Adverse health-related consequences of perfectionistic over-involvement in work are well-documented among professional musicians. The aim of this study was to investigate a recently developed concept of “study addiction” among students of music academies. Study addiction has been defined within the framework of theory and research on work addiction as a potential behavioral addiction. A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted among 132 students of music academies in Poland. The Bergen Study Addiction Scale (BStAS), reflecting seven core addiction symptoms related to studying, was employed together with commonly used measures of personality and well-being. A one-factor solution had an acceptable fit with the data in the sample of music academies’ students. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed that study addiction was related to low extraversion and high social anxiety. Study addiction was related to specific aspects of studying (longer learning time, lower academic performance) and to indicators of decreased well-being (impaired general health, decreased quality of life and sleep quality, higher perceived stress). As expected, study addiction was positively related to learning engagement. However, while the latter was associated positively with psychosocial functioning indicators, study addiction was related negatively to these variables. Furthermore, social anxiety was found to be a mediator between emotional stability/extraversion and study addiction. Moderation analyses revealed that social anxiety was related to a lower grade point average (GPA) only for these students who were high on study addiction. Using a cut-off score based on a polythetic approach showed that 16% of students were addicted to studying. The results suggest that among students at music academies, study addiction can be validly measured and that it has similar potential antecedents and consequences to that in the general population of students. Considering the estimate of study addiction prevalence in this group, further systematic studies among musicians are highly warranted.

Previous studies have shown that study addiction is related to worse academic performance among music academy students as well as in the general population of students, suggesting that excessive examination stress may impair their performance on exams. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the newly developed concept of “study addiction” and examination stress among students of music academies. Study addiction has been defined within the framework of theory and research on work addiction as a potential behavioral addiction. A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted, with a sample of 132 students of music academies in Poland. The Bergen Study Addiction Scale, assessing seven core addiction symptoms related to studying, was administered together with a commonly used measure of personality and single-item measures of examination stress and learning engagement. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis showed that study addiction was related to higher examination stress above and beyond personality traits. What is more, while study addiction showed a positive relationship with examination stress, learning engagement showed a negative association with examination stress. The results suggest that, among music academies students, study addiction is related to higher stress during exams and that study addiction and learning engagement are different constructs. Taking into account the relationship of study addiction with higher stress in situations of being evaluated, future studies are warranted that would link study addiction to music performance anxiety, which is one of the most widely studied phenomena in the psychology of music.

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between attitudes to Wikipedia and six personality traits (extraversion, emotional stability, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness and cynical hostility) among Polish students. Conscientiousness was negatively related to editing Wikipedia and positive opinions about Wikipedia. Cynical hostility was not related to any specific attitude to Wikipedia. Extraversion and openness to experience were positively related to positive opinions on Wikipedia. The results are inconsistent with previous work and future studies should clarify the divergences.