TITLE:
The Psychological Well-Being, Happiness and Life Satisfaction of Music Students
AUTHORS:
Erol Demirbatir, Ayhan Helvaci, Nilufer Yilmaz, Gulnihal Gul, Ajda Senol, Nazan Bilgel
KEYWORDS:
Depression; Anxiety; Stress; Happiness; Life Satisfaction; Students
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.11A,
November
29,
2013
ABSTRACT: Studies showed
that university and college students are vulnerable to mental health problems.
High rates of depression, anxiety and stress among students have generated
increasing public concern in western societies, but in eastern societies this
issue remains mostly undiscovered. The healing force of music has been known since
ancient times and studies showed the positive impact of music on mental health
problems. However, few studies have been conducted on music students’
psychological well-being. In this study we wanted to assess the psychological
well-being of undergraduate music education students in terms of depression,
anxiety and stress as well as their happiness and life satisfaction levels. A
second objective of this study was to examine the effects of different types of
classical music (baroque versus romantic/post-romantic) on depression, anxiety
and stress levels as well as on perceived happiness and life satisfaction. A
total of 69 students participated in this study, with 35 assigned to Group I (listened
to baroque music) and the other 34 assigned to Group II (listened to
romantic/post-romantic classical music). No statistically significant
relationships were found between depression, anxiety and stress levels and any
of the socio-demographic characteristics that were studied. This was the same
for happiness and life satisfaction levels. There was, however, a significant
relationship between economic status and life satisfaction which was found to
be positively related. A significant negative correlation was determined
between depression and happiness and between depression and life satisfaction.
The difference between depression, anxiety and stress levels as well as
happiness and life satisfaction levels for Group I and Group II students was
not statistically significant.