Life satisfaction and adolescent music making: A comparison of youth choirs and bands in Spain

Abstract

Adolescents who are members of youth music groups learn music and develop other skills such as group work and conflict resolution. These skills and feelings may represent socioemotional factors underlying increased life satisfaction, leadership capacity, and academic motivation, together with the acquisition of emotional skills. The aim of the research was to determine the degree of life satisfaction reported by a sample of 660 Spanish adolescents who were members of a youth band or choir. It also aimed to examine correlations between life satisfaction, leadership capacity, academic motivation, and emotional development. Potential differences between these variables attributable to participants’ age, gender, type of youth music group, and musical instrument played were explored using a cross-sectional survey comprising four standardized questionnaires. The results show that the participants were highly satisfied with their lives. There were strong positive correlations between the variables studied but also some significant differences between the two groups (choirs and bands), and between players of different instrument families. These results are in line with those other studies, confirming the positive influence of group music making on adolescents’ social and emotional growth.