What is the Factor Related to Mental Health in Music Major College Students?

Abstract

Former studies have pointed out that usually mental health is not so good in musicians. To promote their mental health, cognitive strategies (e.g., an optimistic view) might be played an important role. The purpose of this study was to investigate the states of mental health and the cognitive tendencies for music major college students. Subjects were 186 music major college students (MS group), and 139 college students (CS group) who majored the other studies (e.g., economics, etc.) (mean age; 20.6 ± 2.6 years). Center for epidemic studies depression scale (CES-D; Shima et al., 1985) and Optimism and Pessimism Scale (Toyama, 2013) were measured by questionnaire method. Independent t-tests showed that in the MS group, the mean of CES-D scores was significantly higher and the mean of optimism scores was significantly lower than those of the CS group. Multiple-?regression analysis indicated that the pessimism scores were positively associated with the CES-D scores in both two groups. These results suggested that music major college students experienced more stressful events than the other college students. Therefore, an optimistic view might be needed for them.