Authors
Yuda Huang, Wei Jiang, Long Wang, Xiaoyan Zhang, Meng Sun, Rui Guo
Published in
Zhong nan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical sciences. Volume 51. Issue 8. Pages 1603-1613. Aug 28, 2026.
Abstract
Anxiety is common among college students, and improving individual engagement and immediate emotional outcomes within brief, low-burden psychological relaxation interventions is of considerable importance. The VARK (Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) framework describes individual preferences for receiving and processing information across visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic modalities and provides an exploratory framework for tailoring guidance content in guided psychological relaxation. This study aims to examine the association between a guided music relaxation intervention designed according to VARK-related representational preferences and improvements in state anxiety among college students, to determine whether preference-congruent guidance provided additional benefits compared with preference-incongruent guidance, and to explore whether baseline trait anxiety moderated the intervention effect.
A quasi-experimental design was used. A total of 216 college students were recruited from a university in Hunan Province, of whom 190 were included in the analysis after data quality control and application of prespecified exclusion criteria. Following baseline questionnaire assessment, participants received 1 of 4 music-based interventions, consisting of visual, aural, read/write, or kinesthetic guidance scripts paired with the same music, or received no intervention. According to the congruence between participants' VARK type and the intervention they received, they were subsequently classified into a matched group (n=47), a mismatched group (n=103), and a control group (n=40; no intervention). The matched and mismatched groups were not independent experimental conditions randomly assigned before the study but were exploratory post hoc classifications based on the original intervention allocation and participants' representational preferences. The primary outcome was post-intervention state anxiety, measured using the State Anxiety subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, with pre-intervention state anxiety used as the baseline measure. Analysis of covariance was used to compare post-intervention state anxiety among the matched, mismatched, and control groups, adjusting for baseline state anxiety and demographic variables including age, academic year, major, and gender. HC3 heteroscedasticity-robust standard errors were used for inference, and post hoc pairwise comparisons were adjusted using the Holm-Bonferroni method. The interaction between trait anxiety and group was also tested to explore whether intervention responses differed according to trait anxiety level.
After adjusting for baseline state anxiety and demographic variables, the overall effect of group on post-intervention state anxiety was statistically significant (P<0.001, partial η2=0.136). Holm-Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons showed that post-intervention state anxiety was significantly lower in both the mismatched and matched groups than in the control group (both P<0.001). State anxiety was also lower in the matched group than in the mismatched group, with an adjusted mean difference of 2.77 (P=0.024). In addition, subjective relaxation ratings were higher in the matched group than in the mismatched group (P=0.049), while trait anxiety did not significantly moderate the intervention effect (P=0.189). Exploratory post hoc analyses suggested that matching personalized guidance content to individuals' VARK-related representational preferences may be associated with greater reductions in state anxiety and a stronger subjective sense of relaxation than preference-incongruent guidance.
Guided music relaxation based on VARK-related representational preferences was associated with an immediate improvement in state anxiety among college students. Trait anxiety did not significantly moderate the relationship between group and intervention outcomes. These findings provide preliminary exploratory evidence for personalized psychological relaxation interventions based on individual information-processing preferences. Future studies should use randomized controlled designs together with more rigorous long-term follow-up to further determine the true incremental benefit and applicability of matching VARK-related representational preferences in guided music relaxation interventions.
PMID:
42935192
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Oct 2026.
Read full publication at:
Please sign in
to see all details.
Advertisement
Stats
- Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
- Views 10
- Comments 0