Music and mood regulation during the early-stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Music-listening can be an effective strategy for regulating affect, leading to positive wellbeing. 16 However, it is unclear how differences in culture and disposition can impact music’s affective 17 benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to study how music is used to 18 cope with stress, loss, and unease across the world. We used an online survey to test if people 19 from four different countries used music to manage their emotions during quarantine and if the 20 functions of music depended on empathy, anxiety, depression, or country of residence. We 21 found a positive relationship between the use of music-listening for affect regulation and current 22 wellbeing, particularly for participants from India. While people with stronger symptoms of 23 depression and anxiety used music differently, the end result was still a positive change in 24 affect. Our findings highlight the universality of music’s affective potency and its ability to help 25 people manage an unprecedented life stressor.