Ethnic minority vocal traditions and psychological wellbeing: ethnic-cultural identity and self-reported emotion regulation in Chinese conservatory programs
- 1Department of Music, Taiyuan Normal University, Jinzhong, Shanxi, China
Abstract
Introduction: Ethnic minority vocal traditions may support psychological wellbeing, but comparative evidence remains limited. This study compared Chinese ethnic minority and Western vocal training and examined the associations of emotion regulation, ethnic-cultural identity, training intensity, and instructor–student cultural congruence with wellbeing.
Methods: An observational mixed-methods study included 480 vocal students (240 per tradition) from seven institutions, a longitudinal subsample of 192 students followed for six months, and 40 semi-structured interviews. Quantitative analyses used ANCOVA, regression, parallel and moderated mediation with bootstrapping, and multilevel models. Qualitative data were examined using codebook thematic analysis.
Results: Chinese ethnic vocal training was associated with higher wellbeing (β = 0.397), with statistical indirect associations through cognitive reappraisal (0.098) and ethnic-cultural identity (0.139). Ethnic-cultural identity showed the largest between-group difference (d = 0.78). The indirect associations remained robust under clusterbased inference, whereas the direct association did not. Training intensity was associated with a stronger emotion-regulation pathway, although this finding was borderline under cluster-based inference. Cultural congruence did not significantly moderate the identity pathway, and no curvilinear moderation was identified. Over six months, wellbeing increased in the Chinese ethnic group but not in the Western group. Interviews identified four themes: embodied breath, belonging, teacher congruence, and evaluative pressure.
Discussion: The findings suggest that ethnic-cultural identity and cognitive reappraisal may help explain the observed association between vocal-training tradition and psychological wellbeing. However, the complete confounding of training tradition with institution and country prevents attributing group differences to pedagogy alone. Cross-sectional mediation models and the observational design further limit causal interpretation. These hypothesis-generating findings warrant longitudinal, multisite research to clarify the relationships among vocal training, cultural identity, emotion regulation, and wellbeing.
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BibTeX
@article{qin2026ethnic,
title = {{Ethnic minority vocal traditions and psychological wellbeing: ethnic-cultural identity and self-reported emotion regulation in Chinese conservatory programs}},
author = {Linhao Qin and Meitian Zhao},
journal = {Frontiers in Psychology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1981035},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1981035},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ethnic minority vocal traditions and psychological wellbeing: ethnic-cultural identity and self-reported emotion regulation in Chinese conservatory programs
AU - Linhao Qin
AU - Meitian Zhao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1981035
UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1981035
AB - Introduction: Ethnic minority vocal traditions may support psychological wellbeing, but comparative evidence remains limited. This study compared Chinese ethnic minority and Western vocal training and examined the associations of emotion regulation, ethnic-cultural identity, training intensity, and instructor–student cultural congruence with wellbeing. Methods: An observational mixed-methods study included 480 vocal students (240 per tradition) from seven institutions, a longitudinal subsample of 192 students followed for six months, and 40 semi-structured interviews. Quantitative analyses used ANCOVA, regression, parallel and moderated mediation with bootstrapping, and multilevel models. Qualitative data were examined using codebook thematic analysis. Results: Chinese ethnic vocal training was associated with higher wellbeing (β = 0.397), with statistical indirect associations through cognitive reappraisal (0.098) and ethnic-cultural identity (0.139). Ethnic-cultural identity showed the largest between-group difference (d = 0.78). The indirect associations remained robust under clusterbased inference, whereas the direct association did not. Training intensity was associated with a stronger emotion-regulation pathway, although this finding was borderline under cluster-based inference. Cultural congruence did not significantly moderate the identity pathway, and no curvilinear moderation was identified. Over six months, wellbeing increased in the Chinese ethnic group but not in the Western group. Interviews identified four themes: embodied breath, belonging, teacher congruence, and evaluative pressure. Discussion: The findings suggest that ethnic-cultural identity and cognitive reappraisal may help explain the observed association between vocal-training tradition and psychological wellbeing. However, the complete confounding of training tradition with institution and country prevents attributing group differences to pedagogy alone. Cross-sectional mediation models and the observational design further limit causal interpretation. These hypothesis-generating findings warrant longitudinal, multisite research to clarify the relationships among vocal training, cultural identity, emotion regulation, and wellbeing.
SN - 1664-1078
ER -