Beyond listening: music engagement and mood in later life

Objectives: Music engagement has been associated with cognitive, emotional, social, and physical benefits in older adulthood. Less is known about how different forms of music engagement relate to overall mood. This study examined whether distinct approaches to music engagement predicted mood disturbance among older adults. Methods: Forty-three adults were recruited and after treatment for missing data, forty adults aged 60 years and older completed the Music USE Questionnaire and the Profile of Mood States–Short Form and were included in the analyses. Hierarchical linear regression analyses examined whether cognitive and emotional regulation, social connection, engaged production, physical exercise, and dance predicted total mood disturbance. Results: A significant negative correlation emerged between engaged production and mood disturbance. Engaged production was negatively correlated with mood disturbance and significantly predicted mood disturbance. Other forms of music engagement (i.e. social connectedness and cognitive and emotion regulation) were not significantly associated with mood disturbance. Conclusion: These preliminary findings identify active music-making as a potential correlate of less mood disturbance in later life. These preliminary findings identify engaged production as a potentially meaningful correlate of less mood disturbance in later life, while highlighting the need for larger, longitudinal studies to clarify the nature and direction of this association.