EFFECTS OF MUSIC TYPE ON SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AMONG TEENS1 2

Department of Music Science, No Name University


MCALLISTER W. TOM , MACINTOSH J. JIM AND, DIVER F JUSTIN3

SUMMARY

The purpose of this study was to investigated the effects of teen behavior and attitude towards their peers when two random groups of teen students all of the same age are put on a schedule where one group is forced to listen to rap music with lyrics promoting gangs, drug use and violence. The other group of 50 students agreed to listen to slow easy listening classical music . Each group listened to their music for 30 min each day.
At the end of the 3 month period each group expressed dramatic changes in attitude and behavior but it was less prominent in the group who listened to classical music. Both groups also had a changed of their social group.

A. INTRODUCTION

Censors and psychologists have speculated for many years how the type of music that a child listens to will effect the way they interact socially and it is said to have a large influence on the way the behave towards others. Empirical studies have substantiated these beliefs in part. Sims(1) found that in some cases these kids who listen to music with explicit lyrics will become delinquents and act out some of the messages that they listen to in their music. These studies suggest that Children who listen to music with either a positive cheerful message or one with a violent hurtful message will in some way shape or form exhibit what they hear. In recent years record companies have been forced to liable their records with a parental advisory sticker if the music contained by the album has potentially contrivesial lyrics that my be offensive to some parents or kids. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct effects of peer interaction if two groups of 9th grade boys are forced to listen to music with either a positive or negative message.

B. METHOD


1. Subjects

Subjects were 100 male students who were currently in the ninth grade and were attending Mt Arrat High School in Topsham Maine.



2. Measuring Instruments

a. Maine social behavior Scale. The Maine social behavior scale was developed by Franks (2) and if fairly reliable it usually rates in the high 8o to 90 percentile This scale is based on a series of questions that are answered with either yes or no it shows how each child relates to one another.
b. Music advisory scale. This scale was produced by Thomas(3) and I based on twenty guidelines If the music dose not meet these guidelines it is classified as explicit and a parental advisory sticker. This scale was used in the selection of the music for the group who listened to music with contivertial lyrics.
c. Digital timer. This was used to time the subjects while they were listening to their music so they would be accurately timed to get the maximum response from the music.

3. PROCEDURE

Sign up for this experiment was held on September fourth 1999 at Mt. Arrat high school where over 400 students signed up the group was then narrowed down by just selecting students in the ninth grade then only male students were chosen which left a group of only 172 students then by a random these 172 students were reduced to 100 where they were then randomly assigned to two groups of 50 Subjects each. The first group would be assigned to listen to classical music that was low tone and had little if any vocal lyrics in it. The second group was assigned to listen to rap with parental warning liable that was laden with lyrics that promoted violence, drug usage, and gangs. All the music used for this group was said to be “outrageous and a insult to our society” by Tibs(4) who was the personal selector of the music selections.
The testing started on October second, each subject listened to there music type for 30 minutes in a secluded room that was equipped with a stereo system. The subjects were isolated so they would not be disturbed by unnecessary distractions. While in the room the subject would have access to water and food that which they could consume at random. The subject would listen to the same music artist, which corresponded to the appropriate person for each group for two weeks. The album would then be switched to a diffrent artist so as not o bore the subject to much. This same schedule continued for three months all the while the subjects were being observed while they interacted in normal social situations.

C. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Following the experiment both the groups had a significant change in both the way they acted and the way that they socialized amount their friends. The most surprising and unexpected outcome was the people the students chose to hang around with. In fact the group who had listened o rap for the entire three months had actually begun to socialize with each other almost exclusively, they began dressing and talking different also the styles directly reflected the music and the whole rap “style” that went along with it. suspiciously the group almost seemed as thou they had formed a type of gang it is almost positively directly related to there music type. The group who listened to classical music for the three months seemed to actually have almost an opposite effect on them these teens seem to be more mellow and relaxed it was even observed that these subject had a average of 30 percent grade improvement. In conclusion the music type that teen’s listens to has a very large effect on the way they conduct them self socially and also how well to do academically in school.

REFERENCES

1. SIMS, F. M. Book On Music Ratings. Good books, 1988.
2. FRANKS, G. F. Maine social behavior Scale. China, Me.:Counsel. recordings & Tests, 1955.
3. THOMAS, J. T. Music advisory scale. Bigtop, Fl.: Vindo recordings & Tests, 1977.
4. TIBS, D. W. Music related to the human minde. Diss. Abst. internat., 1952,22,1234-57689.

Department of the Minde
No Name University
5678m FHGK
China, Maine 16726

1 Received in the Editing Office on November 15, 2000, and published immediatly at thomaston, Maine. copyright by the Science Publising Co.

2 This experiment was supported in part by Super Science Research Fellowship granted to Macintosh J. jim and, Diver F. Justin by Noname Univesity.

3 Requests for reprints should be sent to the third author at the adress shown at the end of this articale.