Music Preferences, Personality Style, and Developmental Issues of Adolescents

• NCJ Number: 199867
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2003 Pages: 205-213
• Author(s): Kelly D. Schwartz; Gregory T. Fouts
• Date Published: June 2003
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Netherlands

Annotation

This study examined the personality characteristics and developmental issues of three groups of adolescent music listeners: those who preferred light qualities of music, those who preferred heavy qualities of music, and those who had eclectic preferences for music qualities.

Abstract

An advertisement-of-research and parental consent forms were distributed to 249 students (144 junior high and 105 senior high) in 2 public schools in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. A total of 182 consent forms were signed by a parent or guardian. The schools were in middle-class neighborhoods. Most participants were Caucasian. Due to various factors, 164 participants were included in the data analysis (72 males, 92 females; 80 junior high students and 84 senior high students). The mean age was 16 years old. The questionnaire first assessed adolescents' music preferences, followed by the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory, which quantified several personality characteristics and developmental issues salient during adolescence. The findings show that each of the three music preference groups tended to manifest a distinctive profile of personality dimensions and developmental issues. Those adolescents who preferred heavy or light music qualities indicated at least moderate difficulty in negotiating several distinct domains of personality and/or developmental issues; whereas, those with more eclectic music preferences did not indicate similar difficulty. Thus, there was considerable support for the general hypothesis that adolescents prefer listening to music that reflects specific personalities and the developmental issues with which they are dealing. Although the study findings do not imply a causal relationship between music listening and adolescent functioning, it may be that exposing such adolescents to a greater variety of music may promote greater self-exploration, validation, and normalization of their issues, thus enhancing their development. Further research is necessary to confirm this hypothesis. 2 tables and 61 references