STRESS MEDICINE, VOL.. 7: [81-184 (1991) COPING WITH STRI CAN ANTISTRESS MUSIC TAPES REDUCE MENTAL STRESS? TAKESHI HATTA PhD Department of Ps rchology, Osaka University of Education, Japan AND MINAKO NAKAMURA BA. Department of Education, Osaka Univ sity of Education, Japan SUMMARY ‘The effects of so-called SACL, Japanese edit and the J-SACL tapes in general could reduce both the stress n U-SACL). Fifty-two su pes on reduction of mental stress were examined using Cox and Mi jects were exposed to experi cred before and after this stress exposure. The results indicated that: (1 nd arousal factors of the J-SACL; (2) however, differential effects yentally induced stressful situations music in stress reduction of antistress music tapes were not demonstrated; (3) stress-reducing effects were more prominent in stress than in arousal factors. ry Wonns—Music tapes, stress management, classical music, popular music, SACL. Recently. various kinds of so-called antistress sic tapes or compact dises (CDs) have appeared in every book store. People have begun to spend a considerable amount of money in purchasing these music tapes or CDs as a stress management tool. Patients and clients of psychiatric clinics often enquire about the uscfulness of these antistress devices. However, actual reliabilities and validities of the devices on the market have not been xa mined systematically. The purpose of the present study was to experimentally examine the effective- ness or validity of these antistress musie tapes." THE SACL Cox and Mackay developed a convenient inventory to measure subjective degrees of mental stress. This was called the stress/arousal adjective check- list (SACL). The checklist contains two dimen- sions. One dimension relates to feelings of ‘Address for correspondence: Professor T. 1 of Psychology. Osaka University of Education, awahoricho, Tennoji-ku, Osaka, Japan, Department ‘88 Minamik- 0748 8386/91/030181 -04S05,00 © 1991 by John Wiley & Sons, Lid, unpleasantness or hedonic tone (stress) and the other to wakefulness or vigour (arousal) tone. According 10 Mackay e¢ al.," the stress dimen: reflects the perceived favourability of the external environment, while the arousal factor relates to autonomic and som: The ity of the SACL were reported le standard.” In this experiment, a stressful: situat experimentally prepared and antistress music tapes were given to the subjects. Subjects evaluated their subjective stress fecling twice by the SACL, Japa- nese edition (J-SACL), before and after expostire {o the stressful situation. The questions examined here were: first whether antistress music tapes could effectively reduce mental stress and second, if so, what factors of mental stress were prominently reduced. METHOD Subjects Fifty-two university students (24 males and 28 females) participated in this experiment. Small Received 20 February 1991182 reward monies were paid for participation. None had any neurological problems in hearing and none were suffering any maladaptation problems either psychologically or physically. Stimuli Two types of antistress music tapes on the market were used. One consisted of classical music such as piano pieces by Chopin and harp pieces by Liszt (by Pony Canyon Inc, 1983). The other consisted of natural sounds, such as water murmuring (by Victor Inc, 1987), In addition to the antistress tape, ing of popular music (such non and Garfunkel, ete) edited by the authors was prepared. This version was simply an arbitrary collection of the favourite songs of the experimenter. Procedure Each subject was asked to attend for an experiment in perception and was brought first into a small soundproofed room (Ryon Inc) and instructed to complete the J-SACL. The J-SACL was developed by a procedure similar to that of the SACL. also involves two factors (stress and arousal) with 30 questions. The precise procedures of the edition and standardization of the J-SACL have been reported elsewhere.> Each subject was asked 10 wait for the supervisor to introduce the experimental procedure, though the air conditioner of the soundproofed room was out of order. There was only one small desk and chair in the room. Aficr 20 minutes the experimenter again asked the subject to complete the questionnaire and then outlined the purpose of the experiment. All subjects appreciated the experimenter’s purpose and accepted the unpleasant experience. During the 20 minutes the room was empty so that cach subject had nothing to do but wait. We regarded this wait- ing experience as a stressful situation. During this 20-minute waiting experience, the antistress_music tape was played through the speakers. The participating subjects were randomly assigned to four experimental grouy music, natural sound, popular music, and control. The control group were not provided with any sound during the 20-minute experiment. RESULTS Table I shows the mean scores of stress and arousal factors in the J-SACL, as a function of group and F.HATTA AND MS. NAKAMURA, pre/post-stress exposure. A two-factor analysis of variance was conducted. The results of ANOVA showed that the interaction between the main [ac- tors was significant (Fug = 4.25, p<0.01), The factor of pre/post-stress exposure wats also signifi- cant (Fy gg = 8.45, p< 0.001), The post hoe: an revealed that (1) there was no significant group d ference in either stress or arousal factors in pre- stress exposure testing (F492 = 0.675 and 0.209) and (2) significant group differences were shown in both stress and arousal factors in post-stress exposure testing (Fy19y = 2.97 and 7.08, p<0.05, respectively). ‘These results demonstrate that (1) subjects were randomly ned to four groups and (2) there was a group difference in the effects of J-SACL evaluation by listening to different types of music. Table 1—Mean stress and arousal seores in J-SACI. as function of group, and prefpost-steess exposure Control Classical Natural Popular Stress Preex. M 6.92 36.92 48.31 42.00. SD 17.76 12.24 3134 16.12 Post-ex. M3938 16.62 31.54 26.62. Sd 18.22 14.99 2879 19.63 Arousal Preex. M 41.69 39.69 44.77 40,38 SD 25.61 22.57 31.09 24.19 Postex.M = 61.31 2.23, 3113.29.77 Sd 20.43 17.63 27.64 24.78 ‘Table 2—Mean variation scores of stress and arousal function of group M " 6.08 44.85 —43.62 sD W831 39.77 36.59 Arousal M 20.77 35.23 MAIR sD 27.63 42.73 38.01 ‘As the main purpose was to compare the J-SACL scores between pre-and post-stress exposure, it was obviously better to use an individually calculated variation rate, The variation rate was calculated by the following formula: Vr = 100 x (scare of Post-expostire — score of pre-exposure) / (score ofMUSICTAPES 183 Variation Scores Control Figure 1 Mean v: Post-exposure + score of pre-exposure). According to this formula, positive Vr value and negative Vr value indicate the increase and deercase of mental stress feelings, respectively. Table 2 and Fig. 1 show mean Vr as a function of group and subscale, A two-way analysis of variance was conducted. The results revealed that both main factors, group and subscale, were significant (F),., = 7.84, p< 0.02; Fas = 4.85, p<0.032, respectively), Post hoe an: lyses (Tukey test) indicated that (1) there was significant difference between the control and the other three groups, (2) there was no significant dif ference among classical, natural and popular musi groups, (3) the above two findings were demon- strated in both stress and arousal factors, and (4) the decrease of Vr value by listening to music was more prominent in the stress than in the arousal factor. These findings show that (1) the condition of is- ening to music tapes reduced both stress and arou- sal scores, but there was no differential effect according to type of music tapes, (2) both stress and arousal scores increased in the control (silent) group, with no music tapes (this indicates that the Present experimentally induced situation was stressful enough for subjects), and (3) the situation ening to music had stress management effects, Classic Natural Group Popular ion scores of stress and arousal in J-SACL as a function of group especially in reducing unpleasantness and increas- ing hedonic feelings. DISCUSSION The effect of listening to music on performance in working places has been investigated. Background music sometimes aids alertness, especially in jobs involving monotonous repetition.* Even for sever- ely retarded adults and children, easy-listening background music has a facilitation effect on task performance.”* Compared 10 studies which suggest positive effects of listening to music on work performance, systematic cxamination of the effects of listening to music on stress management is rather scarce. ‘The purpose of the present study was to examine if so-called antistress music tapes have effects in reducing stress, as advertised. In this experiment, the condition of waiting without something to do, for 20 minutes in a small unpleasant room, was introduced as a stressful situation. As described, subjects in the control group showed an increment in J-SACL scores between the pre- and post-expo- sure, This means that our experimentally induced situation can be regarded as sufliciently stressful for subjects.184 ‘The results of Table 2 indicated that listening to music by itself could reduce J-SACL scores, but the stress-reducing effect of the antistress mus tapes was not different from that of ordinary (ic not specially arranged) casy-listening music tapes. There may be some questions about the present findings, The familiarity of the music may differen- tially affect the J-SACL scores. We asked two extra questions in addition to the second J-SACL evalu- ation. The mean familiarity scores (by five-point scale) for classical, natural and popular groups were: 3.62, 3,92and 4.46, respectively. The familiar- ity score for popular musi for the classical and natural music; however, the scores on the J-SACL revealed no difference between them. Therefore, familiarity with the music scems not to be a strong influential factor in the ‘mental stress-reducing effect. We also asked about degree of preference for the music provided. The mean scores (by five-point scale) of the classical, natural and popular groups were: 3.23, 3.92 and 4.31, respectively. Although popular music was the most liked, the effects in reducing mental stress were not different from those with the other types of music. These findings indi- cate that degrees of familiarity with, and preference for, the music listened (o were not such crucial fac~ tors in reducing the J-SACL score. The presence of music itself, irrespective of these factors, was In conclusion, we could suggest that: (1) s0- called speci reduce subjective stress feclings significantly, but the degree of stress reduction is not different from T.HATIA AND M. NAKAMURA 5 (2) music tape involving favourite songs have as much stress man- agement effect as the so- tapes, and (3) listening to musie can reduce both unpleasantness and drowsiness factors, but the effect is more prominent in the former than in the latter, REFERENCES 1. Mackay, C. J.. Cox, T., Burrow, G. C. and Lazzer A. J. An inventory for the measurement of self: reported stress and arousal. Bri. J. Clin. Psvrhol, 1978; 17: 283-284. 2. Cox, T. and Mackay, C. The measurement of self reported stress and arousal, Brit. J. Psychul., 1985; 76: 183-186. 3. King, M. G,, Burrows, G. D. and Stanley, G. V. Mea- surement of stress and arousa arousal adjective check 473-479, 4. Cruickshank, P. J. A stress and arousal mood s for low vocabulary subjects. Brit, J. Psvchol., 1984: 75: 89-94. 5. Hatta, T. Stress: Theories and measurements. In New Labour Sciences (M. Hosokawa Ed.), Roudoukeizai- sha, Tokyo, 1988, pp. 708-729, 6. Fox, J. G. 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