NCJ Number
137644
Journal
Journal of Adolescent Research Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1992) Pages: 313-331
Date Published
1992
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Adolescents with various musical preferences were compared. The author concluded that adolescents who are high in sensation seeking (e.g., driving while intoxicated, sex without contraception, drug taking) are attracted to hard rock and heavy metal music as well as to reckless behavior perhaps because of the high intensity of sensation provided by these experiences.
Abstract
Adolescents are the sector of the American population for whom music is perhaps of greatest importance, yet studies on this topic are rare. The author of the present study intended to delineate some of the characteristics associated with musical preferences among adolescents and, in particular, to investigate the association between musical preferences and reckless behavior. He presented a theory of reckless behavior among adolescents in which sensation seeking is of primary importance. The study indicated that preferences for hard rock or heavy metal music were related to reckless behavior. However, the relation is neither simple nor direct. Rather, adolescents who like high sensation experiences are likely to be drawn to hard rock and heavy metal music as well as to reckless behavior. These kinds of music may not be so much the instigator as the soundtrack of their reckless behavior. Tables and references