Emotional Competence Within the Stress Coping Strategies of Music Education Students

Researchers have identified high levels of stress among music education students, but we know very little about how students manage this stress and how emotional competence skills might be utilized within stress coping mechanisms for this population. Through this qualitative study, we sought to understand the stress coping strategies of eight music education majors through the lens of emotional competence as outlined by Saarni. We identified several sources of participants’ stress: general life stress, schedule, performance expectations, and coursework. Student coping strategies included awareness of stress, an attitude of pushing through, self-care, and seeking support. Through coding and utilization of the theoretical framework, we concluded that all eight of Saarni’s emotional competence skills were evident in the data as a whole, but not for each individual participant. Minimal evidence was found for half of the skills and for some students they were nonexistent, thus indicating a need for growth in emotional competency. Gaining an understanding of how music education majors cope with their stress could be a key step toward understanding how to better support students throughout their degree programs and as they transition into the field of music education.