Took and Weiss - Real or Artifact?
Article Review: Took, K, J and Weiss, D, S (1994), ‘The Relationship between Heavy Metal and Rap and Adolescent Turmoil: Real or Artefact? In Adolescence, Volume 29, Number 115, Fall 1994; pages 613-621
This journal article illustrates the relationship between preferences for Heavy Metal and/or Rap music, and difficulties during adolescence. Both the teenaged subjects and their parents were interviewed, and the teenagers were asked about their current 'psychosocial functioning' and their music preferences. The group of subjects who liked Heavy Metal and Rap were compared to a group of adolescents who liked other types of music.
The focus of concern was the increasingly explicit references to drugs, sex and violence, and Heavy Metal and Rap have come under the most scrutiny from religious, political, parents' and medical groups, which were likely to affect the minds of children and young people.
Heavy Metal music (a particular type of hard rock) often attracted concern due to the appearances of the musicians, the loud and powerful style of music, the theatrical style of live performances and, most of all, the basic themes of the lyrics of many successful bands (violence, extreme rebellion, substance abuse, Satanism, sexual promiscuity and perversion). The Parent's Music Resource Centre (PRMC) were the main leaders in the campaign to restrict the sales and marketing of such music.
Rap music also came under the same scrutiny in the 1990's, due to the 'glorification of graphic sex and violence and glamourisation of drug use'.
Yet, surprisingly, there has been little medical or psychiatric research which had yielded conclusive evidence of the effects of any type of rock music on adolescent behaviour. Studies by a child psychiatrist by the name of King (in 1985 and again in 1988) suggested that most of his patients were heavy metal fans, and compared the music to 'a new religion' for many teenagers. Just over half his patients admitted for chemical dependency chose heavy metal as their first choice, and he claimed he found a high prevalence of violence, stealing and sexual activity amongst these patients.
Other studies mentioned included Roe (1987) - who concluded that poor academic achievement lead to a 'rejection of the school culture' and a greater involvment with peers, which in turn lead to a preference to 'socially disapproved' styles of music; and Prinsky and Rosembaum (1987) and Greenfield et al (1987) - who believed that young people interpreted the song lyrics differently from adults, due to their limited life experiences and cognitive development.
Took and Weiss examined the cause and effect relationship between music choices and 'adolescent turmoil' (poor peer relations, below average grades, sexual behaviour, family problems, legal problems and less traditional religious affiliations). They firstly hypothesized that listeners of heavy metal and rap will experience more of these problems than non-listeners; and secondly, that listening to such music will be another sign (and not a cause) of adolescent turmoil. Hence, adolescent fans of both music genres will have more precipitating factors in their lives which will account for this increased turmoil. Such factors will include demographics, a more disturbed family history, or difficulties during elementary (ie primary) school. All participants were to complete a questionaire (as were their parents) and were identified by none other than a number which matched the teenaged participants from their parents. All participants also filled out their questionaires seperately and sealed them in envelopes.
The reasearchers decided to combine the heavy metal and rap listeners together (due to the fact they both experienced turmoil in their lives), alongside their parents; and because both genres were the most socially disapproved music genres of the time. The results were calculated using univariate (means and other descriptives) and multivariate (chi-square) statistics. When compared to the 'other' group, the Heavy Metal/Rap (HM/R) group showed significantly more of the dependant (adolescent turmoil) variables than the 'other' group, and the same results were found amongst the parents of these adolescents when asked about their teenage kids. No significant differences were between the parents of the HM/R group and those of the 'other' group when asked about their own circumstances.
The results of the study were also of interest in terms of the two different genders. In the HM/R group, there were significantly higher percentage of adolescent males than adolescent females; so the 'other' group was altered by removing some of the female participants in that group, so there were the same ratios of males to females in this group (hence, they were balanced). Though the results of the first study revealed that HM/R listeners experienced more turmoil, and thus supporting the first hypothesis (that listeners of such genres, and their parents, reported more than non listeners; once gender was controlled for (and the two groups were balanced), there was significantly less difference in adolescent turmoil between the listeners and non-listeners.
Hence, it could be suggested that gender (rather than music preference) could well be one contributing factor: not only were males more likely to be in counselling for more drug and alcohol problems, and for school problems; but more females (especially in the unbalanced 'other' group) were more likely to seek counselling for family problems (and less likely for school or for drug and alcohol problems).
Another interesting result also found that those adolescents who had school difficulties and poor academic achievement experienced those problems long before developing an interest in either Heavy Metal or Rap. These results supported studies by Roe (1987) and even Erikson's (1963) 'Industry vs Inferiority' hypothesis, where children who don't achieve well at school will be more likely to look for other ways to boost their self esteem because they feel discouraged and 'inferior' in school. Hence, they will seek out peer groups who don't have many requirements for entry (like being a good scholar or athlete), and will find a 'ready made' identity complete with it's own styles and clothes; and music which gives them a sense of power.
The implications for these studies are that should 'early intervention' take place (in primary or elementary school), so that children have fewer problems and are less likely to 'seek alternatives'. Hence, the problem cannot be stopped simply by stopping adolescents from listening to their preferred music genres, but helping them gain a sense of accomplishment in school, so they don't have to engage in the aforementioned 'destructive' behaviours.
And, I myself, agree that early intervention (where children aren't made to feel inferior to their peers) is definitely a moderating factor in the relationship between music preference and adolescent problems; and that poor academic achievement (and not music preference) is a definite contributing factor. In other words, music preference is merely a by-product of the relationship between poor academic achievement and 'adolescent turmoil.
This journal article illustrates the relationship between preferences for Heavy Metal and/or Rap music, and difficulties during adolescence. Both the teenaged subjects and their parents were interviewed, and the teenagers were asked about their current 'psychosocial functioning' and their music preferences. The group of subjects who liked Heavy Metal and Rap were compared to a group of adolescents who liked other types of music.
The focus of concern was the increasingly explicit references to drugs, sex and violence, and Heavy Metal and Rap have come under the most scrutiny from religious, political, parents' and medical groups, which were likely to affect the minds of children and young people.
Heavy Metal music (a particular type of hard rock) often attracted concern due to the appearances of the musicians, the loud and powerful style of music, the theatrical style of live performances and, most of all, the basic themes of the lyrics of many successful bands (violence, extreme rebellion, substance abuse, Satanism, sexual promiscuity and perversion). The Parent's Music Resource Centre (PRMC) were the main leaders in the campaign to restrict the sales and marketing of such music.
Rap music also came under the same scrutiny in the 1990's, due to the 'glorification of graphic sex and violence and glamourisation of drug use'.
Yet, surprisingly, there has been little medical or psychiatric research which had yielded conclusive evidence of the effects of any type of rock music on adolescent behaviour. Studies by a child psychiatrist by the name of King (in 1985 and again in 1988) suggested that most of his patients were heavy metal fans, and compared the music to 'a new religion' for many teenagers. Just over half his patients admitted for chemical dependency chose heavy metal as their first choice, and he claimed he found a high prevalence of violence, stealing and sexual activity amongst these patients.
Other studies mentioned included Roe (1987) - who concluded that poor academic achievement lead to a 'rejection of the school culture' and a greater involvment with peers, which in turn lead to a preference to 'socially disapproved' styles of music; and Prinsky and Rosembaum (1987) and Greenfield et al (1987) - who believed that young people interpreted the song lyrics differently from adults, due to their limited life experiences and cognitive development.
Took and Weiss examined the cause and effect relationship between music choices and 'adolescent turmoil' (poor peer relations, below average grades, sexual behaviour, family problems, legal problems and less traditional religious affiliations). They firstly hypothesized that listeners of heavy metal and rap will experience more of these problems than non-listeners; and secondly, that listening to such music will be another sign (and not a cause) of adolescent turmoil. Hence, adolescent fans of both music genres will have more precipitating factors in their lives which will account for this increased turmoil. Such factors will include demographics, a more disturbed family history, or difficulties during elementary (ie primary) school. All participants were to complete a questionaire (as were their parents) and were identified by none other than a number which matched the teenaged participants from their parents. All participants also filled out their questionaires seperately and sealed them in envelopes.
The reasearchers decided to combine the heavy metal and rap listeners together (due to the fact they both experienced turmoil in their lives), alongside their parents; and because both genres were the most socially disapproved music genres of the time. The results were calculated using univariate (means and other descriptives) and multivariate (chi-square) statistics. When compared to the 'other' group, the Heavy Metal/Rap (HM/R) group showed significantly more of the dependant (adolescent turmoil) variables than the 'other' group, and the same results were found amongst the parents of these adolescents when asked about their teenage kids. No significant differences were between the parents of the HM/R group and those of the 'other' group when asked about their own circumstances.
The results of the study were also of interest in terms of the two different genders. In the HM/R group, there were significantly higher percentage of adolescent males than adolescent females; so the 'other' group was altered by removing some of the female participants in that group, so there were the same ratios of males to females in this group (hence, they were balanced). Though the results of the first study revealed that HM/R listeners experienced more turmoil, and thus supporting the first hypothesis (that listeners of such genres, and their parents, reported more than non listeners; once gender was controlled for (and the two groups were balanced), there was significantly less difference in adolescent turmoil between the listeners and non-listeners.
Hence, it could be suggested that gender (rather than music preference) could well be one contributing factor: not only were males more likely to be in counselling for more drug and alcohol problems, and for school problems; but more females (especially in the unbalanced 'other' group) were more likely to seek counselling for family problems (and less likely for school or for drug and alcohol problems).
Another interesting result also found that those adolescents who had school difficulties and poor academic achievement experienced those problems long before developing an interest in either Heavy Metal or Rap. These results supported studies by Roe (1987) and even Erikson's (1963) 'Industry vs Inferiority' hypothesis, where children who don't achieve well at school will be more likely to look for other ways to boost their self esteem because they feel discouraged and 'inferior' in school. Hence, they will seek out peer groups who don't have many requirements for entry (like being a good scholar or athlete), and will find a 'ready made' identity complete with it's own styles and clothes; and music which gives them a sense of power.
The implications for these studies are that should 'early intervention' take place (in primary or elementary school), so that children have fewer problems and are less likely to 'seek alternatives'. Hence, the problem cannot be stopped simply by stopping adolescents from listening to their preferred music genres, but helping them gain a sense of accomplishment in school, so they don't have to engage in the aforementioned 'destructive' behaviours.
And, I myself, agree that early intervention (where children aren't made to feel inferior to their peers) is definitely a moderating factor in the relationship between music preference and adolescent problems; and that poor academic achievement (and not music preference) is a definite contributing factor. In other words, music preference is merely a by-product of the relationship between poor academic achievement and 'adolescent turmoil.
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