Exploring Relationships Between Electronic Dance Music Event Participation and Well-being

While an increasing amount of literature highlights the psychological well-being benefits of musical participation, research focusing on electronic dance music (EDM) event contexts remains scarce. This exploratory mixed methods research draws influence from interdisciplinary research on EDM culture and psychological well-being research on music festivals that suggest EDM event attendance may have a positive influence on well-being. Two studies were implemented. Semistructured interviews with regular attendees of EDM events were undertaken and analyzed thematically (Study 1, n = 7). Four main themes were identified, namely the importance of social, musical, and emotional experiences, and shared values at EDM event. These themes were then used as a basis for developing a questionnaire which explored relationships between scores on facets of EDM event attendance and measures of subjective, social, and psychological well-being (Study 2, n = 103). Results showed that all four EDM event facets were positively associated with psychological and social well-being measures. Principal component analysis was utilized to elucidate nuanced aspects of the four themes and their links to well-being scores. A four-factor model (SMEV) that encapsulates the key psychological beneficial aspects of EDM event attendance has been suggested, and the implications of this model and findings are discussed within the context of future research avenues.