Wellness Among University-level Music Students: A Study of the Predictors of Subjective Vitality

Abstract

For many music students, the transition to university-level studies can be a time characterized by high levels of stress as they adjust to academic standards and the challenges of demanding performance assessments. Given this context, this study investigated the impact of stress on students’ well-being, specifically the facet of subjective vitality, defined in the literature as a feeling of energy and aliveness. Our focus was to explore whether certain psychosocial traits would moderate the negative effects of stress on vitality. Working from an empirically derived conceptual model, our central hypotheses were: (a) that stress and self-oriented perfectionism would be negatively related to vitality, whereas adaptability and quality of peer relationships would be positively related to vitality; and (b) that the relationship between stress and vitality would be moderated by students’ self-oriented perfectionism, adaptability, and quality of peer relationships. Participants were 293 undergraduate and graduate music majors from university schools of music and conservatoires in the United States and Australia. Findings revealed that stress was a significant negative predictor of vitality, but self-oriented perfectionism was not. In addition, both adaptability and quality of peer relationships were significant positive predictors of vitality. However, neither self-oriented perfectionism, adaptability, nor quality of peer relationships moderated the effects of stress on vitality. These findings are discussed with regard to practical recommendations for helping students deal with the stressors in their environments and potential theoretical avenues to explore through future research.