The Effects of Anxiety Regulation and Stress Regulation on the Enjoyment of Music Listening and Subjective Well-being of Chinese Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese people experienced a lot of anxiety and stress, and there was a need for a way to alleviate them.This study investigated the relationship between the enjoyment of music listening and subjective well-being among Chinese adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Additionally, the mediation effect of anxiety regulation or of stress regulation of music listening in the aforementioned relationship.The participants were 277 male and female Chinese adults aged 18-57 years, and were given the Scale for Enjoyment of Listening to Music, Adaptive Functions of Music Listening Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and Emotional Frequency Test.The mediating effects were analyzed using PROCESS Macro 3.5 Model 4. The results revealed that the enjoyment of music listening was positively correlated with the anxiety regulation, stress regulation of music listening, and subjective well-being.Additionally, the anxiety regulation and stress regulation of music listening were positively correlated with subjective well-being.The anxiety regulation of music listening partially mediated the association between enjoyment of music listening and subjective well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic.However, the stress regulation of music listening did not mediate this relationship.These findings suggest that music listening can enhance the subjective well-being of Chinese adults through anxiety regulation in stressful situations.