Personality characteristics, music-listening, and well-being: a systematic and scoping review

Research on the effectiveness of psychological interventions promoting well-being among different populations is often oriented toward including music in their protocols. The existing literature has consistently reported interactions between the effects of personality traits and music listening. However, the interrelations between individual traits and well-being after listening to music are still partially unclear. This systematic review, registered on PROSPERO, investigates the relationship between everyday music listening, individual characteristics (operationalized as stable and transient personality traits), and well-being. Articles were searched on PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, with a final result of 115 records. After the eligibility screening, eight studies were included in the review. The results showed that both stable and transient personality traits influence music's effect on wellbeing. As a result of the scoping review, a theoretical perspective combining the emotional dimension, the principle of emotional congruence, and the dimension of music immersion and wellbeing was identified. Based on this knowledge, music listening could be systematically introduced into daily routines to improve everyday well-being and prevent or reduce stressful states.