SUBJECTIVE WELL BEING AMONG YOUNG ADULTS THROUGH MUSIC

ENGAGEMENT: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Submitted to Assam down town University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for
the award of the degree of Masters in Clinical Psychology

Submitted by:

SHARON ROSE L.R.

ADTU/2021-23/MCP/001

Under the supervision of:

Ms. BANDANA DEURI

Programme of psychology
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Assam down town University
Guwahati, Assam - 781026
Year: 2021-2023

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 CONTENTS

Acknowledgement
Abstract
Name of the Chapters Page nos.
Chapter - 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction 5
1.2 Review of Literature 6
1.3 Statement of the Problem 20
1.4 Significance of the Study 21
1.5 Research Question 21
1.6 Aim 21
1.7 Objectives of the study 22
Chapter - 2
METHODOLOGY
2.1 Debriefing about Methodology 23
2.2 Method 23
2.3 Operational Definitions 23
2.4 Research Design 24
2.5 Process of Data Collection 24
2.6 Limitations of the Study 27
Chapter - 3
FINDING & ANALYSIS
3.1 Data Interpretation 28
3.2 Discussion 33
Chapter - 4
CONCLUSION
4.1 Recommendation 39
4.2 Conclusion 39
REFERENCES
ANNEXURE

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my academic institution Assam downtown
University for giving me the opportunity to experience and expand my knowledge through the
dissertation work in the field of clinical psychology while pursuing the course on Masters in Clinical
Psychology, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my professors for all their efforts in
helping me gain knowledge through my academics. I specially extend my sincere gratitude to my
mentor Ms. Bandana Deuri, who guided me all through my dissertation, the completion of my
dissertation could not have been possible without her immense guidance and support. I am sincerely
grateful to my parents who constantly supported me and trusted me to do the best. I extend my
gratitude to my classmates who helped and supported me. I am thankful to all the participants who
contributed their responses to help me complete my research successfully. Above all I am sincerely
grateful to God Almighty for His wisdom and countless love.

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 ABSTRACT

Music brings people together and it has become an important part of our life today, there are many
benefits people gain for their well being everyday. Music has significantly impacted the young adults
in various ways today, just as mobile phones have become an object people cannot live without today,
the medias available through mobile phone most have connection with music in some way on the other
and young adults feel great pleasure about life when they get to connect themselves with music in
various ways. The study aims to explore how music engagement can influence the subjective well
being among young adults. This is a qualitative study to explore the impact of music engagement
among young adults in a subjective manner. This study is exploratory and for this study 10 participants
from various socio economic and education backgrounds of Assam downtown University, Assam,
India who engage with music through singing, dancing and and consider musical performances or
engagement as their soulful hobby are selected. The data for the study was collected conducting semi
structured interviews for each participant according to their convenience. Purposive sampling and
convenience sampling methods were used for this study. The results revealed that music engagement
has significantly positive influence on the subjective well being among young adults. This study
concludes that the participants have positive influence on subjective well being through music
engagement but the participants are observed to be over dependent on music which may cause negative
impact on their emotions and subjective well being

Keywords: Subjective well being, Emotions, Music

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 CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Music has many purposes in daily life, including forming culture, disseminating information,
describing reality, expressing sentiments and emotions, enhancing enjoyment, exchanging knowledge
and experience, and inspiring people. Numerous studies have been undertaken to examine the various
ways that music affects a person's mental health. The generation of today has created a barrier between
themselves and others, including members of society, family, and friends, in some situations or
environments by preferring to listen to music in public spaces and at home.Younger generations utilize
music to explore identity and discover how others attach psychological traits based on their musical
tastes. The origins of particular musical sounds and genres are closely related to how young people
identify themselves with their social or cultural communities and attempt to communicate their
thoughts and feelings via music. In our daily lives, music serves a variety of purposes including
enjoyment, stress reduction, socialization, boosting self-esteem, self-control, anger management, and
pain treatment. From the moment a child is conceived in a mother's womb, emotions begin to play a
significant role in both their mental and physical development. Children and adults have difficulty
managing their emotions, and every stage of a person's life requires effective coping mechanisms.
Music is one such tool that is frequently used because of its healing effects on a person's mental well-
being.

Today, one factor contributing to the rise in drug and alcohol abusers and criminal activity is the
variety of mental health issues that have arisen as a result of the problems young people face on a daily
basis and as a result of the way those problems have been triggered in them since early childhood.

In order to improve academic performance, prevent mental health problems that could affect a person's
social and personal life from emerging, and safeguard young people from engaging in suicidal
behaviour, a number of interventions are being introduced today. Young individuals who listen to
music have more stable moods, which helps them work at their best. In therapeutic settings such as
hospitals, music is also utilized to help with pain management, mental health issues, hypertension,
quick recovery from surgery, and many other things. Therefore, the current study's goal is to
investigate how music functions as a source of youth subjective well-being. I conduct a purposive
method approach to this study.

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The findings from first study helped to analyze on most prefered music, such an objective was brought
up to understand the purpose why young adults prefer to listen to music in present and to understand
how the characters of a particular music genre puts effect on the mental well being of an individual,
also to explore how significance of listening to music can help to bring the levels of depression,
anxiety and stress to control was studied using DASS scale among young people and also how levels
of depression, anxiety and stress can be correlated with gender were the objectives in first study. This
research is conducted as a continuation to the first study which is conducted to explore how music can
promote subjective well being among young people.

Music is part of most of our daily activities. In both good and terrible times, it encourages us or
prompts us to pause and think. Music is believed to be a good source of mental well being. It is ideally
suited to reducing stress and regulating emotions in daily life. It is widely believed that music has a
significant impact on social, emotional, and intellectual abilities as well as on one's own wellbeing.
Music also plays a significant part in human connection.This study is conducted to better understand
how music engagement influences the subjective well being among young adults.

1.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Musgrave G. (2022) this research investigates two opposing viewpoints, music and well-being. The
first considers musical practice to be beneficial to emotional and mental health, whereas the second
does not as the people establishing a career as a musician are viewed as potentially facing harm. This
study observes a link between the working conditions of musicians and high levels of mental ill-health
in the form of conditions such as anxiety and/or depression faced by musicians. The relationship
between music and positive mental health has been politically influential. The author highlights the
wellbeing effects of music unevenly experienced by those who are in music-making, developing
musical ambition and seeking to develop musical careers without considering the potential negative
impacts on some musicians who subsequently develop professional ambitions. Today, as much as
music is known to be therapeutic, but at the same time making a career from music is being traumatic
for music composers or makers.The author also emphasizes in developing an argument to make the
awareness .understand the traumatic side in the music industry, while music is to be considered to be
therapeutic and to make people aware of the importance of self actualization in making use of music
for a positive change than creating negative effect.

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Rebecchini L. (2021) conducted a study on effect of music on brain, behavior and immunity.The study
highlights the role of music through singing forms a unique form of interaction and expression, music
is emphasized in treating mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia and being
beneficial in relieving symptoms,Musical interaction playing major role motivating, relationship-
building, and emotionally expressive qualities enhancing mental health.Through the study it is
understood that Negative mood and psychological stress can affect the immune system and may cause
dysregulation leading to a change in the cellular immunity and increases health risks.The study also
emphasizes on the other biological factors which gets influenced through music listening by enhancing
dopamine levels.The study highlights that music also plays crucial interactions between the dopamine
and opioid systems. Thus the research concludes that music, music activities and music therapy
promotes physical and psychological health also contributing much on treatment options.

Becker,S. and Sweet,C. (2020) conducted a study on “What Would I Look Like?”: How Exposure to
Concentrated Disadvantage Shapes Hip-Hop Artists’ Connections to Community. In-depth interviews
with 25 self-identified rap/hip-hop musicians were conducted by the study's authors in order to
examine the relevance of place in contemporary hip-hop. The writers looked at the ties that hip-hop
musicians have to their communities. Their findings showed that artists' perceptions of community,
creative impact, and social duty are influenced by exposure to concentrated racial and economic
poverty. This demonstrates how black urban neighborhood people, despite structural poverty,
creatively establish community.The results clarify the part that particular kinds of physical locations
play in black placemaking processes.

Harris, R. (2019) conducted a study on Advantages and Disadvantages of Surround-Type Concert

Halls. Their study covers surround halls' benefits and drawbacks in terms of both acoustics and other
performance-related factors. The research takes into account the viewpoints of spectators, performers,
and venue operators. Their analysis takes into account elements including acoustical quality, audience
equality, the usage of various performance genres, and ticket sales. In their study, the authors looked at
the effects of placing a large portion of the crowd behind the concert platform since, compared to
surround halls, most surround halls have a substantially greater percentage of the audience seated
behind the platform.

Tort M. and Sanfiilipo K. (2019) did an analysis of Psychology of Music, Music Perception, and
Musicae Scientiae. They collected the data from Scopus literatures, they used descriptive statistics and

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standard bibliometric indicators, including citation analysis, annual growth of publications, authorship
productivity, dominance, collaboration index, and country productivity were used to produce an
overview of the retrieved data. For their analysis,Visualization and bibliometric maps were created
using VOSviewer.From their analysis, they got the result on analyze the citations and growth of
publication,they could compare three journals.This study helped to investigate the general research
trends, reach, and gaps within the published literature in three prominent music psychology journals
and so it was concluded that music psychology is still a relatively young field for further analysis.

Harris, R. (2019) conducted a study on Advantages and Disadvantages of Surround-Type Concert

Halls. Their study covers surround halls' benefits and drawbacks in terms of both acoustics and other
performance-related factors. The research takes into account the viewpoints of spectators, performers,
and venue operators. Their analysis takes into account elements including acoustical quality, audience
equality, the usage of various performance genres, and ticket sales. In their study, the authors looked at
the effects of placing a large portion of the crowd behind the concert platform since, compared to
surround halls, most surround halls have a substantially greater percentage of the audience seated
behind the platform.

Lindblad K. and Boise S. (2019) conducted a study on musical engagement and subjective well being
amongst men in the third age with a purpose of exploring well-being benefits of music engagement,
since older men face specific health challenges such as loneliness, isolation and a heightened risk for
suicide, tied to gendered norms around emotional control. For this study, semi-structured interviews
was conducted with 15 Swedish men of age 66–76 years, who had different demographic
backgrounds and engaged themselves with music and the interviews were analyzed using qualitative
research. The men were selected based on a purposeful sampling strategy to achieve variation in terms
of demographic background and different ways of engaging with music.
Analysis based on the interview resulted in four themes: “emotions and embodiment”, “adjusting to
growing older”, “developing and maintaining friendships” and “maintaining contact as a caregiver”.
Regardless of musical genre or whether singing, playing, dancing or listening to music, the men used
music to come into contact with their bodies and emotions, as well as improving relationships and
social contacts. Also the findings highlighted the observation that men as caregivers to sick partners
benefited from sharing music with their partner, thus improving the quality of the relationship. The
study shows that engagement with music fills deep psychological and social/emotional needs for the
participants, in both being with the music and engaging in musical activities, where also talking about

8
music is highlighted as an important part of the musical engagement. Also it was concluded that music
therapists can play an important role in developing opportunities for older men to engage with music.

Khalfan Z. (2018) conducted the research to study on the relationship between music and human
behavior and to understand the role of music in treating the mentally ill patients for healthy
recovery.The author highlighted that the pursuant to Music theory, a person who is able to play an
instrument according to its learnt elements has truly understood the music, but the limitation to this
theory is that, it does not explain what a brain perceives and how a person acts over it.The author also
mentions various types of music therapies which help to modify human behavior which include
Background Music Therapy, Contemplative Music Therapy, Combined Music Therapy, Executive
Music Therapy, Executive Lotro Music Therapy, and Creative Music Therapy.Music is also
emphasized as playing major role in reducing the activation of stress hormones and in improving
various mental problems and specially in enabling fast recovery in healing from illness.The author
signifies about spreading the awareness of positive effects in regard to music therapy.The the study
concludes that music has a therapeutic power to heal many chronic patients, including in treatment of
various mental illness.

Daykin .N et al. (2017) They reviewed on well being outcomes for music and singing in adults.Their
main aim of study was to understand the role of art and music in supporting well being. Their objective
was to identify SWB outcomes for music and singing in adults. They used comprehensive literature to
collect the data. Result obtained was that music and singing is effective in enhancing morale and
reducing risk of depression in older people.It was concluded this study gives reliable evidence for
positive effects of music and singing on wellbeing in adults.

Khan M. Ajmal A. (2017) they conducted this study to measure the effects of classical and pop music
on mood and performance. The main objective was to investigate the effect of Pop music on mood and
performance,to investigate the effect of Classical music on mood and performance and to investigate
whether there is any difference between the effect of pop and classical music on mood and
performance. The hypothesis was that classical music would affect mood and performance , Pop music
would affect mood and performance and both kinds of music (pop and classical) would affect the mood
and performance differently. The sample consisted of 50 students, 25 girls and 25 boys of age range
18-25 from GCU Lahore. A convenience sampling method was used. The instruments used were
music track,oxford happiness questionnaire, WAIS coding scale were used. Experiment was conducted
in a seminar room, participants were randomly assigned to all conditions.The study was conducted to

9
measure the influence of classical and pop music on mood and performance of university students. It
was concluded that the study claimed that pop and classical music affect performance and mood of
individuals. It was also observed and concluded that performance was high with music as compared to
no music and pop music enhances mood and level of happiness as compared to classical and no music.

Weinberg M. and Joseph D. (2016) conducted a study on ”if you are happy and you know it:music
engagement and subjective well being” to explore the connection between habitual music engagement
and subjective wellbeing. This study uses data gathered in 2014 as part of the 31st survey of the
Australian Unity Wellbeing Index to provide insight into the relationship between music engagement
and subjective well being. For this study a stratified random sample of 1,000 participants were
interviewed over telephone. The sample taken for this study comprises 500 males and 500 females,so
the total sample comprised 1,000 participants with an average age of 56.45 years.The findings reveal
how engaging with music by dancing or attending musical events is associated with higher subjective
well-being than for those who did not engage .
The findings also emphasize how significant is engaging with music in the company of others with
regard to subjective well being, highlighting an interpersonal feature of music. The study provides an
overview of the general relationship between music and SWB at a population level, by contrast to most
research in the area that has focused on evaluating clinical interventions involving music.For this
study, general life satisfaction scale,personal well being index scale and a close ended questionnaire on
music engagement was used. The findings make it clear that the social and physical elements of music
enhance its association with higher wellbeing.

Carl F. and Kutsidzo R. (2016) conducted an exploratory study on music and wellbeing in everyday
life focusing on the music experience in Ghana.They conducted this study using experience sampling
method and semi-structured interviews, their main focus was to examine how people experienced and
used music in everyday life to enhance their subjective well being. In this research they have
highlighted their previous research where music plays a self-regulatory role in the context of solitary
music listening.Twenty people in all volunteered to participate in the study. The study's second
instrument was semi-structured interviews, which were conducted using the experience sampling
approach and lasted 20 to 30 minutes each. They used semi-structured interviews to learn more about
participants' experiences with the ESM process and to spot any potential issues with the study's
methodology.They wanted to know if the study period was representative of usual weeks in terms of
exposure to music. Once more, we sought to ascertain if participants' general impressions of music
were impacted by the self-monitoring task. Moreover, we hoped that the interviews would provide us
with supplementary narrative information on the participants' regular musical experiences.The study's

10
findings are consistent with the idea that commonplace music has a significant impact on a person's
welfare and their capacity to socialize and communicate with others.

Basha E (2016) conducted a study on validity and reliability of DASS scale. They first adapted the
scale into Albanian, for which first the English form of the scale was translated into Albanian by a
committee consisting of four instructors who are fluent in English. Afterwards, these forms were
translated into English again, and the consistency between the Albanian and English forms was
examined. And then, the Albanian form was revised by examining in terms of meaning and grammar.
Confirmatory factor analysis was used for constructing validity of the scale. A Confirmatory Factor
Analysis (CFA) is used for assessing how much the factors that consist of several variables are in
compliance with the actual data. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to find out the effect of the
original form of DAS scale on Albanian people and to analyze if the factor of original form confirms
the research that was conducted on Albanian people. The reliability of the scale was analyzed with the
internal consistency method, and the item analyze was determined with the corrected total item
correlation. The data obtained after applying the scale were analyzed by SPSS 20. sample of study was
composed of individuals, who are elected by random sampling among individuals who live in different
regions of Kosovo,among which 87 were female and 468 were male.The finding obtained from
analysis of the validity and reliability of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Albanian Form (DAS-AF)
has showed that it is ready for use also, examination of the test-re-test the validity and reliability of the
scale was proposed to other researchers.

Gurgen E. T. (2016) conducted a study on the social and emotional function of music listening. Aim of
the study was to investigate the involvement of music in the lives of university students; the type of
music they listen to in the university and during childhood; why they listen to music; and the emotional
and social function of music. Of the students attending different departments of Dokuz Eylul
University Faculty of Fine Arts. He selected 322 participants randomly to participate in this study. He
asked Open-ended questions to study the reasons for listening to music and the musical genres they
prefer. He used content analysis methodology to analyze the data. He observed that the main reasons
for listening to music were enjoyment, emotional mood, peer group, and family and the most preferred
genres were rock, jazz, western art, and pop, it was also observed that the least preferred genres were
Turkish musics.He observed that the preferred genres and listening frequencies were found to be
different in childhood and in university. The findings indicated that the family’s role in the
development of musical tastes is not significant, also Turkish music genres are not more
popular.Hence, it was observed that music represents social identity.

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Maria C. (2015) conducted a case study on the Role of Art and Music Therapy Techniques in the
Educational System of Children with Special Problems.The aim of this study is to systematize some
effective art-therapy and music-therapy methods and the conditions under which they provide their
maximum benefits, and also to present the results of some specific experimental situations which were
carried out within the department of postgraduate Melotherapy studies at Transilvania University of
Brasov (where I work as a member of the teaching staff).This experimental research involved both
participants in the courses (professionals in regards to psychological, educational, pedagogical, medical
or musical training) as well as the members of the teaching staff who offered assistance with various
courses and application. It was concluded that children affected by health and behavior problems, by
language dysfunctions or educational problems need professional therapists who will collaborate with
teachers, parents and doctors.

McDermott, O. et al (2014) conducted a study on the importance of music for people with dementia:
the perspectives of people with dementia, family carers, staff and music therapists. The aim of their
study was to develop further insights into the musical experiences of people with dementia and
explore the meaning of music in their lives. It was a qualitative study. To conduct the study they
separated focus groups and conducted interviews with: care home residents with dementia and their
families, day hospital clients with dementia, care home staff, and music therapists. Later their findings
on thematic analysis were investigated further in the light of psychosocial factors with the aim of
developing a theoretical model on music in dementia. The findings showed that there were six key
themes and the themes were: The accessibility of music for people at all stages of dementia, close links
between music, personal identity and life events, the importance of relationship-building through music
making. The study developed a psychosocial model of music in dementia. Their model revealed the
importance of music to support the personal psychology of people with dementia and the social
psychology of the care home environment. It was concluded that the effects of music can go beyond
the reduction of behavioral and psychological symptoms and sustaining musical and interpersonal
connectedness can help to value who the person is and to maintain the quality of their life.

McDermott, O. et al (2014) conducted a study on the importance of music for people with dementia:
the perspectives of people with dementia, family carers, staff and music therapists. The aim of their
study was to develop further insights into the musical experiences of people with dementia and
explore the meaning of music in their lives. It was a qualitative study. To conduct the study they
separated focus groups and conducted interviews with: care home residents with dementia and their

12
families, day hospital clients with dementia, care home staff, and music therapists. Later their findings
on thematic analysis were investigated further in the light of psychosocial factors with the aim of
developing a theoretical model on music in dementia. The findings showed that there were six key
themes and the themes were: The accessibility of music for people at all stages of dementia, close links
between music, personal identity and life events, the importance of relationship-building through music
making. The study developed a psychosocial model of music in dementia. Their model revealed the
importance of music to support the personal psychology of people with dementia and the social
psychology of the care home environment. It was concluded that the effects of music can go beyond
the reduction of behavioral and psychological symptoms and sustaining musical and interpersonal
connectedness can help to value who the person is and to maintain the quality of their life.

Zakaria J. et al. (2013) did a study on overcoming performance anxiety among music undergraduates
The aim of the study was to determine the performance anxiety level among music undergraduates, and
to identify proactive ways to reduce the anxiety effects. They distributed survey questionnaires, they
conducted interviews on selective respondents in the faculty. They analyzed the results using SPSS
V16 software and interview scripts were transcribed. They observed that every individual music
undergraduate encountered performance anxiety. They observed that the majority of the respondents
exhibited some level of performance anxiety regardless of diploma or degree levels. They also
observed that the proactive approaches to reduce performance anxiety can be praying, breathing and
relaxation, accumulation of prior experiences, adequate practices and mental readiness to perform and
it builds up the students’ confidence and sustains the abilities during performance delivery, and also
help reduce the inner anxiety throughout the live performances. The methods used for this study were
questionnaire survey and this study also made use of the interview technique so as to capture in-depth
information from selective respondents and to understand how they addressed performance anxiety
based on their personal experiences, interviews were also transcribed and analyzed and then themes in
relation to factors causing performance anxiety and how they overcome this anxiety in their
performances. It was concluded that too much performance anxiety or high level of performance
anxiety may distract focus and concentration during the conduct of live musical performances and
playing abilities with the musical instruments. Also, it was recommended that music students have to
undergo some training programs that can develop personal confidence, enhance motivation and skills
in managing stage fright, proper breathing techniques and body communication.

Blanaru, M. et al. (2012) researched on how posttraumatic stress disorder sufferers' quality of sleep and
emotional indicators were affected by music relaxation and muscle relaxation techniques. First, the

13
study compared the effectiveness of two relaxation methods (muscular relaxation and progressive
music relaxation) in reducing insomnia in PTSD patients using both objective and subjective sleep
quality assessments. Second, to determine whether progressive music relaxation and muscular
relaxation have different effects on psychological indicators of PTSD, such as anxiety and depression;
third, to determine how the severity of the initial PTSD symptoms and the baseline emotional measures
are related to the effectiveness of the two relaxation techniques. Thirteen PTSD patients who had no
other significant neurological or mental illnesses took part in this study. In this study, the treatments
consisted of either music relaxation or muscle relaxation techniques at the targeted bedtime, and there
was a seven-day running-in, no-treatment phase followed by two seven-day experimental periods. The
individuals' access to the therapies was determined at random. The patients' sleep was constantly
tracked throughout each of the experimental periods using a wrist actigraph, and they were required to
complete questionnaires addressing a wide range of topics, including sleep, depression, and anxiety.
Following music relaxation, assessments showed a substantial improvement in both objective and
subjective sleep efficiency as well as a significant decline in depression levels. After listening to
relaxing music, a very strong negative association was discovered.

Blanaru, M. et al. (2012) researched on how posttraumatic stress disorder sufferers' quality of sleep and
emotional indicators were affected by music relaxation and muscle relaxation techniques. First, the
study compared the effectiveness of two relaxation methods (muscular relaxation and progressive
music relaxation) in reducing insomnia in PTSD patients using both objective and subjective sleep
quality assessments. Second, to determine whether progressive music relaxation and muscular
relaxation have different effects on psychological indicators of PTSD, such as anxiety and depression;
third, to determine how the severity of the initial PTSD symptoms and the baseline emotional measures
are related to the effectiveness of the two relaxation techniques. Thirteen PTSD patients who had no
other significant neurological or mental illnesses took part in this study. In this study, the treatments
consisted of either music relaxation or muscle relaxation techniques at the targeted bedtime, and there
was a seven-day running-in, no-treatment phase followed by two seven-day experimental periods. The
individuals' access to the therapies was determined at random. The patients' sleep was constantly
tracked throughout each of the experimental periods using a wrist actigraph, and they were required to
complete questionnaires addressing a wide range of topics, including sleep, depression, and anxiety.
Following music relaxation, assessments showed a substantial improvement in both objective and
subjective sleep efficiency as well as a significant decline in depression levels. After listening to
relaxing music, a very strong negative association was discovered.

14
Västfjäll D. et al. (2012) conducted a study on music, subjective Well-being, and health- The Role of
Everyday Emotions, Their study's objective was to give a unique perspective on music and health that
explores health benefits in the context of daily life while paying special attention to potential
underlying mechanisms.The emphasis was on public health rather than clinical populations, and
listening rather than performing. Their main goal of their research was to investigate the psychological
and biological mechanisms through which regular exposure to music may affect people's subjective
well-being and physical health, particularly impacts that are related to emotions. In terms of data
collecting and measurement, they used a variety of methods. They noticed that certain musical feelings
can be connected to various systems. Firstly, ESM study was done to understand the relationship
between self-reported stress and music listening to follow participants in their daily lives, by equipping
participants with an electronic device that can be used to verbally probe participants while they are
doing various activities. They used a DRM method to investigate, a DRM study with 152 women and
55 men, aged 20-77, was performed. A total of 2297 episodes were collected from the participants.
Thirdly, they did an experimental field study to Test psychophysiological pathways for which 41 full-
time employed women were randomly allocated to one of two conditions. Their ESM and DRM
studies suggested that everyday listening may be linked to reduced stress levels. Fourthly, they did an
Experimental field study to Address a behavioral pathway which is another set of pathways through
which psychological stress can come to affect health which involves the ways in which people behave
in the face of stress. it was concluded that music listening as a behavior is usually intrinsically
motivated and can be more successful than externally motivated behaviors that have the goal of
maintaining or improving health.

Eryılmaz A. (2011) did a study on a model of subjective well being for adolescents in high school.His
research's objective was to create and evaluate a model of high school-aged adolescents' subjective
well-being.255 high school students participated in the study, 131 of whom were female and 124 of
whom were male, participated in this study. The general requirements satisfaction questionnaire, the
subjective well-being enhancement techniques questionnaire, the life satisfaction questionnaire, and the
questionnaires for positive and negative effects were all used to collect data. The approach of structural
equation modeling was used for data analysis. Purposive sampling method was used for this study.For
this study, personal Information Form,Basic need satisfaction in general scale,Adolescents subjective
well being scale,Life goals Scale for adolescents were used.It was observed that, When attempts are
made to determine life objectives concurrently with efforts to satisfy wants, a bigger contribution to the
subjective well-being of high school-aged teenagers can be made. Additionally, it was noted that when
needs have been met and life goals have been established, individual's subjective wellbeing levels have
15
increased.Additionally, it was noted that when needs have been met and life goals have been
established, individual's subjective well being levels have increased. The fact that all of the study's
participants were teenagers enrolled in high school is its most important limitation. Therefore, it was
concluded that high school students can combine need fulfillment with choosing their goals in life,
according to the model used in this study. In this manner, both needs and the determination of life
goals contribute to subjective well-being reaching a positive level.

Taghinejad, H. et al (2010) they conducted a study on the Comparison between massage and music
therapies to relieve the severity of labor pain, they conducted the study to compare the effects of
massage and music therapies on the severity of labor pain in the Ilam province of western Iran. For
their study, 101 primigravidae who were hospitalized for vaginal delivery were recruited and
randomly stratified into two groups of either massage. They measured the labor pain using the visual
analog scale and then two groups were compared in terms of pain severity before and after the
interventions. Their findings showed that mothers in the massage therapy group had a lower level of
pain compared with those in the music therapy group. A significant difference was observed between
the two groups in terms of pain severity after intervention. Most severe, labor pain was significantly
relieved after massage therapy. Hence it was concluded that massage therapy was an effective method
for reducing and relieving labor pain compared with music therapy and can be clinically recommended
as an alternative, safe and affordable method of pain relief.

Larsen, N. et al (2010) conducted a study on Suitable reverberation time for halls for rock and pop
music. Their research mostly centered on classical music. The acoustics of 20 rock music venues in
Denmark were measured objectively for the study. A subjective evaluation of such venues with skilled
rock musicians and sound engineers was conducted to examine the matter.Correlations between the
parameters in their investigation demonstrated clarity, The top-rated halls in their research had
reverberation durations that ranged from 0.6 to 1.2 s for hall volumes between 1000 and 6000 m3. In
their investigation, the worst-rated halls had noticeably longer reverberation periods in the 63 and 125
Hz regions. Since standing is the norm at rock concerts, absorption coefficients from 63 Hz to 4 kHz
were tested with a standing crowd. These results revealed that a standing audience absorbs mid- and
high-frequency bands around five times more than low-frequency bands.

Larsen, N. et al (2010) conducted a study on Suitable reverberation time for halls for rock and pop
music. Their research mostly centered on classical music. The acoustics of 20 rock music venues in
Denmark were measured objectively for the study. A subjective evaluation of such venues with skilled

16
rock musicians and sound engineers was conducted to examine the matter.Correlations between the
parameters in their investigation demonstrated clarity, The top-rated halls in their research had
reverberation durations that ranged from 0.6 to 1.2 s for hall volumes between 1000 and 6000 m3. In
their investigation, the worst-rated halls had noticeably longer reverberation periods in the 63 and 125
Hz regions. Since standing is the norm at rock concerts, absorption coefficients from 63 Hz to 4 kHz
were tested with a standing crowd. These results revealed that a standing audience absorbs mid- and
high-frequency bands around five times more than low-frequency bands.

Taghinejad, H. et al (2010) they conducted a study on the Comparison between massage and music
therapies to relieve the severity of labor pain, they conducted the study to compare the effects of
massage and music therapies on the severity of labor pain in the Ilam province of western Iran. For
their study, 101 primigravidae who were hospitalized for vaginal delivery were recruited and
randomly stratified into two groups of either massage. They measured the labor pain using the visual
analog scale and then two groups were compared in terms of pain severity before and after the
interventions. Their findings showed that mothers in the massage therapy group had a lower level of
pain compared with those in the music therapy group. A significant difference was observed between
the two groups in terms of pain severity after intervention. Most severe, labor pain was significantly
relieved after massage therapy. Hence it was concluded that massage therapy was an effective method
for reducing and relieving labor pain compared with music therapy and can be clinically recommended
as an alternative, safe and affordable method of pain relief.

Southgate, D. and Roscigno, V. ( 2009) In their study, The Impact of Music on Childhood and
Adolescent Achievement, they used three measures of music participation—in school, outside of
school, and parental involvement in the form of concert attendance—to examine the relationship
between music involvement and academic achievement in both childhood and adolescence.They
analyzed earlier research on the effect of music on academic attainment before gathering data from the
ECLS-K and NELS:88, two nationally representative data sets. They analyzed patterns of music
participation and potential impacts on math and reading performance for both elementary and high
school pupils using logistic and OLS regression techniques. Their study's findings revealed that music
participation varies consistently by class, gender, and age, and that this variation has an impact on
young children's and teenagers' arithmetic and reading aptitude. It was found in their investigation that
music does, to a limited extent, mitigate some student background effects. Thus, it was determined that

17
music engagement among children and adolescents, both within and outside of school, was linked to
indicators of academic progress.

Nicholson J. et al.(2008) researched on the Impact of music therapy to promote positive parenting and
child development. For this study, Sing & Grow a short-term early childhood parenting intervention
structured around music-based play activities was conducted for this study,which is a 10-week group
music therapy program for marginalized parents and their children aged between 0–5 years.To conduct
this study musical activities were used to promote positive parent and child relationships and to
promote children’s behavioral, communicative and social development. 358 participants were taken to
conduct this study. It consisted of parents and children from families facing social disadvantage, young
parents or parents of a child with a disability. The method used for this study was by collecting data
from participating parents at pre and post music therapy programs by clinicians .For the data collection,
Questionnaires were used . Child Rearing Questionnaire ,Parental Perceptions and Behaviors
Scale,Kessler K6 screening scale, NEILS Scales of Developmental Competency were used for this
study.It was concluded that Music-based parenting programs have high advantages This study shows
that Sing & Grow intervention is highly acceptable and helps in positive approach in developing
parenting behaviors and child developmental skills.

Pitts, S. ( 2007) conducted a case study on extra-curricular musical participation in an English

secondary school. His study reports on empirical investigation into secondary school students’
experiences of participating in a school production of the Cole Porter musical ‘Anything Goes’. For his
study he used questionnaires and audio diaries to gauge the effects of the production on the participants
and the broader school community. In the study themes of friendship, personal and musical
development, and sense of belonging emerged. His study is a complement to existing, largely
quantitative, studies on extracurricular music. It also acts as a reminder on how much musical
education and development takes place outside the formal curriculum.

Mitchell L.. et al (2007) conducted a survey on the effects of music listening on chronic pain. The
research was conducted to study audio analgesia to be more useful than medication.They used a
quantitative method, where they mailed questionnaires to 850 patients, the questionnaire was structured
into four sections. The survey detailed music listening patterns and preferences of long term pain
sufferers. The study highlights the significant effect of gender on affective pain,significant effect based
on education level. It was observed that as the age of the respondents increase, they tend to spend more
18
time listening to music. Majority rated music as quite important in their lives.the respondents ranged
between 24-90 years of age. Personal importance of music and level of importance compared to
average are both positively correlated with rating of listening music to help reduce pain.Patients or
respondents self initiated the use of music for therapeutic purpose. Hence the study concludes that
music listening has a huge impact on healing or relieving chronic pain.

Pitts, S. ( 2007) conducted a case study on extra-curricular musical participation in an English

secondary school. His study reports on empirical investigation into secondary school students’
experiences of participating in a school production of the Cole Porter musical ‘Anything Goes’. For his
study he used questionnaires and audio diaries to gauge the effects of the production on the participants
and the broader school community. In the study themes of friendship, personal and musical
development, and sense of belonging emerged. His study is a complement to existing, largely
quantitative, studies on extracurricular music. It also acts as a reminder on how much musical
education and development takes place outside the formal curriculum.

HURON,D. (2001) He conducted a review on “Is Music an Evolutionary Adaptation?” to understand

basic arguments related to evolutionary claims for music. He could observe that musical behaviors
satisfy a number of basic conditions, so there is merit in pursuing possible evolutionary accounts.

Roseigno,V. et al (2001) conducted a study on Rurality,Institutional disadvantage, and Achievement/

attainment, In his study they gave a framework on which resources influencing achievement are
viewed as embedded and varying across rural and nonrural places because of the differences in
structures of local opportunities. For this study they drew ideas from National educational longitudinal
survey and from the common core of data. They employed hierarchical linear and hierarchical logistic
modeling techniques to test their ideas. It was found that the resources are translated into important
educational investment in both school and family levels, and it also explains rural deficits in both
attainment and standardized achievements. In the study they also discussed the implications of their
findings on rural deprivation and inequality.

Roseigno,V. et al (2001) conducted a study on Rurality,Institutional disadvantage, and Achievement/

attainment, In his study they gave a framework on which resources influencing achievement are
viewed as embedded and varying across rural and nonrural places because of the differences in
structures of local opportunities. For this study they drew ideas from National educational longitudinal
survey and from the common core of data. They employed hierarchical linear and hierarchical logistic

19
modeling techniques to test their ideas. It was found that the resources are translated into important
educational investment in both school and family levels, and it also explains rural deficits in both
attainment and standardized achievements. In the study they also discuss the implications of their
findings on rural deprivation and inequality.

Gordon, E.E. (1989) conducted a study on Audiation, Music Learning Theory, Music Aptitude, and
Creativity. In his study he contends that while one's capacity for musical creativity cannot be taught,
one can learn how to be ready to exercise it. Through his research, he also makes the argument that an
individual's general ability influences the nature and scope of their early musical upbringing, which in
turn impacts how creatively they can express themselves musically. He noted that in order for students
to learn to be musically creative, a teacher must be aware of whether a student's aptitude for tonal
creativity is higher or lower than their aptitude for rhythm creativity. He suggests that teachers must
focus on teaching readiness for music creativity, rather than music creativity itself. He emphasized that
whereas music success indicates, among other things, what one has learnt to audiate, music aptitude
shows one's ability to learn to audiate.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Today when we think of music, we are more reminded of the benefits it can give to our mind and well
being, but we barely think of music engagement serving disadvantages too when used beyond the
limits or when making right choice of music is not realized to be important, to help ourselves make a
good balance of our choice of listening to music to maintain good mental well being. This study is a
continuation of my previous study (Effects of music on the mental health among adults). In the
previous study, it was explored that unavailability of music can cause significant effects on our
emotions and thoughts among adults today and such significant effects influences the subjective well
being among young adults also. Elements of music such as beats, tempo, influences our mind and
emotions in various ways which reacts to our behavior, thoughts, and builds motivation. However, the
previous study was a quantitative study which could only gain objective information of the sample
population.This study focuses specifically on the population of young adults aged between 20-29 years.
The subjective understanding about the influence of music engagement among young adults can help
us understand the subjective wellbeing of young adults in more detail.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

20
Music as a subjective source of well being gains us so many benefits. It influences us in our everyday
life at times more than our basic needs. In this study, the term subjective well-being through music
engagement is related to the ways how music influences our perceptions, boosts our self-esteem, and
fosters a sense of community and purpose. Each individual’s view about obtaining and maintaining
subjective well being varies.It has a major role in balancing both physical health and mental health
simultaneously. Today young adults have understood the benefits of gaining mental well being through
music engagement and also they have started prioritizing ways to maintain better well being through
music as observed in the previous study, this study is significantly focusing on the perceptions young
adults have regarding music and the emotional attachment which they gradually developed was
explored, to understand how music can influence the attitude and behavior of young adults in their
personal and social relationships and in their individual space.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

● How does engagement with music influence Subjective wellbeing among young adults?

● How does music impact the wellbeing of young adults?

1.6 AIM

● To explore the influence of music engagement in the subjective well being among young adults

1.7 OBJECTIVES

● To explore how music engagement influences the subjective well being among young adults.

● To study on the impact of music in the well being of young adults.

21
 CHAPTER-2
METHODOLOGY

2.1 DEBRIEFING ABOUT METHODOLOGY

This study aims to explore the subjective wellbeing among young adults through music engagement,
and explores various emotional attachments young people have towards listening to music and how
unavailability of music can affect them. With the objectives in mind an exploratory qualitative research

22
design has been used. Data was collected using semi structured interviews among the students of
Assam down town University,Guwahati.

2.2 METHOD

Method refers to “how data was collected” (Jackson,2007), For this study an exploratory qualitative
research design has been used. Data was collected from eight students who are in connection with
musical performances like singing,dancing, interested more in music engagements. Semi- structured
interviews were held with the students. The data were then analyzed using thematic analysis.

2.3 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Subjective well-being: Subjective well-being (SWB) is the term used to describe how individuals
perceive and assess their lives as well as particular spheres and activities within them.

Emotions: Emotions are conscious mental reactions (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as
strong feelings usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological
and behavioral changes in the body. (adapted from APA,Merriam-Webster)

Music: It is the science or art of sequencing tones or sounds in sequence, in combination, and in
temporal relationships to generate a composition with unity and continuity.

2.4 RESEARCH DESIGN

Qualitative research design is concerned with the approach of “the humans as instruments”. The
qualitative technique is used to comprehend people's attitudes, interactions, behaviors, and beliefs. It
produces data that is not numerical .“ The aim and functions of qualitative inquiry is to understand the
meaning of human action by describing the inherent or essential characteristics of social objects or
human experience” (Jackson, 2007). For the purpose of this study a qualitative exploratory research
design has been employed. Exploratory research design is primary in nature. In order to develop a
more thorough grasp of the research issue and to pinpoint prospective areas for more investigation,

23
exploratory research design is employed in this study. Keeping in mind the objectives of the
study,employing a qualitative exploratory research design will help in addressing the concepts that are
looked into in this study.

2.4 PROCESS OF DATA COLLECTION

For this study, purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used for data collection.
Purposive sampling is a type of non-probability sampling technique which relies on an intentional
selection of informants. Convenience sampling is a type of non-probability sampling method that relies
on data collection from population members who are conveniently available to participate in the study.
For this study, 10 Participants aged between 20-29 years are selected, there are 2 male participants and
8 female participants. Semi structured interviews with each participant were conducted, the participants
selected for this study are individuals from different academic courses, who are interested in musical
performances such as singing, dancing, and who are more into music engagement are taken for the
study, to gain in depth understanding.The materials used for this study are socio demographic details
and semi structured interview schedule. The collected data was transcribed for further analysis and
themes were obtained using thematic analysis.

Inclusion criteria: In this study participants included are students of Assam downtown University who
engage with music through singing, dancing and and consider musical performances or engagement as
their soulful hobby. Both undergraduate and postgraduate students are included to participate in this
study.

Exclusion Criteria: This study does not include any students from other universities. The participants
included dont not face any psychiatric disorders.

Figure 1: Flowchart on the process of data collection

24
 The participants for the study were selected based on
convenience from among those who are interested in
musical performances such as singing,dancing and who are
observed to be more into music engagement.

Each participant were explained about the purpose of the

study

Interview was scheduled as per participant’s convenience.

Consent was taken from each participants before conducting

the interview and also consent for audio recording the
interview session was taken from each participants.

Semi-structured interview was conducted for each

participants.

Collected data was transcribed for further analysis

Themes were obtained using thematic analysis.

Table 1: Socio-demographic details:

SL.NO: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
0

NAME M S P A D M F D D P

25
 N K R M K D C B D D
R K B

AGE 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1 0 9 7 2 4 2 3 5 4

GENDER F M F M F F F F F F

EDUCATION B B M M B M M M B M
AL P . . M . . A . . .
QUALIFICA Y A S L S A S A S
TION c T c c c

FAMILY N N N N N N N N N N
TYPE

MARITAL U U U U U U U U U U
STATUS M M M M M M M M M M

ANY N N N N N N N N N N
PHYSICAL o o o o o o o o o o
ILLNESS/DIS
ABILITIES

HAVE N N N N N N N N N N
CONSULTED o o o o o o o o o o
ANY
PSYCHIATRI
ST/THERAPI
ST

Note: *UM denotes unmarried

*N denotes Nuclear family type

2.5 LIMITATIONS

This study has several limitations to be considered.

26
● This study is conducted among the sample population within Assam downtown University,
among those who are interested in musical performances such as singing, dancing, and who are
more into music engagement are taken for the study, to gain in depth understanding, yet the
results may vary when studied among young adults from other regions, so this study does not
make a conclusion on overall subjective well-being among young adults.
● Though this study is explored in a subjective perspective, yet it has more to be explored to
understand the overall perspective of subjective well being.
● The majority of the participants were female participants. Although the study was to explore the
influence of music in subjective well being among young adults, the findings could have varied
assuming that choice of music and the perceptions towards music could be different for other
genders.

CHAPTER-3
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

27
3.1 DATA INTERPRETATION

Theme 1: Perspectives about music

Each participant in this study expressed what music means to them in their own perspectives “music
means an escape!”-DK, The participants describe how much music can mean to her being a young
adult when living in today’s world each day. The participant eagerly seeks to spend some time with
music to find a way to escape from the stress she faces in her daily life. “It's the way I go in and out of
the world.”-DD The participants express her need to ventilate their mind from negative thoughts
through music engagement everyday, as she face various situations of being treated with inequalities,
corruptions and injustice in their daily life, as they grow in such environments, which very much
impact negatively on their perspectives and thoughts about life. “It helps me stay disconnected from my
negative thoughts' '-PBR, she finds music as a big relief to find a way to divert themselves from their
negative environment, memories and thoughts. The participant describes how music means to him
“Music is life to me”-SKK highlights how wholesome music can make him feel positive about facing
life and the challenges in life in a positive manner. “ It gives me therapy and relaxation to my mind
and body”-DB the participants describe music to provide them a soothing feeling which helps them
relax and relieve their stress. ” It's my way of connecting to myself as well.”-PD The participants feel
the necessity of connecting with themselves through music apart from society and people and value
their own identity and treat themselves with some time of relaxation. “Music is a pleasure for my
mind”-AM participants describe that music is a good pleasure which makes him feel positive and
relieves him from emotions and thoughts which negatively influence his well being.

Theme 2: Music as a good source

To explore how music engagement influences the subjective well-being among young adults, it is also
essential to understand how all music serves benefits to young adults, other than music being a source
to find an escape or disconnect or feel relaxed. Participant describes music that ”helps me to work,
study right, reflect on myself and do my daily routine.”-AM, the participant describes that he could
experience that music promotes both his physical and emotional well being, “I can concentrate on my
daily routine well.”-MNR The participant describes that music other than being a source of
entertainment and pleasure, it also serves her as an important factor and helps her to focus on daily
goals, especially being a student, the participant feels that music plays a major role in helping her focus
on her daily academic goals. “it boosts me up to do the activities more energetically”-PRB the

28
participant describes that music promotes motivation and positive energy which impacts on her mood
positively and helps her get going. “ It helps me reduce stress.”- DK, the participant describes how
music is a good stressbuster, and she highlights the need of music to help her manage day to day stress.
Also being a student who faces stress with her academics in everyday life, music helps being a good
stress reliever. “It helps me finish my work faster than usual,''-PD the participant describes that having
a tight schedule to manage everyday and when she feels the need to manage her responsibilities on
time, music helps her to quicken the completion.”it builds my confidence”-FC the participant describes
how music becomes an important part of her life in helping her build her confidence, which can impact
on her developing her personal identity in the society and improve the ways of self respecting herself
and also helps her develop and strengthen her confidence holding a good identity in the society she
lives, also build her self esteem in her daily life performances, especially as a student in her
academics.“It helped me be resilient to challenging situations.”-FC, the participant describes how
music has been an important part of her life in her developing resilience to help herself adapt to the
environment she lives in and to face the challenges she faces in her everyday life.

Theme 3: Making the right choice of music

“My choice would be pop music. And I feel great when I listen to pop music”-DK, the participant
describes how pop music, which is a music of her personal preference, helps her, “It makes me feel
bubbly and lively”. ” I feel much stronger and motivated.”-DB, the participant who expressed her
preference to listen to music on women empowerment describes that she feels stronger and motivated
by listening to music of her preference. “It helps me feel more relaxed and calm down.”-MNR
participant describes that listening to music of her choice helps her feel relaxed compared to seeking
random music to gain the benefit of engaging in music, especially when stressed . “When someone
interrupts me while listening to music of my choice, I take my chance to repeat the same song once
again.”-SKK, the participant describes how important his choice of music is for him, specifically in
not compromising his pleasure he gains through music while someone tries to interrupt.

Theme 4: Music and its impacts

“It helps me balance my emotions.”-DD The participant explains how music helps her at times when
she feels she is going through various emotions at the same time which makes her feel frustrated in
such moments, specially when she faces mood swings during her menstruation period of every month.
“Whenever I listen to sad songs, I tend to remember some memories related to that song ....whenever I

29
listen to happy songs I feel happier ....during a low mood, when I listen to some energetic upbeat
songs, it makes me really excited.”- PRB. The participant admits that sad songs takes her back to
memories which once gave her hard time, so does music that makes her feel happy and also music
with energetic beats enhances her mood ,but though sad songs take her back to memories that gave her
tough time, it helps her to reflect back on herself and build resilience with more self awareness about
her emotions. “I feel some positivity….it helps me let negative thoughts and feelings go away and
move ahead…. It helps me not live in the past“-DD the participant describes that she has experiences
of music helping her to focus away from her problems, helping her live the present well specially in
those moments when she feels difficult to manage her emotions. “I was not as social as I am now.”-
DK The participant feels that being able to socialize is also helping her live better than the days she did
not prefer to socialize, she feels that she could become more social overtime through the way the music
of her choice influenced her and her life.

Theme 5: Life without music

The participant feels so emotionally attached to music that they feel life will surely feel difficult to
live. “Without music there is no life”-MD. The participant expressed that he will feel depressed
having circumstances where he cannot have music to connect himself “so that will be very, you
know, depressing. I'm using the word depressing "-SKK. "Life is like missing out on something.”-FC,
the participant expressed that she feels void whenever she doesn't have access to music. A
participant expressed that “ I feel empty without music, but with music life means a lot to me.”-DK,
she expressed that she feels like being stuck and unmotivated to move on with activities compared to
the way she feels with music.

Table 2 Themes and verbatims

Theme 1: Perspectives about music ● “Music means an escape!”

● “It's the way I go in and out of the
30
 world.”
● “It helps me stay disconnected from
my negative thoughts”
● “Music is life to me”
● “ It gives me therapy and relaxation
to my mind and body”
● ” It's my way of connecting to myself
as well.”
● “Music is a pleasure for my mind”

Theme 2: Music as a good source ● “I can concentrate on my daily

routine well.”
● ”helps me to work, study right,
reflect on myself and do my daily
routine.”
● “it boosts me up to do the activities
more energetically”
● “ It helps me reduce stress.”
● “It helps me finish my work faster
than usual, ''
● ”it builds my confidence”
● “It helped me be resilient to
challenging situations.”

Theme 3: Making the right choice of music ● “My choice would be pop music. And
I feel great when I listen to pop
music”
● “It makes me feel bubbly and lively”
● ” I feel much stronger and
motivated.”
● “It helps me feel more relaxed and
calm down.”
● “When someone interrupts me while
listening to music of my choice, I
take my chance to repeat the same

31
 song once again.”

Theme 4: Music and its impacts ● “It helps me balance my emotions.”

● “Whenever I listen to sad songs, I
tend to remember some memories
related to that song ...whenever I
listen to happy songs I feel
happier ....during a low mood, when
I listen to some energetic upbeat
songs, it makes me really excited.”
● “I feel some positivity….it helps me
let negative thoughts and feelings go
away and move ahead…. It helps me
not live in the past ''
● “I was not as social as I am now.”

Theme 5: Life without music ● “Without music there is no life”

● “so that will be very, you know,
depressing. I'm using the word
depressing ".
● "Life is like missing out on
something.”
● “ I feel empty without music, but with
music life means a lot to me.”
● “ I feel empty without music, but with
music life means a lot to me.”

3.2 DISCUSSION

Music has existed in the world for thousands of years but the way how music influenced young adults
many years back and today has a lot of differences. Music has become so significant to the young
adult's life to such an extent that they started to feel that it is difficult to live without music. The study

32
was conducted with the aim to explore the influence of music engagement in the subjective well
being among young adults.

According to the findings and based on the explorations on the first objective “ To explore how music
engagement influences the subjective well being among young adults ” , it is observed that music
engagement has significantly influenced the subjective well-being among young adults and young
adults are observed to have deep emotions when they express their connection with music. It is
understood from the findings that music is a good alternative to choose instead of various practices
that can negatively impact the lives of young adults today. Each individual experiences subjective
well-being in a unique way.

The participants have expressed unique experience with music in terms of relating music with and
subjective well being. Five themes obtained from the thematic analysis are- 1) Perspectives about
music, 2) Music as a good source, 3) Making the right choice of music, 4) Music and its impacts, 5)
Life without music. Each participant expressed their perspective about music in different ways, their
perspectives on music was observed to be expressed with much emotional attachment with music.

Based on theme 1,” Perspective about music” it could be observed that they relate their perspectives
about music with various situations they come across daily, as they grow older each day, the
expectations of people in the society gradually increase and when the expectations are not met by
young adults they face a lot of circumstances where they feel being treated with various inequalities
and judgements in the society, which gradually cause young adults to isolate themselves to an
environment that cause to seek help to find music as an escape. Music has been proving to be a good
therapeutic source to find a way out from stress, negative thoughts and emotions. In today’s world
young adults face various kind of stress in daily life, and they indulge themselves into activities like
smoking, drug intake for momentary pleasure and peace, which can negatively impact on their well
being, music is a good and healthier alternative young adults can opt for than finding ways to relax
doing harmful hobbies. Today it is commonly observed that most of the young adults plugging their
earphones, living most of the time disconnected from their living environment on road, in bus while
traveling or on their way back from work in the evening, as they prefer to isolate themselves with
something that can help them calm down or relax and connect with themselves. Commonly a sense of
satisfaction is felt when we do what we love to do, music gives pleasure to the mind of all of us,
especially among young adults. Feeling of pleasure and satisfaction are significant factors of gaining
subjective well being, so when music can mean life or an escape, it significantly promotes subjective
well being among young adults.The majority participants in this study are female and there are only 2

33
male participants who have expressed their perspectives about music, but it can be observed that the
perspectives of music among male participants vary from the perspectives of female participants,
though the influence of music seem equal among both male and female.

Based on the theme 2, “music as a good source”, the participants described that listening to music of
their choice helped them improve their physical health and overall well being, several studies have
studied that music improves their quality of sleep, improves their memory, reduced their anxiety,
blood pressure, promote mental alertness and motivation. Music other than being a soothing feeling
to mind, it also provides motivation to complete works, it develops focus and attention, as
participants described that music helps her to plan and follow a day’s routine easily, music also
develops self awareness gained by reflecting on oneself, Reflecting back on their emotions can help
them know their potentials and areas that require improvement and is significantly a good gain for
their overall well being.

The participants had a positive response about engaging in music while doing their daily activities, as
they are students pursuing various professions from Assam downtown University, it was observed
that engaging in music can help them perform their academics well by maintaining good and positive
emotional stability. Just as practices like yoga and meditation can improve concentration, music
therapy can be helpful among young adults who want to work on building their concentration.

Stress is a major concern while living in today’s world for the young adults, stress in education,
family, workplace and relationship making, many young adults become drug addicts and there are
many young adults who attempt suicide due to stress which is caused due to unmanageable anxiety
and depression, and such a situation among young adults have become a great concern in regard to
maintaining well being and survival,

Depression is observed to be one of the major rising concerns in the upcoming years to cause mental
disability among young adults, music is studied to be providing healing minds reducing stress,
anxiety and depression. People's emotions and moods transform, helping to decrease tension,
discomfort, difficulty, divert attention, and promote optimism.

Many young adults today prefer to do their work listening to music, as music provides an energetic
and positive mindset which naturally influences the performance and achieves goals, helping them to
gain life satisfaction and ultimately promoting subjective well being among young adults. Age
between 20-29 years is an energetic and enthusiastic period of life among young adults where they

34
start to develop the responsible sense to strive for prioritizing quality goals which can lead them
towards lifelong gains, develop their identity in the society they live in, and seek to build their career.
Therefore, confidence plays a major role in the performances and mindset among young adults. It is
also an essential factor which can help them in making outstanding performances in their career,
attitude towards building relationships professionally and in social life, and in developing responsible
sense towards their family and parents. Music also boosts their self esteem. Music helps individuals
in self-expression because they use music as a symbol for their self definition and identification
(Greenberg et al., 2016), Music helps to develop resilience among young adults, which is essential to
adapt to the environment around them, be it in family, society or community. Developing resilience
can help young adults to develop and gain new skills and face the circumstances that they wish to
avoid with confidence.

Based on theme 3, “ Making the right choice of music” Just as it is understood how music is a good
source of well being, it is also essential to make the right choice of music. Making the right choice of

music rather than listening to any random music has a huge difference. Listening to sad music led to
four different types of reward, relating to imagination, emotion regulation, empathy and lack of ‘real-

life’ implications (Taruffi & Koelsch, 2014). It influences in making quality decisions in various
areas of lives among young adults. It can influence the development of a good personality as it was
discussed in the Theme 2 that music influences young adults to reflect back on their emotions. and
develop self value which can help young adults to treat others in society with care and respect which
also gradually develops a good personality. It plays a major role among young adults to calm down
and be relaxed from day to day stress faced in various areas of life, it could be observed during the
interview that participants prefer to give themselves sufficient time listening to the music of their
choice, as it helps them be in their comfort zone which also develops overall well being. The male
participants expressed their necessity of music in everyday life as a healthy alternative to live
peacefully and maintain good health, by connecting themselves to music more during activities at
gym while exercising and to maintain good health and enjoy the pleasure they can gain through
music, whereas female participants expressed the necessity of music in their daily life expressing
their need of connecting themselves with music for their daily emotional concerns

Based on theme 4, “music and its impacts” Over the years music has influenced young adults in
various ways significantly, it has become a part of their life “Music has impacted my life a lot. Young
adults assume that music is a life saver in many challenging situations, to overcome and balance
themselves in life, their emotions play a major role as they grow older and also as they face various
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environments and situations in life. Music has got a lot to do with emotions and mind among young
adults, also physical well being definitely is influenced by psychological well being, which helps to
gain overall well being. Living in the past can accumulate many negative thoughts which can cause
depression, anxiety and stress which can impact on physical health by increasing blood pressure,
causing diabetes in young age, cancers and many diseases. Today's world has changed a lot gradually
over the years. Stress has become a major concern. Young adults have a major role in contributing for
the future, so it is important to safeguard and seek ways to promote subjective well being in daily life,
rather than letting negative impacts ruin their subjective well being.

With the developing competitive modern world , stress levels have been observed to rise. Young
adults in college or university face stress with their academics, family pressures, financial pressures,
over expectations by the people in society, music heals stress and helps them get going. The stress
young adults face today has not just been a momentary struggle, the young adults have been facing
pressure and stress over the years due to various reasons or factors and their mental health has been
impacted significantly over years because of which many young adult’s mindset, attitude and
behavior today at some point makes them feel the need to seek for help as today many young adults
are not able to have control over their emotions without a help or support as compared to how it has
been in the early years.

Based on theme 5, “ Life without music” This theme also explores on the second objective of this
present study, “to study on the impact of music in the well being of young adults, it is explored that
music has caused huge impact among young adults and life can start getting difficult for young
adult’s subjective well being significantly if they have to face circumstances where music cannot be
accessed, based on the majority of the response from participants during interview it was observed
that majority that they cannot imagine such a situation. Indeed music plays a vital role in the daily
life among young adults in a positive manner, but it can cause negative effects if they become too
dependent on music, as it can cause to lead them to disconnect themselves from developing social
relations, fail to improve themselves in every areas of their in a balanced manner, impact on their
brain developing irritation, feel disable to control on their emotions and focus on daily life activities.
Overdependence on music due to pleasure gained through beats and music heard with loud volumes
can cause disturbance in sleep cycles,which can cause sleep deprivation causing various
psychological disturbances among young adults and life may become more difficult to manage. For
young adults, music is a way of defining and sharing their sense of self, which also helps them
improve their identity (Frith, S. (1996). It can disturb their emotions and cause more psychological
issues among young adults and life may become more stressful, if music cannot be accessed. For

36
 young adults, music is a way of defining and sharing their sense of self, which also helps them
improve their identity. Today young adults have explored a temporary way of escaping from their
problems through music engagement and it has become almost impossible to live without music or
any kind of media, specially mobile phones which provide access to various media which all have
connection with music in some way or the other. They expressed that they will feel void in life if
music cannot be accessed , after young adults explored the benefits they could gain through listening
to music over the years. Music enhances mood positively when made with the right choice of music
to such an extent that it becomes difficult for most young adults to disconnect from it. Today young
adults also use music engagement as a way to de addict themselves from practices such as smoking,
alcoholism which helps to understand the positive extent of the use of music among young adults.
Music is a therapy with many benefits for the subjective well being among young adults.

Based on our first objective, music engagement has positively influenced the subjective well-being
among the participants, but the results of the second objective of the study shows that the participants
are over dependent on music in their daily life. So, there may be chances of being affected by the
disadvantages through music engagement as there are several studies which observed that music can
gain disadvantages too such as hearing loss caused due to loud music or long term listening and an
elevated risk of addiction. Long-term listening to loud music damages hearing (Barlow, C. 2011).
Listening to music of their choice may uplift the dopamine release causing them to be dependent on it,
too much of dopamine release can cause conditions to be more drive the behavior of young adults
making them aggressive, lead to addictions or lead to poor impulse control, it may also gradually cause
insomnia among young adults, which overall can lead to result into a poor lifestyle choice. Though
music can help young adults be productive, it can also cause distraction when they try to concentrate
on a specific task at times, especially if young adults prefer to listen to loud and fast music. Over
dependence on music can lead to social isolation. Sometimes it may cause young adults to be less
mindful about their surroundings. Over dependence on music may also lead to limiting the ability to
think. Also in this study, it can be observed that the perspectives of music among male participants
vary from the perspectives of female participants, though the influence of music seems equal among
both male and female. The female participants are observed to express their need of connecting with
music for their emotional well being more than the male participants. The participants are all from
nuclear families, earlier in India, people belonged to joint families where members communicate and
socialize well within the family, but today as the years go by and family systems changed over time,
people habituated themselves to grown more isolated in their own works and thoughts, which is
causing a bigger need to create more awareness and conduct interventions to help young adults
socialize than living isolated, to develop better well being.

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 CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSION

4.1 RECOMMENDATION
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This research can further be continued, by studying the comparison among genders to study behavioral
changes among genders through music. Survey methods can be used to study the country's overall
population of young adults using simple random sampling. Also, an in depth study on various
interventions used apart from music to maintain the young adult’s subjective well being.

4.2 CONCLUSION

Music has the power to transform emotions and thoughts , just as music plays the role of being a strong
elicitor of emotions, it can also facilitate the regulations of music. Music also has the tendency to cause
us to revisit the past and forgotten thoughts and memories. Music is a basic form of communication
through which individuals express their feelings, intents, and meanings. Music does play a vital role
in developing subjective well being.Music has the potential to move us physically and evoke really
intense feelings in us. our musical tastes and inclinations may be a significant reflection of our attitudes
and beliefs.

Our musical preferences and tendencies can significantly reflect our opinions and convictions. The
music we choose to listen to affects our emotions and mood; for a long period of time, The impact of
music engagement on young adults has grown significantly over time.

When feeling anxious, people occasionally choose music that matches their emotional state over music
that is tranquil and relaxing since it is the opposite of how they are feeling. If a person is already down
or sad, they are more likely to select music that they can emotionally identify with, which is music that
makes them feel worse. When people choose the correct music to listen to, music may be a source of
well-being.

Other than gaining subjective well-being through music engagement, young adults may face drawbacks
if they are overdependent on listening to music in addition to its benefits. Young adults can claim
some time for meditation,breathing exercise, taking a little sleep, exercising, finding alternate hobbies
to keep active, or selecting music rationally rather than suffering the negative effects of being
overdependent on music engagement. The beats, flow and lyrics of the music also can have a
significant impact on the emotions of young adults.

The aim of this study is to explore the influence of music engagement in the subjective well being
among young adults and based on the first objective the results indicate that music engagement has

39
positively influenced the subjective well being among young adults gaining them pleasure, satisfaction,
relaxation, good health and confidence, but the results of the second objective of the study show that
the participants are over dependent on music in their daily life, which may affect their subjective well
being in the absence of music, or when there is no access to music, such an impact may affect their
emotions negatively in various situations if they continue being over dependent. Instead of being over
dependent on music engagement, other than connecting themselves with music alone, young adults can
practice meditation, find a hobby which can also connect them with nature, engage themselves with
morning or evening community clubs where they can socialize and also volunteer in some physical
activity, spend time with a pet of their choice, do breathing exercises, explore activities that can
involve connecting with nature as a good alternative to improve their subjective well-being over the
years ahead.

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