Book review: Handbook of music, adolescents, and wellbeing

The most recent consumer report on music listening indicates that more than half of people surveyed say they love or are fanatical about music, but 16-24 years olds had the highest proportion of music lovers (IFPI, 2019). This edited collection looks more closely at the relationship between music and wellbeing in adolescence. Relative to other age groups musical activities are most prevalent and frequent in adolescence. Arguably, music is most important during this developmental period when emotion regulation skills are in development, identity is being constructed, and social connection is challenged by these internal psychological forces but also by external challenges associated with becoming independent in modern society. This handbook focuses on how music is used by adolescents to support their wellbeing in everyday contexts, as well as, how music can be used to enhance adolescents’ wellbeing in a therapeutic context. The book is edited by Katrina McFerran, Philippa Derrington and Suvi Saarikallio. MacFerran (Australia) and Derrington (Scotland) are both music therapists based in academic institutions and researching music and music therapy for adolescents. Saarikallio (Finland) is well known for her research on musical mood regulation, and her more recent work regarding music and socio-emotional development. Contributions come from a number of fields, but music therapy and music psychology feature most strongly. The predominant view throughout the book is of music as a resource that offers certain affordances that benefit wellbeing, such as, emotion regulation, identity development, and social connection. This perspective is inherently psychological – and I imagine a different perspective would be offered by music education, theory, and musicology. At the very outset, McFerran outlines the idea of crystallization as a frame for understanding knowledge about music and wellbeing in adolescence drawn from multiple sources of research, scholarship, and practice. This thread of ‘embracing and celebrating the complexity’ of music (p. 12) runs throughout this collection. Music is not viewed solely as a positive force. The opening chapter urges a move away from binary thinking in terms of the adaptivity of music listening behaviours, or indeed states of emotion and wellbeing. The collection does not shy away from the potential dangers or downsides of music, such as, its potential to make adolescents feel worse (p.34, p.229), its role in ‘reinforcing dominant norms’ (p. 154), and its ability to ‘separate . . . exclude’ (p. 177). At the same time, the simplistic idea that certain genres of music, like rap and metal, are problematic or damaging is countered many times throughout this book (chapter 1, p. 10; chapter 3, p. 30; chapter 17, p. 188; chapter 18, p. 202; chapter 19, p. 211). The book is divided into 3 sections; Emotions, Identity and Connectedness.