Mood, Music Choices, and the Emotional Outcomes of Music Listening: An Examination of the Moderating Role of Rumination using Experience-Sampling Methodology

Research indicates that the ways individuals engage with music listening in daily life has emotional consequences, and that these consequences, and their relationship to well-being, are influenced by a complex interaction among situational variables and personal dispositions. One such disposition is rumination, a response style characterized by repeated dwelling on negative thoughts and feelings. The tendency to ruminate is strongly related to issues such as depression and anxiety in the non-music domain, and music research indicates this trait may moderate relationships between a listener’s mood, the emotional content of their music choices, and the outcomes of listening. The primary aim of the present study was to assess this potential moderation using Experience-Sampling Methodology. Secondary aims included collection of descriptive data regarding typical listening scenarios as well as exploratory assessment of relationships between musical background/experience, motivations for listening, and outcomes. Participants (N=157) downloaded the MuPsych smartphone app and completed regular reports about their listening experiences over a two-week period. Information collected included mood measures taken at the onset of listening and again after a five-minute period, as well as information about current context and musical selections. Participants also completed measures of trait rumination and musical background. Results obtained via multilevel structural equation modeling indicate that although associations between initial mood, music valence, and affective outcomes were significant and in the expected direction, trait rumination generally did not significantly moderate these relationships. Nor was musical background or experience related to any motivation for listening or listening outcomes. Descriptive data, however, tended to support prior research regarding listening frequencies, common listening contexts, and the prevalence of affective change associated with listening. The present study has implications for music therapy and education, perhaps especially for awareness-building programs designed to help individuals acquire adaptive affect regulation skills and habits. Results here also lend support to the idea that the emotional outcomes of music listening are more strongly influenced by minute-to-minute situational variables than by dispositional or between-subjects variables.