Study Claims That Kids Who Listen to Hip-Hop and Metal More Likely to Become Delinquent
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 01.25.2013
As opposed to mainstream pop...
A new study claims that children who listen to alternative, non-mainstream music are more likely to become delinquent. The Atlantic reports that a study of 300 children in the Netherlands followed them for four years, gathering information about their favorite kinds of music and tracking incidents of "minor delinquency" such as shoplifting or vandalism from the ages of twelve to sixteen.
According to the report, twelve-year-olds who listened to hip-hop, metal, gothic, punk, trance or techno/hardhouse were already "acting out" and continued to do so while those who liked rock were "relatively well-behaved" but were more likely to be delinquent by the time they were sixteen. Those children who liked mainstream pop, classical or jazz were less likely to commit delinquency.
The study suggested that "in peer groups characterized by their deviant music taste, norm-breaking youth may 'infect' their friends with their behavior."
