Musician Identity Measurement Scale: A Validation Study

Developing occupational identity is crucial for college students as it influences their career trajectories, mental health, and well-being. Music students, particularly, may experience challenges consistent with behaviors derived from their musician identity, such as prioritizing musical peruse over academic obligations and experiencing identity shifts during transitions in their musical training. However, existing research lacks consistency in defining musician identity. The lack of a well-defined conceptual framework for musician identity hinders the assessment of its changeability and the comparison of research findings. To address this issue, the present study aims to establish a conceptualization of musician identity through the validation of the Musician Identity Measurement Scale (MIMS) and the assessment of its factor structure. The study utilizes data from previous studies encompassing responses from 1,440 musicians (1,028 music majors and 412 non-music majors). The validation process included examining the MIMS' psychometric properties through exploratory structural equation modeling with robust weighted least squares estimation and evaluating measurement invariance by comparing configural and scalar models across sex and musician groups. Results support the MIMS as a valid 3-factor, reliable measure of musician identity and provide evidence for strong measurement invariance. The identified factor structure provides a foundation for future research exploring the musician identity, including how the three MIMS domains relate to various external correlates.