Music Preferences, Functions of Music, and Adolescents’ Personality Traits

Abstract

Music plays a significant developmental role in the life of adolescents and has different functions in the life of an individual. Listening to music is one of the most important activities of adolescents, while their music preferences reflect their values, conflicts, and developmental problems they are faced with in everyday life. It is important to understand how adolescents use and experience music on a daily basis and what factors impact their use of music. The power of preference for a specific kind of music depends on the degree to which that type of music fulfills certain functions because the level of functionality and the power of music preference are correlated. While identity formation, peer socialization, and social perception remain important functions of music throughout one’s life, they are especially important in the period of adolescence. To understand better the strong links between music preferences and the functions of music in an individual’s life, it is important to include the personality factor that provides practical and relevant information about what makes us who we are. Music education can influence the music preferences of young people because listening to music is an important activity in their leisure time. The paper presents theoretical models of music preferences, characteristics of music, contexts of listening to music, correlation between music preferences and personality traits, as well as the functions of music that are most relevant in the life of adolescents.

Keywords

• music art
• adolescence
• music preferences
• functions of music
• personality traits