Development and validation of the Healthy-Unhealthy Music Scale

Background: Music is an integral part of life in youth, and although it has been acknowledged that musical behavior reflects broader psychosocial aspects of adolescent behavior, no measurement instruments have been specifically designed for assessing musical engagement as an indicator of adolescent wellbeing and/or symptomatology. This study was conducted in order to develop and validate a scale for assessing musical engagement as an indicator of proneness for depression in youth. Method: Items were developed based on the literature and a prior grounded theory analysis and three surveys (N = 54, N = 187, N = 211) were conducted to select, refine, test, and validate the items. Scale structur…