What Kind of Music is Your Kid Listening?

A view at the relation between Music and violence

According to a new study presented in the American Public Health Association's 135th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., almost 1 in 3 songs heard by your kids had references to illegal drugs use. This includes the most popular songs heard by your kids during 2005 in a variety of musical genres such as: Rap, Country, R&B/hip-hop, Rock, and Pop

Researchers analyzed 279 of the 2005 most popular songs according to Billboard magazine and when they heard them they found that 33% were about drug use or at least mentioned it.

Music genre was determinant in the percentage of songs hat contained references to illegal drugs use. Rap had 77% of allusions followed by country at 37 per cent, &B/hip-hop at 20 percent. Rock and pop were on the music genres with the lowest allusions rate.

In regard to which drugs were mentioned or alluded in the songs the study found some interesting results. Alcohol and marijuana were the substances most frequently mentioned.

Also, drug was associated with sex, violence, humor, peer/social pressure, partying sex, and/or money. Usually songs who alluded to drugs gave them a positive spin rather than a negative one.

According to the lead researcher, Dr. Brian A. Primack, research has shown that messages in the media are associated to drug use in adolescents. He recommended during his presentation to "be aware of exposures such as these" since them seem to be correlated with drug abuse.

Primack et al. 2007. Content analysis of references to substance abuse in popular music