Study addiction among musicians: Measurement, and relationship with personality, social anxiety, performance, and psychosocial functioning

Abstract

Adverse health-related consequences of perfectionistic over-involvement in work are well-documented among professional musicians. The aim of this study was to investigate a recently developed concept of “study addiction” among students of music academies. Study addiction has been defined within the framework of theory and research on work addiction as a potential behavioral addiction. A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted among 132 students of music academies in Poland. The Bergen Study Addiction Scale (BStAS), reflecting seven core addiction symptoms related to studying, was employed together with commonly used measures of personality and well-being. A one-factor solution had an acceptable fit with the data in the sample of music academies’ students. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed that study addiction was related to low extraversion and high social anxiety. Study addiction was related to specific aspects of studying (longer learning time, lower academic performance) and to indicators of decreased well-being (impaired general health, decreased quality of life and sleep quality, higher perceived stress). As expected, study addiction was positively related to learning engagement. However, while the latter was associated positively with psychosocial functioning indicators, study addiction was related negatively to these variables. Furthermore, social anxiety was found to be a mediator between emotional stability/extraversion and study addiction. Moderation analyses revealed that social anxiety was related to a lower grade point average (GPA) only for these students who were high on study addiction. Using a cut-off score based on a polythetic approach showed that 16% of students were addicted to studying. The results suggest that among students at music academies, study addiction can be validly measured and that it has similar potential antecedents and consequences to that in the general population of students. Considering the estimate of study addiction prevalence in this group, further systematic studies among musicians are highly warranted.