Don’t let me down: The effect of age and chosen music on mood is moderated by focus on emotions

This study examined the effect of age and listening to one’s chosen emotional tone of music on mood. Old age was hypothesized to be associated with more choices of happy music. This association was expected to be moderated by the tendency to focus on emotions. 120 Adults (22 to 87 years), following a sad mood induction, chose and listened to happy and sad music excerpts, and completed questionnaires which measured their mood, the tendency to focus on emotions and depressive symptoms. An interaction effect was observed whereby older participants who focused less on emotions were more likely to choose happy music. Additional interactions demonstrated that older participants who tend to focus more on emotions and older participants who tend to focus less on emotions were associated with less negative mood after listening to happy music and to sad music respectively. The findings are discussed in light of the `positivity effect` and the `strength and vulnerability integration model`.