The The Mediating Role of Eudaimonic Music Listening
scale validation and well-being mechanisms in the brazilian context
Keywords:
Music, Eudaimonia, Coping, Musical Cognition, PsychometricsAbstract
Research Question/Problem
Eudaimonia refers to human flourishing achieved through virtuous and socially oriented actions, transcending purely hedonic pleasure. In the musical context, it manifests through experiences of flow, self-actualization, and transcendence (Groarke & Hogan, 2020). Although there is evidence of music's impact on well-being, there is a lack of psychometric instruments with validity evidence in Brazil to measure the eudaimonic functions of music listening. Furthermore, the literature points to a paradox: eudaimonic listening often does not correlate directly with immediate positive affect, suggesting the existence of complex mediating mechanisms not yet elucidated in non-Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (non-WEIRD) populations.
Objectives
(1) To translate, adapt, and validate the Eudaimonic Functions of Music Listening (EFML) scale for the Brazilian context; (2) To investigate the mediating role of eudaimonic listening in the relationship between musical coping strategies and subjective well-being.
Method
The sample included 473 Brazilian adults (Mean age = 36.9). Participants completed the EFML scale, the Coping Through Music Scale (ECOM; Pimentel et al., 2012), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988) to measure subjective well-being. The analysis involved Semantic Network Analysis and Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) to verify dimensionality, followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Mediation was tested via Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping (5,000 resamples). A variable importance analysis using Random Forest was conducted to identify the primary predictors of musical eudaimonia.
Results and/or Main contributions
Contrary to the original three-factor structure, the Brazilian data supported a 9-item unidimensional model (EFML-BR) with adequate fit indices (CFI = 0.992; TLI = 0.989; RMSEA = 0.062; ω = 0.86). The central finding revealed that the EFML-BR fully mediated the relationship between avoidance coping and subjective well-being (β indirect = 0.077, 95% CI [0.011, 0.149]). The direct effect of avoidance on well-being became non-significant after the inclusion of the mediator.
Conclusions and/or Implications
It is concluded that eudaimonic music listening functions as an "alchemical" mechanism that converts strategic distancing from problems into emotional flourishing. The study demonstrates that the cognitive disengagement provided by music is not merely a pathological escape but an aesthetic prerequisite for deep immersion and transcendence. The EFML-BR proves to be a robust tool for clinical and experimental research on music and mental health in Brazil.
