Adolescents’ Emotion Regulation Strategies as Predictors of Music Importance and of Music as an Expression of Identity: The Moderating Role of Gender

• In Event: Finding Myself, for Better or Worse: Adolescents and Media

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the relationship between adolescents’ emotion regulation strategies, the importance adolescents attach to music, the extent to which adolescents see music as an expression of their identity, while focussing on the moderating role of gender in these relationships. A survey for 12-18 year old Flemish adolescents (n=1,640) measured two emotional regulation strategies (reappraisal and suppression), music importance, and the use of music as an expression of identity. Besides confirming what has been known in previous research, the study showed that gender is an important moderator in these relationships. A parsimonious structural equations model for each gender was composed. This paper contributes to the understanding of the relationship between music and emotions by focusing on gender while demonstrating that emotion regulation processes predict the importance adolescents attach to music and their perception of music as an expression of their identity. The implications of this research are discussed.

Authors

• Anne Dickmeis, U of Leuven - School for Mass Communication Research

• Keith Roe, Catholic U - Leuven