Thursday, August 7, 2008

How to Become a Psychiatrist


Recently, Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution, my favorite non-music blog, posted a link to this article discussing a paper in the Australian Psychiatry journal. The study analyzes the (non-causal) connection between the type of music a teen listens to and in what ways the kid is effed up. Pretty simple. I'm skeptical of the results, but, as Cowen wrote, "in my view you want your kid to like indie rock." Hell yes, Mr. Cowen. Hell yes.


Here's a quick summary of the paper's findings:



WHAT STUDIES SAY ABOUT YOUR SOUNDS:

POP: Conformists, overly responsible, role-conscious, struggling with
sexuality or peer acceptance.

HEAVY METAL: Higher levels of suicidal ideation, depression, drug use,
self-harm, shoplifting, vandalism, unprotected sex.

DANCE: Higher levels of drug use regardless of socio-economic
background.

JAZZ/RHYTHM & BLUES: Introverted misfits, loners.

RAP: Higher levels of theft, violence, anger, street gang membership, drug
use and misogyny.


Interestingly enough, I think the description for pop pretty accurately describes issues faced by Rob Gordon -- John Cusack's character -- in High Fidelity.


What I want to know is what it means if you listen to this kind of music:




BUY the High Fidelity soundtrack

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hahaha I remember The Locust. I remember Pat made fun of me for calling them "The Locusts"...

Did the study say anything about teens who listen to classical music? On second thought, maybe I don't want to know.

Dave Sawicki said...

I am proud to be a loner! Also, i second allison's comment. I hope the answer is not "people who will end up calling others at dinnertime asking them if they want to attend another similar concert at carnegie hall, and being offended when the person doesn't want the most expensive tickets to an opera you know they won't go to, and making the person on the other end feel guilty wanting to hang up because you are also a musician."

Unknown said...

I just realized that I'm actually exempt from all of those stereotypes since I'm not a teen anymore. Yikes.

(And Dave, let me know if you ever come across an extra, expensive ticket to an opera...)