What Predicts Musical Training: An Exploratory Study

Music is an entertainment form that nearly everyone enjoys. While many music enthusiasts consider it a meaningful part of their lives, not all music appreciators actively engage in music performance or training. This study aims to explore the potential variables associated with participation in music training, focusing on five music-related constructs: Openness (a personality trait), self-music overlap (SMO), need for cognition (NFC), Curiosity, and music training. Through mediation analysis, we identified intrinsic associations among these variables, revealing their underlying interconnections. The findings suggest that: (1) the personality trait of Openness positively predicts a structure of psychological drivers—namely cognitive, emotional, motivational, and identity-related characteristics, including SMO, NFC, and Curiosity;(2) music training is more strongly predicted by identity-related (SMO) and emotional-motivational (Curiosity) factors, rather than purely cognitive preference (NFC).