Social identity theory posits that membership to social groups serves to enhance and maintain self-esteem. In young people music plays a prominent role in defining social identity, and so a relationship between music preference and self-esteem is expected, but is as yet unconfirmed by the literature. The objective of this study was to further examine the association between music preference and the self-esteem, and to apply social identity theory to differences in music preferences and self-esteem. The present study measured self-esteem from university students (n = 199) using Rosenberg’s (1965) self-esteem scale, and employed confirmatory factor analysis to derive a representative model of the self-esteem data. Music preference scores for clusters of music genres were found to significantly correlate with self-esteem. Furthermore, some measures of group differentiation based on music preference were significantly associated with self-esteem, but the relationships differed depending on gender. Overall, the results provided both support and challenges for social identity theory.
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June 2015
Research Article|
June 01 2015
Music Preference, Social Identity, and Self-Esteem
Daniel Shepherd,
Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Daniel Shepherd, Department of Psychology, P. O. Box 92006, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. E-mail: daniel.shepherd@aut.ac.nz
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Nicola Sigg
Nicola Sigg
Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
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Daniel Shepherd, Department of Psychology, P. O. Box 92006, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. E-mail: daniel.shepherd@aut.ac.nz
Music Perception (2015) 32 (5): 507–514.
Article history
Received:
April 11 2014
Accepted:
October 27 2014
Citation
Daniel Shepherd, Nicola Sigg; Music Preference, Social Identity, and Self-Esteem. Music Perception 1 June 2015; 32 (5): 507–514. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2015.32.5.507
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