Personality characteristics, music listening, and psychological well-being: a systematic and scoping review

Abstract

Research on the effectiveness of psychological interventions promoting well-being among different populations is often oriented toward including music in their protocols. The existing literature has consistently reported interactions between the effects of personality traits and music listening. However, the interrelations between individual traits and well-being after listening to music are still partially unclear. This systematic review, registered on PROSPERO, investigates the relationship between everyday music listening, individual characteristics (operationalized as stable and transient personality traits), and well-being. Articles were searched on PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, with a final result of 115 records. After the eligibility screening, eight studies were included in the review. The results showed that both stable and transient personality traits influence music’s effect on well-being. As a result of the scoping review, a theoretical perspective combining the emotional dimension, the principle of emotional congruence, and the dimension of music immersion and well-being was identified. Based on this knowledge, music listening could be systematically introduced into daily routines to improve everyday well-being and prevent or reduce stressful states.

Introduction

The role of music in overall psychological well-being has been explored within current literature and has garnered significant academic, media, and public attention over the past 10 years (MacDonald, 2012); hence, a systematic review of current research studies may be relevant for a deeper investigation of this subject.

Well-being is becoming a progressively important pursuit, and it can be conceptualized as a composite experience of feeling well, functioning appropriately, experiencing positive emotions, developing one’s potential, feeling control over one’s life, being purposeful, and engaging in healthy and functional relationships (Atkinson et al., 2020; Ruggeri et al., 2020). The Harvard School of Public Health (2017) defines well-being as a healthy state of physical, mental, and social wellness.

Improving all of these dimensions is important to prevent mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, especially during stressful life events. A large body of literature has demonstrated that psychological difficulties have risen significantly during the government-imposed lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic (Shah et al., 2021). The resulting physical and social isolation has been shown to affect people’s mental health (Knight, 2020; O’Donnell et al., 2022; Rossi et al., 2022), thus increasing the risk of developing mental disorders (Fancourt et al., 2021; Ierardi et al., 2023; Varma et al., 2021). Consequently, investing in improving overall well-being is more important than ever before (Békés et al., 2023).

When seeking appropriate, effective ways to improve well-being among different populations, music comes to mind. This powerful medium can drive affective states, express and elicit complex and perhaps contradictory emotions, and energize or calm hearers (Chaturvedi et al., 2022; Eerola & Vuoskoski, 2012). It can also reduce stress and anxiety, enhance positive moods, and facilitate social bonding (Granot et al., 2021; Jiang et al., 2016). Its importance has increased during the COVID-19 global pandemic: amid a time of strained physical and mental well-being among frontline service providers and infected patients, music has been used to address physical symptoms and psychological distress (Giordano et al., 2020; Granot et al., 2021; Vajpeyee et al., 2022).

Therefore, it is not surprising that music listening has been demonstrated to decrease levels of tiredness, sadness, fear, and worry (de Witte et al., 2022; Giordano et al., 2020; Lu et al., 2021). Clinical applications of music have also been explored and have been demonstrated to reduce symptoms of dementia, such as agitation and antisocial behavior (Chai et al., 2021; Nguyen, 2021). Additionally, listening to music increases levels of cooperation, interaction, and conversation (Shibazaki & Marshall, 2017). Even outside of a structured clinical setting, music has been proven to provide major health benefits across multiple genres and listening activities, such as improving self-esteem, empowerment, and sense of achievement (Krause & Davidson, 2021; Krause et al., 2021; Loepthien & Leipold, 2022). A recent study (Dingle et al., 2021) indicates that various musical activities, including composition, songwriting, and improvisational activities, improve cognitive mechanisms of attention and memory.

Nevertheless, individual characteristics and their relationship to well-being after music listening are not completely understood, which is relevant because one would assume that individual characteristics have a role in guiding music choices for everyday listening. Furthermore, it remains unclear why music has a positive effect on well-being when individuals select their own music: is this effect linked to specific characteristics of the individual listener, or is it linked to one’s social or cultural context? These questions become more relevant when music listening occurs outside of a professional setting; in these instances, a music therapist and client have not discussed music choices, and the music therapist is not an influencing factor. When therapists choose music for clients, their explicit aim is to improve clients’ well-being; however, when individuals select their own music, their intentions may not be consistent, and results may vary in their effect. Whether and how this happens, as well as which individual variables influence this effect, is a leading research question that inspires this systematic review.

Outside of a clinical setting, individuals are responsible for their own music choices. Considering the well-being effect of everyday casual listening discussed previously, one can hypothesize that the key factor mediating this positive connection relates to individual differences among listeners. To identify specific differences, one must assume that the choice is based on stable traits (e.g., personality traits or enduring dispositions) or transient traits (e.g., emotional states). Stable traits are longterm behavioral habits, personalities, or dispositions, whereas transient traits may include reactions to incidents that occur at specific moments (Hall et al., 2016).

Individual traits have been explored in some depth in relation to music listening (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003; Schäfer & Mehlhorn, 2017), and identifying which traits, whether stable or transient, affect music selection and mood changes may elucidate their effects on well-being. Accordingly, scholars hypothesize that individual differences may lead to enhanced emotional intensity while listening to music (Karreman et al., 2017).

The literature demonstrates that moods change differently while people listen to music depending on their personality traits, which demonstrates the multitude of complex interrelationship processes that occur while listening (Fox & Moore, 2021); however, an in-depth, rigorous analysis of the evidence reported in the literature must clarify these processes and the variables that affect them. Individual differences that are linked to personality could be considered the relevant factors to explain why some people enjoy listening to a certain type of music and others do not.

This systematic review investigates the relationship between everyday music listening, personality traits (defined as stable and transient characteristics), and well-being to support the hypothesis that personality characteristics are the key factor that modulates the relationship between music and well-being. By searching for recent relevant literature, the present study analyzed i) the role of personality characteristics in the selection of music and ii) the individual’s perception of well-being after listening to music. Findings in this area could lead to continued improvements in the scientific music field and a more accurate understanding of how individual differences modulate health and well-being when listening to music.

Methods

This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO (ID CRD42021282653). Data extraction, critical appraisal, and qualitative synthesis adhered to the preferred reporting items for the systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement (Moher et al., 2009). Article searches were conducted on the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. As a common practice in systematic analysis, to ensure a relatively recent comprehensive overview of the literature, the publication dates ranged from 2011 to 2021.

Each database was searched independently using three specific iteration research strings: (“Music”) OR (“Music-Listening”) AND (“personality traits”) OR (“individual traits”) AND (“Well-being”). These strings were selected to encompass a broad range of features related to music listening, individual characteristics, and well-being. These were derived from the research questions, which were formulated according to the population, intervention, control, and outcomes format (Huang et al., 2006). This study concerns the effect of personality traits on improving the perception of well-being in an adult population while listening to music.

Eligibility criteria

Articles were included if they were original quantitative studies, considered the concepts of music listening, individual characteristics, and well-being, and were published in the previous 10 years. No restrictions were placed on the type of publication or the participants’ gender or ethnicity.

Articles were excluded if the participants were under the age of 18 years, the work focused on a population with physical or mental illness, the study was not peer-reviewed, the article was not written in English, the research involved qualitative or case studies, or included editorials or commentaries.

Study selection

The initial screening and study selection utilized Rayyan (Ouzzani et al., 2016), a web application for systematic reviews. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of the studies via Rayyan’s blind modality, which allows reviewers to work independently without being influenced by other reviewers’ ratings. The reviewers, when selecting which papers to include in the review, applied the inclusion and exclusion criteria listed above. After the blind modality was switched off, the consent rate regarding inclusion and exclusion criteria was 90%. All disagreements were resolved by discussing the inclusion and exclusion criteria until an agreement was reached.

Methodological quality assessment and risk of bias

To ensure the methodological quality of the included studies the quality assessment tool for quantitative studies developed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) has been applied (EPHPP, 2010). The EPHPP consists of six domains: selection bias, study design, confounders, blinding, data collection method, and withdrawals and drop-out. As shown in Figure 1, we qualified the first domain (A) of the selection bias (non-clinical population) as sufficient in all included studies. Domain B concerns the study design, with randomized controlled trials rated as strong and nonrandomized controlled trials as moderate. Most studies failed to report on confounders (domain C). None of the studies blinded researchers or participants (domain D). All the studies included the validity and/or reliability of data collection tools (domain E). Withdrawals and dropouts were either not present or not expected in the majority of studies (domain F). Table 1 details the quality assessment of the included studies (EPHPP model) (Fox & Moore, 2021; Guo et al., 2020; Hall et al., 2016; Hennessy et al., 2021; Hilsdorf & Bullerjahn, 2021; Lyvers et al., 2020; Thoma et al., 2012; Vuoskoski & Eerola, 2012).

Results

A total of 115 papers were retrieved from the initial search, but 107 of these were excluded for the following reasons: not published in English (n=4), wrong publication type (n=28), patients aged less than 18 years (n=13), wrong publication year (n=15), wrong outcome (n=47), or duplicated record (n=3). Each study featured a cross-sectional design. A total of eight articles were included in the current review (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

PRISMA flow diagram for study selection.

After selecting the studies to be included, the following data were extracted: initial author and year of publication; country in which the study occurred; keywords; aim of the study; study design and measures used; sample size as well as age and gender of participants; outcomes and measurements for well-being and personality traits; results; and limitations.

The results from the selected studies were summarized to provide a qualitative synthesis of the impact of individual traits on music listening and perceived well-being.

Characteristics of the studies and participants

The total sample size of all studies included in the review was 2203, with sample sizes ranging from 40 to 852 participants. Participants were university students or individuals recruited online. The music-listening experiences focused on different tempos and emotional tones (happy, sad, neutral, scary, etc.). The duration of listening sessions ranged from 5 to 30 minutes. Personality traits were assessed with self-reported measures, which were based on the big five theoretical model (McCrae & Costa, 2003), while emotional states were measured using mood inventories and emotion regulation questionnaires.

The studies considered in this review were conducted in Australia (n=2), China (n=1), Finland (n = 1), the US (n=1), Germany (n=1), and Switzerland (n=1). One study was a multicenter study conducted in Italy, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. No adverse events were reported in these studies. Table 2 reports the characteristics of the included studies (Fox & Moore, 2021; Guo et al., 2020; Hall et al., 2016; Hennessy et al., 2021; Hilsdorf & Bullerjahn, 2021; Lyvers et al., 2020; Thoma et al., 2012; Vuoskoski & Eerola, 2012).

Individual disposition and music listening: the analytical phase

Next, we moved to an analytical phase in which the researchers read the full text of the selected articles to identify and categorize relevant issues. During this process, when focusing on personality characteristics and their effects on music listening and perceived well-being, two thematic areas were identified: the influence of transient personality states (considered as emotional dimensions) and the impact of stable personality traits.

Identifying the relevant transient personality states

Although personality is relatively stable over time, some transient states, which are related to positive and negative affect, influence the emotional sphere and mood regulation, thereby mediating personality effects (Matthews et al., 2009).

Thoma et al. (2012) examine the influence of transient personality states on situational active music selection. Specifically, they demonstrate that situational music selection follows the principle of emotional congruency: individuals use music as an instrument to actively regulate their emotions in everyday situations. In their study, Thoma et al. (2012) identify two main dimensions that influence music listening choices and perceived well-being: valence (reflecting emotions and mood) and arousal (reflecting physiological processes). Study participants indicated the likelihood of their desire to listen to various musical genres (known to elicit specific emotions) in various emotional conditions. Depending on the characteristics of the emotional situation, participants preferred different kinds of music. This situation-specific selection of different emotionally connotated music indicates the listener’s attempt to seek individually appropriate music to support, control, or change the current state of experienced emotions. These results highlight the important role of specific emotion regulation styles and their effect on perceived well-being, as revealed by the selection of music in an everyday situation.

These findings are supported by a multicenter study (Hennessy et al., 2021) conducted in four countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite varying levels of COVID-19 severity and risk, Hennessy et al. (2021) hypothesize that the use of music enhances positive moods and supports the reappraisal of negative situations. Specifically, they demonstrate that people with major symptoms of depression and anxiety expressed greater mood improvements after engaging with music. This result suggests that participants who were feeling particularly affected by the pandemic were more likely to use music to improve their mood. Additionally, the relationship between some music-related negative emotion regulation strategies, especially the discharge of emotions, and improved well-being is moderated by differences in trait empathy. These results suggest that music and the influence of empathy had a healthy emotional impact on people during a global crisis; these results are consistent despite potential differences due to cultural and governmental responses to the pandemic (Hennessy et al., 2021).

Guo et al. (2020) provide additional support for the idea that emotionally congruent music selection has a positive relationship with well-being. Researchers tested three typical emotional kinds of music (sad, neutral, and happy) and their effect on pain modulation, adding the possible influence of stable and transient personality traits. Study participants were exposed to four conditions while feeling pain elicited by cold: listening to happy music, listening to neutral music, listening to sad music, and listening to nothing. Among the listening conditions, the common aspect was the direct relationship between the emotional state and the type of music. Specifically, sad music allowed participants not to feel the cold-induced pain by activating a more immediate change in their emotional state. One explanation for this result is that while listening to sad music, individuals may feel more easily immersed in the music. Sad music may be more attractive because it engages people at a deeper emotional level, thus leading to an improved analgesic effect; this may also be true in unpleasant situations.

Table 1.

Quality assessment of the included studies (Effective Public Health Practice Project model).

Reference	Selection bias	Study design	Confounders	Blinding	Data collection method	Withdrawals and drop-outs
Fox & Moore, 2021	Moderate	Strong	Moderate	Moderate	Strong	Moderate
Guo et al., 2020	Moderate	Strong	Moderate	Moderate	Strong	Moderate
Hall et al., 2016	Strong	Moderate	Weak	Moderate	Strong	Moderate
Hennessy et al., 2021	Strong	Moderate	Weak	Weak	Strong	Moderate
Hilsdorf & Bullerjahn, 2021	Strong	Moderate	Moderate	Weak	Strong	Moderate
Lyvers et al., 2020	Strong	Moderate	Weak	Weak	Moderate	Moderate
Thoma et al., 2012	Strong	Moderate	Moderate	Weak	Moderate	Strong
Vuoskoski & Eerola, 2012	Strong	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Strong	Moderate

Other studies have confirmed that listening to sad music during stressful conditions may contribute to emotional immersion in the situation, which in turn leads to greater enjoyment of the music (Garrido & Schubert, 2015; Vuoskoski & Eerola, 2012).

These findings highlight the key role of the emotional dimension of transient personality states. They influence music choices and the resulting perceived well-being, which follows the principle of emotion regulation. Transient personality states affect the relationship between music listening and well-being, thus facilitating the state of immersion in the listening experience and implementing the perception of well-being.

Table 2.

Characteristics of the included studies.

Reference	Aim of the study	Measures used	Sample size	Main outcomes	Country
Fox & Moore, 2021	Determine whether a musical stimulus can generate a positive mood positive and negative affect and identify personality traits involved in this process	NEO five-factor inventory, chedule, and musicals stimulus	152	Both extraversion and neuroticism influence perceived well-being in music	USA
Guo et al., 2020	Explore, during cold-induced pain, the efficacy of listening to sad music for analgesia and the role of musical emotional	Sixteen personality factor questionnaire, musical stimulus, and EEG data	40	Liveliness as well as introverted and extroverted personality traits are associated with pain modulation when listening to sad music	China
Hall et al., 2016	Investigate the influence of state and trait absorption upon music	Listening appraisal questionnaire, absorption subdimension of the phenomenology of consciousness inventory, and modified Tellegen absorption scale	128	Trait absorption predicts individual preferences for music that evokes negative emotions, while state absorption is the primary driver of music enjoyment	Australia
Hennessy et al., 2021	Explore how music is used to cope with stress, loss, and unease across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic	Patient health questionnaire, state and trait anxiety index, emotion regulation quotient, interpersonal reactivity index, and brief music and mood regulation questionnaire	589	The relationship between negative music-related emotion regulation strategies -specifically, discharge of emotionsand improvements in well-being are moderated by trait differences in empathy of the participants	Italy, India, UK, USA
Hilsdorf & Bullerjahn, 2021	Investigate whether negative affect modulation strategies explain differences in music choices	Big five inventory 2, inventory for the assessment of activation and arousal modulation through music, and technology acceptance model	852	The tendency to modulate negative affect through music is positively influenced by openness and neuroticism	Germany
Lyvers et al., 2020	Investigate individual differences in relation to the emotional response to music	Geneva emotional music scale, interpersonal reactivity index, ten-item personality inventory, Toronto alexithymia scale, affect intensity measure, and musical stimulus	205	Empathy and alexithymia are significantly positively correlated with the emotional response to music	Australia
Thoma et al., 2012	Explore how music induces specific emotional states in everyday situations	Beck depression inventory, multidimensional mood state questionnaire, music preference questionnaire, inventory for regulation of emotion, and musical stimulus	89	People use music according to the principle of emotional congruency, which is mediate by two main emotional dimensions: valence and arou	Switzerland d sal
Vuoskoski & Eerola, 2012	Investigate which subjective emotional dispositions are induced in listeners by music	Big five inventory, interpersonal reactivity index, music-specific GEMS-9, and musical stimulus	148	Openness to experience and empathy are associated with a preference for sad music, as are the intensity of emotional responses induced by sad mus	Finland ic

EEG, electroencephalogram; GEMS-9, Geneva emotional music scales-9.

Identifying the relevant stable personality traits

Personality traits are stable behaviors and beliefs linked to enduring dispositions (Matthews et al., 2009) that may impact the relationship between music listening and well-being. According to the literature, the principal personality model is the five-factor structure (McCrae & Costa, 2003), which identifies five personality traits: openness versus reticence toward experience, agreeableness versus antagonism, neuroticism versus emotional stability, extraversion versus introversion, and conscientiousness versus carelessness.

When focusing on the role of stable traits, Guo et al. (2020) find that high levels of openness to experience and low levels of extroversion influence the preference for sad music.

Similarly, Fox and Moore (2021) find several interrelations between personality traits and music. Individuals participating in their study were asked to listen to music designed to induce a positive mood, which was followed by an assessment of both positive and negative effects. Their results demonstrate positive relationships between extraversion, positive affect, and mood induction with music. Concerning personality traits, both extra-version and neuroticism influence mood reactivity by provoking an emotional response to the music while listening. In other words, a person who is characterized by high scores in these personality traits feels better when listening to music that is considered happy. These results support the principle of emotion congruency in music listening.

Evidence confirming this principle is also provided by Hilsdorf and Bullerjahn (2021), who report that the tendency to modulate negative feelings (such as depression, anxiety, stress, etc.) through music is positively influenced by neuroticism and openness to experience. Hence, it is reasonable to believe that people choose to listen to certain types of music not only in relation to their personality traits but also according to the emotions in which they want to feel immersed.

Similarly, Lyvers et al. (2020) observe that empathy, along with affect intensity, is significantly positively correlated with a stable personal response to music. Specifically, empathy is the strongest predictor of the emotional response to music, followed by alexithymia and extraversion. Study participants who were characterized by low affect intensity (identified as alexithymia) and high empathy may use music as a form of self-medication to regulate their emotional state (Lyvers et al., 2020). Consequently, music becomes a coping strategy that may enhance well-being perception and enable people to feel better by immersing themselves in the experience of listening to music.

Moreover, Vuoskoski and Eerola (2012) demonstrate that sad music may induce stronger emotional responses in empathetic and extroverted listeners. In their study, sad music was liked more by people with greater levels of openness to experience, which was evaluated as greater responsiveness to others’ experiences, intense emotions in response to sad music, and sensitivity to art and beauty. Furthermore, those who experienced the most intense emotions in response to sad music and scored high in empathy most enjoyed sad music. Empathy appears to be an important factor in influencing the emotional response to music, thus contributing to the music-induced reaction and enhancing overall perceived well-being.

Music has strong immersive power, since through it the listener may feel understood, accompanied, and supported (Schäfer et al., 2020). Focusing on this aspect, Hall et al. (2016) explore absorption as a trait, which is linked to the personality dimension of openness to experience and indicates the degree to which a person feels involved in the experience (Pekala, 1991). This trait is both transient and stable. According to the study by Hall et al. (2016), trait absorption appears to be particularly important in predicting individual preferences for music that evokes negative emotions, while state absorption is the primary driver of music enjoyment during the listening experience. Thus, where trait absorption appears to be important for determining music preference based on the music’s emotional content, the actual experience of entering an absorbed state appears to be the more proximal driver of whether listeners enjoy a specific musical experience.

Discussion

This systematic review explores the relationship between music listening, stable and transient personality characteristics, and perceived well-being. Specifically, the main research concept is to explore which personality characteristics could be considered key factors that influence music’s effects on well-being.

Concerning the relevant transient emotional dimensions, the emotion regulation principle has been introduced and discussed in almost all the studies included herein. The common aspect that emerges from these studies is that people use music to influence their emotions during their daily lives. This emotional dimension is further influenced by empathy, which is key in determining the music’s effects on well-being (Clarke et al., 2015). High levels of empathy (whose literal meaning is the ability to vicariously experience another person’s feelings) influence the emotional response to music in the analyzed studies. Music can wordlessly encourage mutual understanding as it activates or channels empathy between the subject and the music itself. In this process, state absorption is fundamental for music enjoyment. Listening to sad music does not necessarily mean that people are sad, but that this kind of music may contribute to feeling immersed in a particular situation and inducing a specific mood.

When focusing on stable personality traits, neuroticism, absorption, and openness to experience are most frequently involved in the enjoyment of music listening and its effects on well-being.

Being highly open to experience affects how a person interacts with music. The higher the participants scored on this trait, the more immersed they felt in the music.

It is no coincidence that both extroversion and introversion are found to influence music’s effects on well-being. Music is a source of both more intimate and solitary as well as public and collective experiences, as the experience ranges from individuals using their smartphones and headphones as listening devices to large-scale live events (Clarke et al., 2015).

Neuroticism, which is characterized by negative reactions and feelings, also influences the effects of music listening and perceived well-being. Indeed, negative emotions (such as sadness or anxiety) can somehow be enjoyed when accompanied by music. This consideration aligns with a growing body of evidence regarding the paradoxical effect of enjoying negative emotions through music (Schubert, 2016).

Finally, state or trait absorption is particularly important in predicting individual preferences for music that evokes negative emotions as a driver of music enjoyment. From these results, we suggest that personality may be a predictor of how people use music in different situations (Schäfer & Mehlhorn, 2017), especially because it can influence feelings of immersion in the music-listening experience. The broad nature of our research question and the lack of articles that detail scientific explorations of the relationship between music, personality traits, and well-being required the inclusion of studies with somewhat different objectives and methodologies. Thus, the methodological variability in research design and measures (i.e., standardized scales and researcher-formulated questionnaires) across the included studies can be considered a limitation. Furthermore, only English-language papers were selected, and this can be considered a monolingual bias.

Nevertheless, we identify a theoretical perspective that combines stable and transient aspects of personality and their relationship with music and well-being (Figure 2). Specifically, the emotional dimension, the principle of emotional congruence, and the dimension of music immersion are substantial components of music listening. Hence, people who are influenced by these individual characteristics choose to listen to certain types of music according to the emotions in which they would like to feel immersed. This finding could have considerable significance and clinical implications for therapeutic interventions, as it addresses various aspects of the holistic well-being of individuals. In particular: i) mood regulation: understanding how different genres or types of music impact individuals with specific personality characteristics can inform personalized therapeutic interventions. For example, music could be used as a mood-regulating immersive tool for individuals with high neuroticism or anxiety or for reducing high levels of stress; ii) depression and well-being: understanding how personality traits influence the feeling of being immersed in music listening can aid mental health professionals in tailoring interventions that resonate with the individual’s personality and preferences in dealing with depression or low mood; iii) treatment adherence and personalized treatment plans: recognizing the diverse ways individuals respond to music based on their personality traits can enhance treatment adherence and lead to the development of more personalized and effective treatment plans in clinical settings; iv) psychological well-being promotion: promoting the positive effects of music on psychological well-being and the feeling of being immersed in a particular situation through music can be integrated into preventive healthcare programs. Encouraging individuals to incorporate music into their daily routines may contribute to overall mental health and stress prevention.

Conclusions

Overall, the present results significantly expand the literature on music, psychological well-being, and individual characteristics. The current review highlights that not only stable traits but also transient personality states influence music’s effects on perceived well-being. As we have demonstrated in this systematic and scoping review, stable and transient characteristics are related through immersion in an experience that produces maximal enjoyment. Music immersion may allow people to disconnect from their surroundings and engage in internal thoughts, processes, and mental imagery. Consequently, people should be able to disconnect from and thus enjoy a range of negative emotions through music listening. In conclusion, studying the relationship between music, psychological well-being, and personality traits can offer valuable insights for clinicians to develop more personalized and effective interventions, enhancing mental health outcomes for individuals. Based on this knowledge, music listening, after consulting with an experienced clinician, could be systematically introduced into people’s daily routines to improve everyday well-being and prevent or reduce stressful states. Future research should study in detail the interaction between emotional immersion, the process of emotional congruence, and the effect of music on well-being.

Figure 2.

The theoretical perspective.

Funding Statement

Funding: none.