures of age, depression, absorption in music, and gender as predictors of liking music that induces sadness and music that induces happiness. Gender and depression predicted liking music that induces sadness, where both men’s and women’s liking increased as depression increased but did so much more for men than it did for women. Gender and absorption in music interacted to predict liking music that induces happiness. For women, there was no relation between absorption in music and liking. For men, there was a positive relation between absorption in music and liking. Age did not affect liking either types of music. These results imply that Huron’s (2011) model could depend on gender, general depression, and absorption in music.