COVID-19 pandemic: Does musicianship matter?

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively influenced mental health and the music industry. The present study examined the relationship of between personality traits and emotional regulation with emotional problems and compared this relationship across three groups of individuals living in Türkiye during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 542 participants (238 musicians, 97 artists excluding musicians, and 207 participants who engaged in no form of art). The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Form (DERS-16), and Basic Personality Traits Inventory were used. Findings showed that difficulties in emotion regulation were positively associated with stress, depression, and anxiety in all groups. The pattern of the relationship between personality traits and outcome measures was similar across musicians and participants who engaged in no form of art, whereas that of difficulties in emotional regulation with personality traits was almost the same across the three groups. Except for the personality traits of extraversion and openness, group comparisons showed no differences across different measures. These findings suggest that difficulties in emotional regulation need to be a target for psychological interventions to reduce emotional problems for all three groups. Being a musician did not make any difference in terms of emotional regulation or the experience of psychological problems.