Impact of Music on the Mental Health of the University Students with Respect to Gender Difference

Music has a reasonable impact on human body and mind. Various studies suggested that music has capability of psychological and physiological wellbeing. Mental health is a crucial issue in young generation for shaping up of their personality and carrier. The present study aimed at assessing the mental health status of the students studying in universities and compares the difference between male students and female students with respect to the three important factors of mental health i. e. Depression, Anxiety and Stress. Further the study also assessed the difference of mental health status between students studying music and students studying other subjects to ascertain whether active participation in music has any role to shape up mental health for both the gender at university level. Cross-sectional survey research method was used and DASS21 was administered to collect data. A total of 612 UG and PG students studying music and other subjects in different colleges and departments of University of Calcutta and RabindraBharati University were the sample of the study. The study revealed that female students suffers mental health related problems more than the male students. The study also suggested that students studying music have a better mental health status in comparison to those who study other subjects indicating that music an important cultural agent plays an important role in managing mental health.