Relationship Status, Feeling Sad, Openness to New Experiences and Gender Differences in Preference for Listening to Sad Music among Late Adolescents and Emerging Adults

Abstract

Listening to sad music may evoke sadness in certain people, which is typically assumed to be undesirable. The aim of this study was to investigate if: (a) being single contributes to listening to sad music, (b) gender and openness to new experiences moderate, and (c) feeling sad mediates the relationship between being single and listening to sad music. The study had a cross-sectional design, with N = 238. The participants were late adolescents and emerging adults (18-29 years old). The analyses only showed a significant result for the main effect of openness on listening to sad music. Therefore, according to the results in this study, being single is not related to late adolescents and emerging adults listening to sad music more often. There is also no difference between males and females in their incline to listen to sad music. No interaction effects were found for gender and openness. Feeling sad is also not found to be a mediator. A bigger sample, with a focus on adolescents,could reveal different outcomes in future research. Because, some marginal significant positive effects were found with regard to the potential moderating effects of gender and the mediating effect of feeling sad.