Dance Is the New Metal: Adolescent Music Preferences and Substance Use Across Europe

Abstract

This study examined relationships between music preferences and substance use (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis) among 18,103 fifteen-year-olds from 10 European countries. In 2005–2006, across Europe, preferences for mainstream Pop (pop chart music) and Highbrow (classical music and jazz) were negatively associated with substance use, while preferences for Dance (house/trance and techno/hardhouse) were associated positively with substance use. In three countries, links were identified between liking Rock (rock, heavy metal punk/hardcore, and gothic) and substance use; associations between Urban (hip-hop and R&B) and substance use were mixed. No substantial gender differences emerged in these patterns, and controlling for relevant covariates did not attenuate the predictive value of substance use. The findings are consistent with the conclusion that music is a robust marker of adolescent substance use.

Keywords :

• pop
• rock
• urban
• dance
• highbrow
• heavy metal
• hip-hop
• techno
• adolescent
• substance use

THE AUTHORS

Tom F.M. ter Bogt, PhD, is Professor of Popular Music and Youth Culture at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. He obtained his PhD with a thesis on the protestant work ethics in the Netherlands. He is author of two books on youth and youth culture, and has written a series of television documentaries on youth culture and pop music in the Netherlands. His scientific publications address pop music, youth culture, substance use, and adolescent problem behavior.

Saoirse Nic Gabhainn, PhD, is Director of the Health Promotion Research Centre, School of Health Sciences, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland. She has an MA in Health Promotion and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Nottingham, UK. Her work on Child and Adolescent Health Promotion includes research, policy development, and advocacy with and on behalf of young people, with specific interests in adolescent risk behaviors and child participation in research processes.

Bruce G. Simons-Morton, EdD, MPH, is Senior Investigator and Chief of the Prevention Research Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, MD, where he directs an intramural program of research on child and adolescent health behavior. He is the author of more than 150 scientific papers, 20 book chapters, and four books on health-related topics. Formerly, he was Assistant Professor at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, and Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston, TX.

Mafalda Ferreira is PhD student at Faculty of Human Kinetics at the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. Her main research interests include risk behaviors such as substance use and health promotion among adolescents and young adults.

Anne Hublet, PhD, is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium. She has an MA in Psychology and a PhD in Medicine and Health Sciences. She is working on the Flemish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study and the Hipnos Study (Higher Education Patterns of Substance use). Her main research topic is substance use in adolescents and higher education students.

Emmanuelle Godeau, PhD, is the Medical Consultant of the Chief Education Officer of Midi-Pyrénées (National Education), France, and a researcher at the National Institute of Research and Health (Inserm, Unit 1027), France. She holds an MD in Public Heath as well as a PhD in Anthropology. Her main research interests include risk behaviors of young people and their prevention, as well as inclusion of disabled children and adolescents.

Emmanuel Kuntsche, PhD, has obtained his PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands. He is currently employed as Senior Researcher at the Research Institute of Addiction Info Switzerland and as visiting Professor at the Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research interests concern health and risk behaviors in adolescence, with a particular focus on drinking motives.

Matthias Richter, PhD, is Assistant Professor for Medical Sociology and Social Epidemiology at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland. His research interests lie in the field of explaining and reducing socioeconomic differences in health as well as international child and adolescent health research. He also has particular interests in human development across the life course and the role of socialization for social inequalities in health.