Cited by 229Music Therapy and HealthDiverse Music Education InsightsPsychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 122 of the 122 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 142 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Music practice and participation for psychological well-being: A review of how music influences positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment

Open access
Croom, Adam M·2015·Musicae Scientiae

Abstract

In “Flourish,” Martin Seligman maintained that the elements of well-being consist of “PERMA: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment.” Although the question of what constitutes human flourishing or psychological well-being has remained a topic of continued debate among scholars, it has recently been argued in the literature that a paradigmatic or prototypical case of human psychological well-being would largely manifest most or all of the aforementioned PERMA factors. Further, in “A Neuroscientific Perspective on Music Therapy,” Stefan Koelsch also suggested that “Music therapy can have effects that improve the psychological and physiological health of individuals,” so it seems plausible that engaging in practices of music can positively contribute to one living a more optimally flourishing life with greater psychological well-being. However, recent studies on music practice and participation have not yet been reviewed and integrated under the PERMA framework from positive psychology to further explore and explicate this possibility. This article therefore contributes to extant work by reviewing recent research on psychological well-being and music to offer support for the claim that music practice and participation can positively contribute to one living a flourishing life by positively influencing their emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This narrative review integrates recent music and positive psychology research under Seligman’s PERMA framework, arguing that music practice and participation can positively influence positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. It concludes there are empirically supported grounds that music can contribute to greater psychological well-being and a more flourishing life, with moderation and injury-prevention cautions.

Key findings

  • The review argues that music practice and participation can positively influence all five PERMA factors: positive emotion, engagement/flow, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment.
  • Reviewed studies cited include: music listening reduced anxiety by 18% in cosmetic-surgery patients (n = 14; DeMarco et al., 2012); uplifting music exercises produced greater increases in happiness over time than control (n = 772; Sergeant & Mongrain, 2011); musical family rituals were consistently related to family cohesion across cultures (n = 760; Boer & Abubakar, 2014); children in musical group interaction showed higher emotional empathy than controls (n = 23; Rabinowitch et al., 2013).
  • Cautionary evidence: a British Association for Performing Arts Medicine study of musicians (n = 1,046) found 52% had problems from technical faults or inappropriate practicing procedures; music-related issues include performance anxiety, poor posture, and instrument-specific pain.

Methods

  • Design: narrative review of recent literature on music practice/participation and psychological well-being, organized by the PERMA framework.
  • Data/sample: no primary sample; synthesizes prior empirical studies and theoretical/philosophical sources, including studies with sample sizes such as n = 14, n = 772, n = 760, n = 23, and n = 1,046.
  • Analysis: conceptual integration under Seligman’s PERMA model; no systematic search, meta-analysis, or new data collection is reported.

Limitations

  • The paper states that not just any kind or amount of music practice/participation is optimal; it can be carried out incorrectly or excessively, with risks including performance anxiety, injuries from poor technique/posture/conditioning, and instrument-specific problems.
  • Evident from the text: as a narrative review, it does not report systematic search criteria, inclusion/exclusion criteria, quality appraisal, or meta-analytic synthesis; conclusions rely on selected prior studies.
  • Evident from the text: no primary data are collected, so causal claims depend on the designs of the reviewed studies.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/1029864914561709

Cites

122 of 122 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

112 Not checked yet · 6 Own interpretation

Verify all 142 references — free account

Show all 42 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 57
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 36
76 of 76
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Recent studies on music practice and participation have not yet been reviewed and integrated under the PERMA framework from positive psychology.

    “However, recent studies on music practice and participation have not yet been reviewed and integrated under the PERMA framework from positive psychology to further explore and explicate this possibility.”
    “However, recent studies from the literature on music practice and participation have not yet been reviewed and integrated under the PERMA framework from the literature on positive psychology to further explore and explicate the possibility that music practice and participation can positively contribute to one living a more optimally flourishing life with greater psychological well-being.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Recent studies on music had not yet been reviewed and integrated under the PERMA framework from positive psychology.

    “However, recent studies on music had not yet been reviewed and integrated under the PERMA framework from positive psychology to further explore and explicate this possibility.”
2 of 2

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

Show all 119 references

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Cooper J. M., 1977, The Review of Metaphysics, 30, 619
  2. Cove E., 2005, Resilient children: Literature review and evidence from the HOPE VI panel study
  3. Hassanzadeh R., 2013, Journal of Elementary Education, 23, 53
  4. Hatfield E., 1994, Emotional contagion
  5. National Crime Prevention, 1999, Pathways to prevention: Developmental and early intervention approaches to crime in Australia
  6. Zaza C., 1998, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 158, 1019

Cited by

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Items 101–200 of 229

Metadata

Authors
Croom, A. M.
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (US)
Corresponding author
Croom, Adam M
Venue
Musicae Scientiae
Published
2014-12-05
Volume
19
Issue
1
Pages
44-64
ISSN
  • 1029-8649 (ISSN-L)
  • 2045-4147
OpenAlex
W2138699624
Cited by
221
References
119
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 7
FWCI
11.38
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Musicae Scientiae (publishedVersion)
  • PhilPapers (PhilPapers Foundation) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Diverse Music Education Insights
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Keywords
music practice, music participation, psychological well-being, PERMA model, positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement, eudaimonia, music therapy, positive psychology

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