Self-Compassion Levels in Music and Nonmusic Majors

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: Music Education SIG. Music Education: Professional Development and Implications

Abstract

Social psychologists have extolled the positive benefits of high self-esteem and use it as an indicator of mental well being. However, maintenance of high self-esteem has been found to reveal negative mental outcomes such as perfectionism, narcissism and anxiety in some individuals. Alternatively, self-compassion mirrors the positive outcomes of high self-esteem without the negative outcomes. This study explored differences in levels of self-compassion between music and non-music university students (N = 101). Due to trait differences identified in previous research literature, musicians may report lower levels of self-compassion. While the results of the current study fail to detect significant differences between groups, further data collection is ongoing to replicate and expand the study to more deeply examine the potential differences.

Authors

• Jamey Kelley, Florida International University

• Alison Farley, University of Washington