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Research PRojects

MUSIC-BASED AFFECT REGULATION AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

MUSIC-BASED AFFECT REGULATION AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

MUSIC-BASED AFFECT REGULATION AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

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Research Report

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Research Report

Research Report

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Abstract:

This study examined whether music-based affect regulation predicts subjective well-being, and whether this relationship differs by age. 70 adults completed an anonymous survey assessing affect-regulation frequency, life satisfaction, and demographics, analyzed in JASP using Pearson correlations. Affect regulation and life satisfaction were not significantly correlated overall, r(68) = -.05, p = .694, nor did this relationship differ between younger and older adults, z = -1.03, p = .303. Neither hypothesis was supported.

Introduction:

Adults report listening to music two to four hours per day on average (Groarke & Hogan, 2016), yet researchers disagree on which function of that listening drives well-being. Affect regulation is the reason most people give for listening to music, but prior work suggests it plays a secondary role relative to functions like meaning-making and reminiscence. Findings on whether affect regulation predicts well-being are mixed: large-scale studies report positive associations (Park & Suh, 2023; Shan et al., 2024), while others link frequent emotional listening to worse outcomes (Randall & Rickard, 2017).

Adults report listening to music two to four hours per day on average (Groarke & Hogan, 2016), yet researchers disagree on which function of that listening drives well-being. Affect regulation is the reason most people give for listening to music, but prior work suggests it plays a secondary role relative to functions like meaning-making and reminiscence. Findings on whether affect regulation predicts well-being are mixed: large-scale studies report positive associations (Park & Suh, 2023; Shan et al., 2024), while others link frequent emotional listening to worse outcomes (Randall & Rickard, 2017).

Methods:

Participants: 70 adults (Mage = 37.21) recruited via social media. Materials: Affect regulation measured with 6 items adapted from the AFML (Groarke & Hogan, 2018; 1–5 frequency scale). Life satisfaction measured with the 5-item Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985; 1–7 agreement scale). Procedure: Anonymous Qualtrics survey, and then data analyzed in JASP using Pearson correlations.

Methods:

Tools:

Qualtrics, Google Suite: Docs / Sheets / Slides, JASP

Tools:

Results:

Abstract:

Affect regulation and life satisfaction were not significantly correlated in the full sample, r(68) = -.05, p = .694. This null result held for both younger adults, r(18) = -.29, p = .248, and older adults, r(50) = -.003, p = .986. Neither hypothesis was supported.

Discussion:

These null findings echo prior work showing the AFML Stress Regulation subscale does not reliably predict well-being (Groarke & Hogan, 2018) and that affect regulation functions as a secondary process relative to meaning and reminiscence (Groarke & Hogan, 2016). Larger studies using more powerful designs have found positive associations between music and well-being (Park & Suh, 2023; Shan et al., 2024), suggesting the present study may have been underpowered. Even so, everyday music listening remains a low-cost, accessible tool that clinicians and wellness programs may continue to explore.


References:

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.

  • Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.

  • Groarke, J. M., & Hogan, M. J. (2016). Enhancing wellbeing: An emerging model of the adaptive functions of music listening. Psychology of Music, 44(4), 769–791.

  • Groarke, J. M., & Hogan, M. J. (2018). Development and psychometric evaluation of the adaptive functions of music listening scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 516.

  • Park, A., & Suh, K.-H. (2023). Hardiness and expectations for future life. Behavioral Sciences, 13(10), Article 852.

  • Randall, W. M., & Rickard, N. S. (2017). Reasons for personal music listening. Psychology of Music, 45(6), 826–841.

  • Shan, X., Zhang, Y., Deng, J., Ma, H., & Hu, X. (2024). The association between music listening at home and subjective well-being. Behavioral Sciences, 14(9), Article 767.

Conclusion:

Music-based affect regulation was not significantly associated with subjective well-being, and this relationship did not differ by age. Limitations include a small, non-diverse sample. Future research should use larger, more diverse samples and broader measures of music-based coping.

Music-based affect regulation was not significantly associated with subjective well-being, and this relationship did not differ by age. Limitations include a small, non-diverse sample. Future research should use larger, more diverse samples and broader measures of music-based coping.

This study examined whether music-based affect regulation predicts subjective well-being, and whether this relationship differs by age. 70 adults completed an anonymous survey assessing affect-regulation frequency, life satisfaction, and demographics, analyzed in JASP using Pearson correlations. Affect regulation and life satisfaction were not significantly correlated overall, r(68) = -.05, p = .694, nor did this relationship differ between younger and older adults, z = -1.03, p = .303. Neither hypothesis was supported.

Introduction:

Adults report listening to music two to four hours per day on average (Groarke & Hogan, 2016), yet researchers disagree on which function of that listening drives well-being. Affect regulation is the reason most people give for listening to music, but prior work suggests it plays a secondary role relative to functions like meaning-making and reminiscence. Findings on whether affect regulation predicts well-being are mixed: large-scale studies report positive associations (Park & Suh, 2023; Shan et al., 2024), while others link frequent emotional listening to worse outcomes (Randall & Rickard, 2017).

Methods:

Participants: 70 adults (Mage = 37.21) recruited via social media. Materials: Affect regulation measured with 6 items adapted from the AFML (Groarke & Hogan, 2018; 1–5 frequency scale). Life satisfaction measured with the 5-item Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985; 1–7 agreement scale). Procedure: Anonymous Qualtrics survey, and then data analyzed in JASP using Pearson correlations.

Tools:

Qualtrics, Google Suite: Docs / Sheets / Slides, JASP

Growing Against the Grain:

Food Justice, Contaminated Land, and Community Power in Detroit

Growing Against the Grain:

Food Justice, Contaminated Land, and Community Power in Detroit

Growing Against the Grain:

Food Justice, Contaminated Land, and Community Power in Detroit

Results:

Discussion:

Methods:

Affect regulation and life satisfaction were not significantly correlated in the full sample, r(68) = -.05, p = .694. This null result held for both younger adults, r(18) = -.29, p = .248, and older adults, r(50) = -.003, p = .986. Neither hypothesis was supported.

These null findings echo prior work showing the AFML Stress Regulation subscale does not reliably predict well-being (Groarke & Hogan, 2018) and that affect regulation functions as a secondary process relative to meaning and reminiscence (Groarke & Hogan, 2016). Larger studies using more powerful designs have found positive associations between music and well-being (Park & Suh, 2023; Shan et al., 2024), suggesting the present study may have been underpowered. Even so, everyday music listening remains a low-cost, accessible tool that clinicians and wellness programs may continue to explore.


Conclusion:

Music-based affect regulation was not significantly associated with subjective well-being, and this relationship did not differ by age. Limitations include a small, non-diverse sample. Future research should use larger, more diverse samples and broader measures of music-based coping.

REferences:

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.

  • Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.

  • Groarke, J. M., & Hogan, M. J. (2016). Enhancing wellbeing: An emerging model of the adaptive functions of music listening. Psychology of Music, 44(4), 769–791.

  • Groarke, J. M., & Hogan, M. J. (2018). Development and psychometric evaluation of the adaptive functions of music listening scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 516.

  • Park, A., & Suh, K.-H. (2023). Hardiness and expectations for future life. Behavioral Sciences, 13(10), Article 852.

  • Randall, W. M., & Rickard, N. S. (2017). Reasons for personal music listening. Psychology of Music, 45(6), 826–841.

  • Shan, X., Zhang, Y., Deng, J., Ma, H., & Hu, X. (2024). The association between music listening at home and subjective well-being. Behavioral Sciences, 14(9), Article 767.

Research Report

Research Report

Focus Statement:

Focus Statement:

Detroit's Black-led urban agriculture movement is reclaiming the city's vacant, industrially contaminated land for community food security. Still, unresolved soil contamination and insecure land ownership reveal how easily "green" urban revitalization can reproduce the same racially infused infrastructure it claims to remedy.

Overview:

Overview:

My case study focuses on Detroit, Michigan. Detroit offers one of the most compelling case studies in the country for examining the intersection of food justice, environmental contamination, and racialized land politics. Decades of deindustrialization, white flight, and population loss left the city with a large amount of vacant land, with more than 100,000 vacant lots. That vacancy, sitting on top of decades of disinvestment, created what scholars and activists call a "food apartheid," where majority-Black neighborhoods have limited access to affordable, fresh food but abundant unused land all around them. This case study focuses on what the community is doing in response and the battles they have faced along the way.

Solutions & Future Directions:

Solutions & Future Directions:

Detroiters aren't waiting around. On the land-security side, community land trusts have become the clearest tool anyone's found. The Detroit Cultivator Community Land Trust, which grew out of Oakland Avenue Urban Farm in 2020, now holds ten acres across fifty city lots, with a legal commitment to keep at least 3.5 of those acres in food production for the next thirty years. This ensures the land will not be on the market for good (Planet Detroit, 2025). That's been paired with direct funding too. A Black Farmer Land Fund that has helped dozens of Black Detroiters buy land and equipment outright (BridgeDetroit, 2025), along with the city, has been offering small grants to urban growers through its new Urban Agriculture Division (City of Detroit, 2026).

The contamination side is harder because the real fixes are so expensive. Laidlaw et al. (2017) reviewed the remediation literature and found full excavation and soil replacement works best but rarely gets done at the scale Detroit needs. So cheaper treatments that chemically stabilize the lead, instead of removing it, have become the more realistic option. However, the land needs ongoing monitoring to ensure it is still safe (see Figure 3).

References:

Detroiters aren't waiting around. On the land-security side, community land trusts have become the clearest tool anyone's found. The Detroit Cultivator Community Land Trust, which grew out of Oakland Avenue Urban Farm in 2020, now holds ten acres across fifty city lots, with a legal commitment to keep at least 3.5 of those acres in food production for the next thirty years. This ensures the land will not be on the market for good (Planet Detroit, 2025). That's been paired with direct funding too. A Black Farmer Land Fund that has helped dozens of Black Detroiters buy land and equipment outright (BridgeDetroit, 2025), along with the city, has been offering small grants to urban growers through its new Urban Agriculture Division (City of Detroit, 2026).

The contamination side is harder because the real fixes are so expensive. Laidlaw et al. (2017) reviewed the remediation literature and found full excavation and soil replacement works best but rarely gets done at the scale Detroit needs. So cheaper treatments that chemically stabilize the lead, instead of removing it, have become the more realistic option. However, the land needs ongoing monitoring to ensure it is still safe (see Figure 3).

References:

Research Report

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