Abstract
Background
Heggli et al. (2021) noted that circadian rhythms and individual traits influence diurnal patterns in music preference. Depressive individuals often experience more negative moods in the evening, known as the evening-worsening effect (Rusting & Larsen, 1998). As music is often used for emotion focused-coping during such mood states (Stewart et al., 2019), depressive individuals’ music consumption in the evening are unclear.
Aims
This study explores the evening-worsening effect in music listening, examining if depressive individuals prefer low-valence, low-arousal music in the evening.
Methods
A survey of 290 Indians (M=20.35yrs, SD=2.08, 211 males) collected Kessler Psychological Distress scores (K10) and Healthy-Unhealthy music scale (HUMS) scores along with Spotify listening histories over one year. Additional measures like trait empathy and life satisfaction were collected but not analysed. Participants were classified as No-Risk (K10<20, n=114, 82 males) or At-Risk (K10≥29, n=81, 52 males) of depression (Andrews & Slade, 2001). Spotify valence and energy features for top 100-250 songs over the past 4-8 weeks from the time they filled in the survey were analyzed alongside timestamps. K-Means clustering divided the day into early hours, morning, afternoon and evening, and group differences in hourly valence and energy averages were assessed using two-way ANOVA and t-tests.
Results
At-Risk had significantly higher Unhealthy scores than No-Risk (t=8.15, p<0.001). Significant differences in valence and energy were found between At-Risk and No-Risk only in the afternoon (valence: t=-9.47, energy: t=-6.53) and evening (valence: t=-2.98, energy: t=-11.56)(all p≤ 0.05). Two-way ANOVA showed significant main effects of time, group, and their interaction for valence (time: F(3, 40)=22.86; group: F(1, 40)=12.36; interaction: F(3, 40)=6.65) and energy (time: F(3, 40)=23.22; group: F(1, 40)=98.73; interaction: F(3, 40)=13.57)(all p<0.001), consistent across the top 100-250 songs and the past 4-8 weeks of listening histories.
Conclusions
This study confirms diurnal patterns in music preferences, with At-Risk individuals favouring low-valence and low-energy music, especially in the afternoon and evening. These results align with Rusting and Larsen’s (1998) evening-worsening effect, linking depressive tendencies to heightened negative moods in the evening. The findings suggest potential maladaptive listening behaviors, needing further research.