It seems like everyone listens to music, varying genres, but still music. Stop anywhere on campus and look around, I guarantee you’ll spot loads of people with headphones on. I know I notice it everyday, so much so that it made me wonder if what people constantly listen to actually effect their daily lives. I went strait to rap for an answer, a genre listened to by many, especially teenagers. Also a genre plagued by lyrics that are widely known to promote violence, drug use, and the subjugation of woman. Could this genre of music do harm to the lives of its listeners? After googling for what seemed like hours, I finally found research that was blog worthy, a study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) on individuals who listen to rap.

1,000 community college students answered a survey on their music habits and lifestyle choices, like their intake of alcohol and drugs. The results from this observational study, analyzed by the PIRE yielded results the found listeners of rap music more prone to “alcohol use, illicit drug use and aggressive behaviors.” This was not surprising to me considering how often the lyrics of this genre are based off the same harmful behaviors mentioned above. In fact it almost certified what I had already felt prior to even looking at the research, but further examination of the results made me doubt my intuition, a commonly wrong thing.

Courtesy of: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/music/images/17251399/title/headphones-photo

The outcomes of the study in actuality are clouded by possibilities of reverse causation, confounding variables, and of course chance. It is absolutely possible and never disputed in the study, that people who exhibit behaviors like drug and alcohol use could just be more likely to listen to rap. Researchers in the study itself mention “young people with tendencies to use alcohol or illicit drugs or to be aggressive may be drawn to particular music styles.” In addition variables like income level could play a role in the results. Many studies have shown a link between low socioeconomic level and increased risk to harmful behaviors. This particular variable is never taken into account in the study to rule it out.

While I see sufficient evidence of a correlation between rap and alcohol/drug use I cannot agree that one causes the other. Further studies that eliminate confounding variables and reverse causation are needed in order to find actual causation. For now, i’ll just keep listening to my pop music.

Sources:

http://www.pire.org/detail2.asp?core=38134&cms=294

http://www.mtv.com/news/1528932/study-says-hip-hop-listeners-more-prone-to-drug-use-aggression/