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Abstract
This cross-sectional and correlational study examines the relationship between music listening and emotional awareness. In an online survey, 205 respondents filled out instruments related to general emotional awareness, music use, music and mood regulation, and personality characteristics. Previous studies have demonstrated musics capacity to elicit emotion regulation in listeners. The present research aimed to look at another aspect of music and emotion: its purpose is to better understand how music listening relates to listeners more general awareness of intrapersonal emotional states. The results gathered in the present study indicate that there are several significant relationships between participants scores on a music and mood regulation measure and their ratings of emotional awareness, including the finding that participants who had certain higher ratings of emotional awareness were also less likely to turn to music for the purposes of discharging unpleasant emotions and were more likely to listen to music for the purpose of reflecting. The study also found that individuals who endorse the personality traits Openness to Experience and Agreeableness also have higher ratings of emotional awareness while listening to music. Finally, the study did not reveal a significant relationship between the amount of time individuals spend purposely listening to music and ratings of emotional awareness, nor did it find that the gender identity of participants related in any way to their scores of emotional awareness. These findings may be beneficial for counseling psychologists and other mental health professionals who wish to incorporate music listeninga strength-based interventioninto their work with clients. The results may have several implications for both practicing psychologists, their clients as well as researchers in the realm of music and emotion.