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. 2023 Aug 24:14:1218848.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1218848. eCollection 2023.

A correlation study of music training, adult attachment, and personality traits using a large-sample questionnaire

Ying Liu  1   2 , Xiaolin Liu  1   2 , Maoping Zheng  1   2
Affiliations

A correlation study of music training, adult attachment, and personality traits using a large-sample questionnaire

Ying Liu et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Music training can provide benefits to psychological health and is strongly associated with adult attachment style and personality traits through bidirectional interactions.

Methods: A large sample including 10,191 Chinese musicians and non-musicians completed the Relationship Questionnaire and Big-Five Personality Inventory.

Results: Connections between music training, adult attachment, and personality were analyzed with the following results: (1) personality traits were correlated with attachment dimensions, with positive correlations between secure attachment and extroversion and between dismissing attachment and neuroticism; (2) music training was connected with the secure and fearful-avoidant attachment dimensions, which complemented the effect of educational level in the preoccupied and dismissing dimensions; (3) music training enhanced extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, which interacted to affect extroversion and openness by gender; and (4) music training enhanced the regression of extroversion to preoccupied and secure attachments, and the regression of openness to preoccupied attachment.

Discussion: Conclusively, music training enhanced the connection between secure attachment and positive personality traits and regulated the correlation between insecure attachment and neuroticism. This analysis provides a large sample of statistical and practical evidence for the clinical practices of mental health and the educational and music training practices of co-cultivating cultural knowledge and artistic quality.

Keywords: adult attachment; correlation analysis; large-sample questionnaire; music training; personality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The Y axis is the score of attachment styles in RQ (A) Effect of gender on four attachment dimensions (B) Effect on music training on the secure and fearful-avoidant dimension (C) Effect of educational level on the preoccupied and dismissing dimensions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scores on the dismissing dimension of musicians and non-musicians and across four educational levels.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The Y axis is the score of personality traits (A) Effect of gender on personality (B) Effect of music training on personality (C) Effect of educational level on personality.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The Y axis is the score of personality traits (A) The interaction of gender and music training on extroversion (B) The interaction of gender and music training on openness (C) The interaction of gender and educational level on extroversion.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The mean scores of five personality traits among the four attachment styles.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The correlation matrix of attachment dimensions and personality traits. The number in each box is the correlation coefficient.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The scatter plots of the five personality traits regressed on attachment dimensions.
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