Music Preferences, Personality Style, and Developmental Issues of Adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the personality characteristics and developmental issues of 3 groups of adolescent music listeners: those preferring light qualities of music, those preferring heavy qualities of music, and those who had eclectic preferences for music qualities. One hundred sixty-four adolescents completed an age-appropriate personality inventory and a systematic measure of music listening preference. The findings indicate that each of the 3 music preference groups is inclined to demonstrate a unique profile of personality dimensions and developmental issues. Those preferring heavy or light music qualities indicated at least moderate difficulty in negotiating several distinct domains of personality and/or developmental issues; those with more eclectic music preferences did not indicate similar difficulty. Thus, there was considerable support for the general hypothesis that adolescents prefer listening to music that reflects specific personalities and the developmental issues with which they are dealing.

Adolescents’ perceptions of health and well-being: Influences of urban contemporary music

“…The following excerpts are illustrative: Male participant: 'Like me for instance and I feel stressed or worried about something I listen to music' Female participant: 'Like if you are sad or depressed you like listen to depressing music so something like that' The extracts point to music being used as a coping mechanism, especially to enhance mood. While this concurs with earlier research (Schwartz & Fouts, 2003) that music is used to satisfy emotional needs, the participants are further suggesting that one's mood also determines one's music preference.…”

Music preferences and empathy: Toward predicting prosocial behavior.

“…Music preferences had been found repeatedly to predict certain behaviors (e.g., Leung & Kier, 2008;Mulder et al, 2010;Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006;Selfhout et al, 2009), identity formation (e.g., Sprankle & End, 2009;Webster et al, 1997), and adolescent psychopathology (e.g., Martin et al, 1993;Miranda & Claes, 2008;Schwartz & Fouts, 2003). Numerous studies were also cited highlighting sex differences in music preferences.…”

“…Adolescents' personality, identity, and social development are all influenced by music (Bjurstrom & Wennhal, 1991;Burke & Grinder, 1966;Davis, 1983;North, Hargreaves, & O'Neill, 2000;Schwartz & Fouts, 2003). Music can evoke powerful emotional responses (Juslin & Sloboda, 2001) and influence emotional regulation and coping (Juslin & Laukka, 2003).…”

Glazbene preferencije učenika prema narodnoj glazbi

“…Istraživanja na području glazbe, psihologije i neuroznanosti otkrila su brojne čimbenike koji su uključeni u razvoj glazbenih preferencija (Juslin i Laukka, 2004;North i Hargreaves, 2008;Schwartz i Fouts, 2003). Glazba ima važnu ulogu u životu svakog čovjeka u njegovim privatnim i društvenim aktivnostima, zato i ne čudi što se brojna istraživanja bave upravo ulogom glazbe u životu čovjeka (Colley, 2008).…”