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. 2024 Sep 9;14(9):793. doi: 10.3390/bs14090793
Author (Year) Country Study Design Participant Type of Music Activity Duration of Music Activity Partipication Conditions of Music Activites Aims of the Study Measurement Outcome
N Age Characteristics Listening Singing Playing
Carlson et al. (2015) [28] Finland Quant 123 18–55 Participants from the Helsinki area recruited through emails and flyers o 4 s Experiment To explore the relationship between self-directed music listening strategies and mental health, specifically examining the effects of these strategies on depression, anxiety, and neuroticism, and their neural correlates using fMRI. Self-report (Questionnaire),
fMRI		 Discharge Strategy: Anxiety and neuroticism increased by using music to express negative emotions, particularly in males.
Diversion Strategy: mPFC activity in females increased by using music to distract from negative emotions.
Chin & Rickard (2014) [29] Australia Quant 637 20–58 Recruited via posters placed in several music venues and tertiary institutions providing music courses in Melbourne, Australia. o o o NS Everyday To examine the mediating effects of emotion regulation strategies (reappraisal and suppression) on the relationship between music engagement and well-being. Self-report (Questionnaire) The path of mediation was dependent on the type of emotion regulation strategy utilized, as well as the way in which one engages with music.
Dingle et al. (2016) [30] Australia Quant 41 14–17 Member of the BoysTown experiential learning program in a regional city in Australia o NS Everyday To evaluate the effectiveness of “Tuned In,” a novel emotion regulation intervention using participant-selected music to evoke emotions and teach emotional awareness and regulation skills in adolescents. Self-report (Questionnaire) Pre- to post-program improvements in emotion awareness, identification, and regulation among both “at risk” adolescents and mainstream secondary school students.
Fernández-Sotos et al. (2016) [31] Spain Quant 63 19–29 Young people o NS Everyday To investigate how musical cues related to note value, specifically tempo and rhythmic unit, influence the regulation of emotional states in listeners. Self-report (Questionnaire) Increasing tempo from 90 to 150 bpm significantly enhanced feelings of happiness, surprise, tension, expressiveness, and amusement while reducing sadness.
Using sixteenth notes produced the highest emotional impact in terms of these emotions, whereas whole and half notes resulted in lower values.
Medrano et al. (2016) [32] Argentina Quant 50 17–31 College students o 10 min Experiment To examine the relationship between positive and negative emotions and self-efficacy, considering participants’ difficulties in emotional regulation as a co-variable. Self-report (Questionnaire) Inducing positive moods increases self-efficacy, while negative moods decrease it. This was seen in participants with intense moods and those with a typical character items.
Randall et al. (2014) [33] Australia Quant 327 M = 21.02 Participants recruited through MuPsych smartphone app o 2 weeks Everyday To determine the consequences of emotion regulation strategies used during music listening on hedonic outcomes, and to examine associations with emotional health and well-being. Self-report (Experience sampling methodology/Questionnaire) Using music to regulate recent emotions (response-focused strategies) achieved the greatest hedonic success but harmed emotional health and well-being. Strategies are chosen for desired outcomes based on mood and influenced by emotional health.
Shifriss et al. (2015) [34] Israel Quant 156 24–86 Jewish Israeli volunteer o 1 h–3 h Everyday To examine beliefs about the impact of music on regulating a bad mood and to explore the differences in music choices (sad vs. happy) and their effects on mood regulation across different age groups. Self-report (Questionnaire) Participants in a bad mood who listen to music pay more attention to their emotions, use music for mood regulation more, and believe more in music’s power to influence their mood. Those preferring happy music in a bad mood tend to repair their mood better and believe more in music’s influence than those preferring sad music. Older participants favor happy music when feeling down.
Van den Tol et al. (2016) [35] USA et al. Quant (1) 230
(2) 220 		(1) M = 45.00
(2) M = 28.30 		volunteered to participate via email invitation through various social research networks o NS Everyday To investigate why people listen to sad music when feeling sad, particularly focusing on its role in acceptance-based coping and consolation. Self-report (Questionnaire) People prefer sad music over happy music for consolation, despite generally liking happy music more. Sad music aids in accepting negative situations and emotions. These findings suggest SISM aids in coping by re-experiencing emotions.
White & Rickard (2016) [36] Australia Quant 32 18–28 Undergraduate psychology student cohort from Monash University o 15 s Experiment To experimentally examine listeners’ capacity to regulate emotional responses induced by music. Self-report (Questionnaire), ECG, SCL Both “happy” and “sad” music increased self-reported emotions and reduced skin conductance and heart rate. Emotional responses were regulated for both music types, except for heart rate.
Baltazar et al. (2019) [37] Sweden Quant 35 19–44 Students and staff of Linköping University o 3 min Experiment To determine the individual and relative impact of music and regulation strategies on stress reduction Self-report (Questionnaire)
SCL, EMG, EDA 		Self-reported tension significantly reduced by both music and strategy.
Chang et al. (2020) [38] USA Quant 199 18–30 College students o NS Everyday To explore how deliberate music listening influences mood regulation, comparing music majors and non-music majors, and examining the relationship between positive music listening experiences and affect. Self-report (Questionnaire) Music majors scored significantly higher on the Positive Music Listening Experience Scale, positive affect and lower negative affect compared to non-music majors.
Positive affect was significantly associated with most items related to positive music listening experiences.
Cheng (2020) [39] China Quant 92 M = 20.86 College students o NS Experiment To empirically analyze how different attributes of music, specifically speed and mode, affect emotional regulation in college students. Self-report (Questionnaire) Music speed has a significant impact on the emotions of college students, while the music mode does not.
Cook et al. (2019) [40] USA Quant 794 M = 21.68 Undergraduate students in the psychology subject pool of a large mid-western urban university o NS Everyday To investigate the relationship between music preferences and the use of music for emotion regulation among university students. Self-report (Questionnaire) Preferences for pop, rap/hip-hop, soul/funk, and electronica/dance music are positively associated with using music to increase emotional arousal.
Dingle & Fay (2017) [41] Australia Quant 60 18–25 Young adults o 90 min Experiment To evaluate the effectiveness of “Tuned In,” a brief group intervention using music listening to teach young people emotional awareness and regulation skills. Self-report (Questionnaire) Participants in the Tuned In program experienced significant improvements in emotional awareness, clarity, and regulation compared to a control group.
Fancourt & Steptoe (2019) [42] UK Quant 2316 18+ Participants enrolled in the program Virtual Choir 5.0 o NS Experiment To compare the experiences of social presence and the use of emotion regulation strategies (ERSs) between singers in virtual choirs (VCs) and live choirs.
 Self-report (Questionnaire) Participants in VCs reported a slightly greater feeling of social presence than those in live choirs but used overall fewer ERSs, avoidance strategies, and approach strategies, while making greater use of self-development strategies.
Groarke et al. (2020) [43] Ireland Quant 70 17–53 Undergraduate students with normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing who were over the age of 18 years were eligible to take part (or aged 17 with parental consent). o 8 min Experiment To compare the effects of self-selected and researcher-selected music on induced negative affect (state anxiety and physiological arousal) and state mindfulness in young people.
 Self-report (Questionnaire) Study 1:
Significantly greater anxiety reduction by music (both self-selected and researcher-selected).
Study 2:
Increased state mindfulness predicted lower anxiety after self-selected music listening.
Saarikallio et al. (2017) [44] Sweden Qual 55 15 Adolescents: attending high school o 20 min Experiment To explore the affective dimension of adolescents’ musical relaxation by examining related affect regulation goals, strategies, and induction mechanisms. Self-report (Interview) Processing used both mechanisms; distraction and induction mainly used the musical mechanism. Musical distraction helped shift from negative to positive mood, while all methods equally supported positive emotion induction.
Shifriss et al. (2020) [45] Israel Quant 120 22–87 Jewish Israeli volunteer o 1 min Experiment To investigate the association between age and the choice of happy music, moderated by the tendency to focus on emotions, and to examine the effects of music choice on mood regulation following a sad mood induction. Self-report (Questionnaire) Older adults who focus less on emotions prefer happy music after a sad mood. Those who focus more on emotions feel less negative after happy music, while those who focus less feel better after sad music.
Bachman et al. (2022) [46] Israel Quant 123 50+ Graduate students in the department of music at Bar-Ilan University. o NS Everyday To investigate the relationships between mindfulness, emotion regulation through music listening, and positive solitude (PS) in adults aged 50 and above. Self-report (Questionnaire) Significant positive associations between emotion regulation through music listening and PS, and between mindfulness and PS.
Berthold-Losleben et al. (2021) [47] Netherlands Quant 32 13 13 years of education level of school o 15 min Experiment To investigate the effects of implicit regulation of negative emotions by positive stimuli on mood and related neuro-mechanisms and to explore its potential clinical relevance for treating psychiatric disorders with strong affective symptoms. fMRI Negative emotional state elicited by negative odours reduced by music training.
Carlson et al. (2021) [48] Finland Quant 432 18–77 Participants recruited through social media posts, University and professional e-mail lists and via both English and Finnish language press releases o NS Everyday To explore how people engaged with music during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically looking at music’s role in mood regulation and its relation to anxiety and worry. Self-report (Questionnaire) Positive correlations between participants’ use of mood for music regulation, their musical engagement, and their levels of anxiety and worry.
Carvalho et al. (2022) [49] Portugal Quant 48 19–33 Normal hearing and normal or correcte-to-normal vision o NS Experiment To investigate how music influences the implementation of emotion regulation strategies (distraction and reappraisal), particularly considering the moderating role of individual differences in musical sophistication and executive functioning. Self-report (Questionnaire) Participants with higher musical sophistication benefited from music during reappraisal but were impaired during distraction.
Coulthard et al. (2023) [50] UK Quant 80 5–7 Two primary
schools in the East Midlands, UK.		 o 4 min Experiment To examine whether listening to a happy song could counteract the effects of negative mood induction on snack food consumption in children, and to explore if parental feeding practices and child BMI would moderate these effects. Self-report (Questionnaire) No significant differences in the amount of snack food consumed between the happy music condition and the silent control condition.
Ferreri et al. (2021) [51]
 Europe et al. Quant 981 18 Online survey participants o o o NS Everyday To investigate changes in music-related habits due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine whether engagement in various music-related activities was associated with individual differences in musical reward, music perception, musical training, or emotional regulation strategies. Self-report (Questionnaire)
 The type of musical activity engaged in was linked to using music for stress regulation, addressing social interaction deficits, and cheering up, especially among those concerned about the virus and its consequences.
Garrido et al. (2022) [52] Australia Quant 24 13–25 Young people o NS Everyday To investigate the emotion-regulation strategies young people use when listening to music and the factors influencing the effectiveness of these strategies. Self-report (Questionnaire) Strategies Used: Mood-matching, mood-reducing, and mood-incongruent music to manage depression, anxiety, and tiredness.
Intervening Factors: The severity of the prior mood, features of the music, and individual capacity for effective emotion regulation.
Gibbs & Egermann (2021) [53] UK Quant 570 18–84 Participants lived in the United Kingdom for at least the majority of the first lockdown and experienced ‘stay at home’ during the lockdown. o 3 month Everyday To explore the nature of music-induced nostalgia during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, analyze participants’ narratives and emotional responses to nostalgic music, and determine the impact of using nostalgic music listening as an emotion regulation strategy on wellbeing. Self-report (Questionnaire) Listening to nostalgic music during the lockdown positively impacted wellbeing by providing a sense of meaning and purpose.
Granot et al. (2021) [54] 11 countries: Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK, and USA, Quant 5619 25+ Online survey participants o o o NS Everyday To investigate the role of music and personal or cultural variables in maintaining wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis, focusing on how music helps achieve wellbeing goals during stress and social isolation. Self-report (Questionnaire) Music was the most effective activity for enjoyment, venting negative emotions, and self-connection.
Jakupčević et al. (2021) [55] Croatia Quant 252 18–49 Students of social
sciences and humanities at the University of Split		 o NS Everyday To determine the relationship between mindfulness, absorption in music, and mood regulation through music in people with different musical tastes. Self-report (Questionnaire) Positive Correlations: Preferences for different music styles and absorption in music. Absorption in music and various strategies for regulating mood through music.
Negative Correlations: Mindfulness and absorption in music.
Mindfulness and most strategies for regulating mood through music.
Koehler et al. (2023) [56] Germany, Switzerland, and Austria Quant 428 M = 44.37 Online survey participants o o NS Everyday To examine the bidirectional relationship between passive and active music engagement and affect over time, using a longitudinal approach. Self-report (Questionnaire) Negative Affect: More time spent with music listening (quantitative engagement) was associated with less negative affect at the next measurement.
Positive Affect: No cross-lagged associations were found between music engagement and positive affect.
Larwood & Dingle (2022) [57] UK Quant 386 18–25 Residents of the Untied Kingdom who were recurited from profile.co o 3 min Experiment To investigate how listener rumination and the eight BRECVEMA musical emotion mechanisms influence changes in sadness during listening to sad music in an induced sad state. Self-report (Questionnaire) Increase in Sadness by listening to a self-nominated sad song.
High-rumination individuals were more likely to experience musical entrainment, select songs with conditioned responses and associated memories, and experience emotional contagion.
Li & Zheng (2021) [58] China Quant 21 23–31 College students o 3 min Experiment To develop and evaluate a new method for regulating emotions using music, which addresses the limitations of traditional methods by employing different music processing techniques and stacked sparse auto-encoder neural networks. EEG Compared with complete music, the reconfigurable combined music was less time-consuming for emotional regulation (76.29% less), and the number of irrelevant emotional states was reduced by 69.92%. In terms of adaptability to different participants, the reconfigurable music improved the recognition rate of emotional states by 31.32%.
Liu et al. (2021) [59] China Quant 85 M = 20.69 Participants with right-handed, normal hearing and speech and normal or correcte-to-normal vision o 3 min 20 s Experiment To explore the behavioral and neural correlates of mindfulness-based music listening for regulating induced negative emotions related to COVID-19, using the face–word Stroop task. Self-report (Questionnaire),
The Face-Word Stroop Task, EEG		 Calm music and happy music effectively regulated young adults’ induced negative emotions, while young adults experienced more negative emotions when listening to sad music; the negative mood states at the post-induction phase inhibited the reaction of conflict control in face–word Stroop tasks, which manifested as lower accuracy (ACC) and slower reaction times (RTs). ERP results showed negative mood states elicited greater N2, N3, and LPC amplitudes and smaller P3 amplitudes.
Loureiro et al. (2024) [60] Spain Qual 17 15–16 4th grade Secondary Education students of a private school o NS Experiment To explore the functions of music listening in relation to emotion regulation and identity development in mid-adolescence. Self-report (Interview) Basic mood influence with upbeat music and complex emotional regulation with lyrics or melody. The latter was common in those with higher narrative meaning making, showing music’s role in emotional regulation and identity development during mid-adolescence.
Madden et al. (2023) [61] USA et al. Quant 421 M = 23 Musicians o NS To investigate whether the emotions musicians desire during their practice are influenced by their personality traits and Mastery goal orientation (the desire to master musical and technical skills). Self-report (Questionnaire) Findings confirm a general hedonic principle underlying the emotions musicians desired in their musical practice. However, predicted by personality traits, musicians also sometimes sought to increase the intensity of unpleasant emotions.
Madden & Jabusch (2021) [62] USA et al. Quant 421 M = 21 (students)
M = 31 (professionals)		 Students and professional musicians of music institutions o last 2 weeks Everyday The aim of the study was to investigate emotion regulation behavior in the context of musical practice, specifically whether musicians adopt specific emotional stances to support their goal orientation and their beliefs about the functional impact of emotions. Self-report (Questionnaire) Musicians prefer affect-improvement strategies. Those valuing unpleasant emotions use affect-worsening strategies and focus on mastery goals. Some mastery-oriented musicians seek mixed emotions. Mastery-oriented are motivated by instrumental and hedonic benefits, while enjoyment-oriented prioritize hedonic benefits.
Maidhof et al. (2023) [63] Germany Quant 61 18–35 German, age 18–35 years, body mass index (BMI) of <30, no chronic physical disease, no hearing or severe visual impairment, no current
psychological disorder, no medication intake or treatment with psychophysiological
impact, smoking fewer than five cigarettes per week, no illegal drug consumption, no menstrua
irregularities, no pregnancy, no breastfeeding, no profession associated with music.		 o NS Experiment To investigate the influence of music selection strategies (participant-selected vs. researcher-selected), gender, stimulus-induced emotions, and emotion regulation strategies on stress and mood responses. Self-report (Questionnaire) The study found no direct effect of music selection or gender on stress but noted gender-specific responses. Women had the strongest stress response and longest heart rate recovery with chosen music; Women showed more calmness variability and higher arousal with chosen music; Women used reappraisal, lowering stress, while men used suppression, increasing stress.
Ma’rof et al. (2023) [64] UK & China Quant 28 16–36 Participants in the UK and China o NS Everyday To examine the role of music in regulating emotions and to explore potential differences in music usage for emotion regulation between men and women in everyday life. Self-report (Experience sampling methodology/ Questionnaire) Relaxation was the most commonly used strategy for regulating emotions with music; Listening to music was an effective emotion regulation strategy, particularly for regulating happiness and peacefulness; Men were more likely to use music for active coping and to consider the type and content of music when selecting music; and music appeared to regulate the intensity of emotions similarly for both men and women, although men tended to report higher emotional intensity.
Martín et al. (2021) [65] Spain Quant 1377 41–60 University students o NS Everyday To investigate the relational influence of age on the frequency and form of music consumption, its use, and its value as a factor for emotional self-regulation during the COVID-19 pandemic confinement. Self-report (Questionnaire) Music was crucial for emotional support and alleviating loneliness during the pandemic, with a 56% increase in daily use for self-regulation. Music helped cope with anxiety, anguish, and depression, enhancing personal and social well-being across all ages.
Martínez-Castilla et al. (2021) [66] Spain Quant 507 18+ Participants of the online survey during the lockdown in Spain o o 3 month Everyday To analyze the impact of personal and context-related variables on the perceived efficacy of musical behaviors in fulfilling emotional wellbeing-related goals during the COVID-19 lockdown in Spain. Self-report (Questionnaire) The study found that personal variables, not COVID-19 context, affected the perceived efficacy of music. Young people and those with musical training saw the most benefit for well-being. Perceiving music as important was key to its efficacy.
Nwokenna et al. (2022) [67] Nigeria Quant 60 NS Undergraduate students in music education o 50 min Experiment To examine whether educational music intervention improves emotion regulation skills among first-year university music education students. Self-report (Questionnaire) Educational music intervention facilitated the development of emotional regulation skills in undergraduate music education students.
Park & Suh (2023) [68] Korea Quant 412 20–65 Online survey participants o NS Everyday To investigate the relationship between hardiness and Korean adults’ expectations for future life and to verify the multiple mediating effects of perceived stress, music listening for negative emotion regulation, and life satisfaction on that relationship. Self-report (Questionnaire) The study found hardiness positively correlated with using music for negative emotion regulation, life satisfaction, and future expectations, and negatively correlated with stress.
Randall et al. (2022) [69] Finland Quant 293 13–52 All of Finnish nationality.
Any Finnish speaking person was eligible to participate if they used a mobile phone with the Android operat- ing system to listen to music. 		o 5 min Everyday To determine the frequency with which listeners successfully reach their affect-regulatory goals through music listening on mobile phones, and to identify the predictors of this success. Self-report (Experience sampling methodology/ Questionnaire) Listeners successfully reached their affect-regulatory goals in less than half of the cases, with adults being more successful than adolescents.
Taruffi (2021) [70] UK Quant 26 M = 30.46 Participants recruited via Durham University student and staff mailing lists o 5 min Everyday To explore the capacity of music to facilitate beneficial styles of mind-wandering and its experiential characteristics, using the experience sampling method to capture mind-wandering during personal music listening in everyday life. Self-report (Experience sampling methodology/ Questionnaire) Mind-wandering during music and non-music contexts was similar, with minor differences. Music-evoked emotions influenced thought valence, showing music’s effectiveness in regulating thoughts through emotion.
Tervaniemi et al. (2021) [71] Finland Quant 37 20–40 Adult healthy volunteers o 10 min Experiment To compare music emotion ratings and their physiological correlates (specifically cortisol levels) when participants listen to music at home versus in the laboratory. Self-report (Questionnaire), Saliva cortisol Participants’ emotion ratings differed between home and lab settings, with lower cortisol levels at home. Both environments showed a decrease in cortisol levels after music listening, but the effect was consistent across settings.
Vidas et al. (2023) [72] Australia Quant 50 17–32 First-year international students o 75 min Experiment To evaluate the effectiveness of the Tuned In program, an online group-based music listening intervention, for increasing emotion awareness, emotion regulation, and well-being in international students. Self-report (Questionnaire) Tuned In, even when delivered online, provides benefits for international students, suggesting that enjoyable programs that help develop emotion regulation skills.
Völker (2021) [73] Germany Quant (1) 66
(2) 149		 (1) M = 24.11
(2) M = 21.79		 university students o (1) 2–10 min
(2) 2:02–10:08		 Experiment To investigate the effects of self-selected music versus researcher-selected music on the induction of sadness and joy, considering the influences of perceptual and individual factors within a reciprocal-feedback model (RFM). Self-report (Questionnaire) Participant-chosen music strongly affected mood, with sadness and joy evoked by memory and contagion. Personal music increased cognitive activation, especially for joy.
Völker (2022) [74] Germany Quant (1) 125
(2) 153		 (1) M = 21.80
(2) M = 21.34		 university students o (1) 10 min
(2) NS		 Experiment To explore the indicators of spreading activation in the cognitive network and the emotion-inducing mechanisms of the BRECVEMA framework during music listening, and to examine how these factors are influenced by individual differences. Self-report (Questionnaire) Self-selected music, especially sad, enhances engagement and memory. These mechanisms aid in empathizing, systemizing, and reappraisal for emotion regulation. Sad music also links to habitual suppression and stronger conditioning/contagion.