The relationship between heavy metal and rap music on adolescent turmoil: real or artifact?

Adolescence, Fall, 1994 by Kevin J. Took, David S. Weiss

This study was designed to test two hypotheses. The first states that heavy metal and rap listeners will be in more adolescent turmoil than will non-heavy metal and non-rap listeners. (Adolescent turmoil is defined to include a history of more peer, school, substance abuse, sexual activity, legal, home behavior, and psychiatric problems, and less traditional religious affiliation.) The second hypothesis is that listening to heavy metal or rap music is just another sign of adolescent turmoil. Thus, it will be found that heavy metal and rap listeners will have some precipitating factors in their lives other than their choice of music which could account for the increased turmoil. These other factors may have to do with demographics, a more disturbed family history (e.g., more parental substance abuse, marital unhappiness, parental arrests), or difficulties in elementary school (e.g., below average grades, history of being suspended or expelled, peer problems).

METHOD

Questionnaires were administered to adolescents and their parents. All of the adolescents were between 12 and 18 years of age and were either outpatients at a military medical center's adolescent medicine clinic, child and adolescent psychiatric clinic, or adolescent substance abuse counseling service, or they were inpatients at a private psychiatric hospital's acute or residential adolescent care unit. (To avoid any hint of coercion, especially in the military settings, consent forms explaining the voluntary nature of the study and the confidentiality of the results were required by both the parents and the adolescents.)

The adolescents' questionnaire focused on demographics, music preferences and listening habits, and current psychosocial functioning. The parents' questionnaire covered the adolescents' past and current psychosocial functioning, as well as questions about family demographics, parents' music preferences, and parents' psychosocial functioning. There were no identifying data on the questionnaires, only numbers to match the adolescents' and parents' questionnaires. The adolescents and parents filled out the questionnaires separately and envelopes were provided to seal the questionnaires after completion.

Adolescents were divided into heavy metal, rap or "other" listeners. To be considered a heavy metal or rap listener, adolescents had to list at least two when asked to name his or her three favorite bands/performers.

Group differences were analyzed using standard chi-square procedures available through the SPSS/PC statistical package (1988). Descriptive univariate statistics (means and percentages) were also produced through the appropriate SPSS/PC parametric or nonparametric procedures.

RESULTS

From a total of 88 sets (adolescent plus parent) of questionnaires distributed, 87 were returned. The mean age of the adolescents was 14.6 (range 12-18). There were 41 males (47%), 38 females (44%), and eight unknown (9%). (This was due to the inadvertent omission of the question from the first few questionnaires.) Sixty-two percent of the subjects were Caucasian, 10% Asian, 8% black, 7% Hispanic, and 9% other (mostly mixed Asian/Caucasian). Forty percent of the adolescents lived with both biological parents, 43% lived with one biological and one stepparent, 9% lived with a single parent, and 4% other (adopted or living with another family member). The average yearly income of the families was $25,000-$30,000. (This figure does not include the many military benefits which include housing and medical/dental care.)