The effect of preferred music genre selection versus preferred song selection on experimentally induced anxiety levels.

Full Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences of experimentally induced anxiety levels reached by subjects listening to no music (n = 30), subjects listening to music selected by the experimenter from the subject's preferred genre or artist listed as relaxing (n = 30), and subjects listening to a specific song they listed as relaxing (n = 30). Subjects consisted of 90 individuals, male and female, randomly assigned to one of the three groups mentioned above. Subjects in either music group filled out a questionnaire prior to participating in the study indicating their preference of music used for relaxation purposes. Subjects in Experimental Group 1 marked their preferred genres and/or artists, and Experimental Group 2 marked specific songs used for relaxation purposes. While the experimenter hypothesized subjects in Experimental Group 2 would show less anxiety than both the control group and Experimental Group 1, there were no significant differences found between the 2 music groups in anxiety levels reached. However, there was a statistically significant difference between the no music control group and both music groups in the anxiety level reached by subjects. Subjects listening to music, both songs chosen by the experimenter and subject selected songs, showed significantly less anxiety than subjects not listening to music.

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Author information

Author/s: Walworth, Darcy DeLoach (DD);

Affiliation: The Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial Health Care, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal: Journal of music therapy (J Music Ther), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-; vol 40 (issue 1) : pp 2-14

Dates: Created 2007/06/26; Completed 2007/07/12;

PMID: 17590964, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Acoustic Stimulation - methods
Adolescent
Adult
Anxiety - prevention & control; therapy
Auditory Perception
Female
Humans

Humans
Male
Music - psychology
Music Therapy - methods
Patient Satisfaction
Questionnaires
Relaxation - psychology

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