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Psychology of Music
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DOI: 10.1177/0305735607068888
2007 35: 58Psychology of Music
Adrian C. North and David J. Hargreaves
Lifestyle correlates of musical preference: 1. Relationships, living arrangements, beliefs, and crime
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Lifestyle correlates of musical
preference: 1. Relationships,
living arrangements, beliefs,
and crime
ARTICLE
Psychology of Music
Psychology of Music
Copyright © 2007
Society for Education, Music
and Psychology Research
vol 35(1): 58‒87 [0305-7356
(200701) 35:1; 58‒87]
10.1177⁄0305735607068888
http://pom.sagepub.com
ADRIAN C. NORTH
SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER, UK
DAVID J. HARGREAVES
ROEHAMPTON UNIVERSITY
, UK
ABSTRACT Several studies indicate that musical preferences provide a means of
discriminating between social groups, and suggest indirectly that musical
preferences should correlate with a variety of different lifestyle choices. In this
study, 2532 participants responded to a questionnaire asking them to state their
musical preference and also to provide data on various aspects of their lifestyle
(namely interpersonal relationships, living arrangements, moral and political
beliefs, and criminal behaviour). Numerous associations existed between musical
preference and these aspects of participants’ lifestyle. The nature of these
associations was generally consistent with previous research concerning a
putative liberal–conservative divide between differing groups of fans. It is
concluded that participants’ musical preferences provided a meaningful way of
distinguishing different lifestyle choices.
KEYWORDS
: beliefs, crime, music, preference, relationships
Abundant anecdotal evidence testifies that stereotypes exist concerning the
fans of various musical styles. North and Hargreaves (1999) provided some
empirical evidence for the existence of such stereotypes concerning fans of
chart pop music, alternative pop music, and classical music in a sample of
undergraduates and 9–10-year-old children. A second study indicated that
being a fan of either chart pop or rap had implications for participants’
reactions to another hypothetical person who was also a fan of one of these
two musical styles. Specifically, there was a tendency to provide positive
evaluations of a hypothetical person who shared the participant’s musical
preference, and to provide negative evaluations of a hypothetical person who
did not share the participant’s musical preference.
Effects such as these have been explained in terms of social identity theory,
which argues that such discriminations arise because they allow participants
sempre
:
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to make their group membership salient and to derive positive self-esteem
from this (see e.g. Tarrant et al., 2002). This, and a few other laboratory
studies (see review by Tarrant et al., 2002) indicate that musical preference is
meaningful in terms of group dynamic processes. However, these studies are
unable to show how the function of music as a means of discriminating
social groups might manifest itself outside the laboratory, and this function
deserves further investigation.
The present paper is the first of a series of three concerning how fans of
different types of music might also have different lifestyles. The second and
third of these papers (North and Hargreaves, in press a, in press b) concern
differences in lifestyle based on membership of high/low culture taste publics
and social class groups respectively. The present paper investigates the extent
to which a liberal–conservative dichotomy might differentiate fans of differ-
ent musical styles on issues relating to relationships, living arrangements,
beliefs, and crime. It is possible that the fans of different musical styles might
well be differentiated along such a dichotomy in terms of a range of factors
such as their moral and political beliefs, and interpersonal relationships.
Several studies suggest that the fans of different musical styles might
indeed have differing beliefs and lifestyles based on a liberal–conservative
dichotomy. Specifically, numerous studies have supported the more narrowly
defined contention that fans of certain ‘problem’ musical styles such as
dance music, rap, and heavy metal are more involved than other fans in
lifestyles containing acts of delinquency and anti-authoritarian behaviour.
Hansen and Hansen (1991) found that heavy metal fans were higher on
questionnaire measures of ‘Machiavellianism’ and ‘machismo’, and were
lower on measures of need for cognition than were non-fans; similarly, punk
fans were less accepting of authority than were non-fans; Robinson et al.
(1996) found that undergraduates who scored highly on measures of
psychoticism and reactive rebelliousness enjoyed rebellious videos more than
did participants who scored low on these factors. Bleich et al. (1991) assessed
16–19-year-old participants’ trait rebelliousness and enjoyment of three
‘defiant’ and three ‘non-defiant’ rock music videos. Highly rebellious
participants did not enjoy the defiant videos more than did their less
rebellious peers. However, highly rebellious participants enjoyed the non-
defiant videos less than did non-rebellious participants, and the former group
also consumed less non-defiant rock music. Dillmann-Carpentier et al.
(2003) found that liking for defiant music was related to forms of
rebelliousness. Finally, Hansen and Hansen (1990) found that experimental
exposure to antisocial music videos increased participants’ tolerance of anti-
social behaviour (i.e. an obscene hand gesture) as compared with exposure to
non-antisocial videos.
Furthermore, the apparent link between deleterious behaviour and
problem music is not confined to delinquency. Other studies have suggested a
link between listening to ‘aggressive’ music and permissive attitudes towards
North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 59
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violence (Johnson, Adams et al., 1995; Johnson, Jackson et al., 1995;
Peterson and Pfost, 1989; Rawlings et al., 1995). Similarly, three studies
have shown a link between the degree of exposure to music videos and
permissive/promiscuous sexual attitudes, particularly in females (Strouse
and Buerkel-Rothfuss, 1987; Strouse et al., 1995; Toney and Weaver, 1994).
Research also shows a relationship between exposure to music videos and
acceptance of sex discrimination (e.g. Hansen, 1989; Hansen and Hansen,
1988; Strouse et al., 1994). In addition to this evidence in the academic
literature, numerous magazine and newspaper articles have commented on
the variety of clothing and other lifestyle choices (such as the use of a
particular type of illegal drug) that seem to correlate with membership of
particular musical subcultures, arguing that pop music represents a means of
indoctrinating people into a particular, and usually deleterious, lifestyle (see
e.g. Nuzum, 2001).
In addition to this research, a small number of studies have indicated
specifically that fans of classical music score more highly on measures of
conservatism whereas fans of problem music are more liberal. McLeod et al.
(2001) found that participants who listened to ‘problem’ music lyrics did not
support their censorship, whereas participants with conservative attitudes
were most likely to support censorship. Lynxwiler and Gay (2000) found that
participants who held conservative attitudes toward sexuality and those who
attended religious services disliked heavy metal and rap. Glasgow and Cartier
(1985) argued that conservatives prefer simple, familiar, and ‘safe’ artistic
objects. McCown et al. (1997) found that psychoticism was related to a
preference for music with ‘exaggerated bass’. Finally, Litle and Zuckerman
(1986) found that sensation-seeking was associated with liking for rock
music.
Therefore the existing research indicates that liking for liberal versus
conservative musical styles is associated with respectively liberal versus
conservative behaviours, attitudes, and personalities. Accordingly the
rationale of the present research is that liking for ‘liberal’ musical styles such
as rap, dance music, and rock might be reflected in more generally liberal
beliefs and behaviours as well as higher levels of delinquency/anti-social
behaviour; and that liking for ‘conservative’ musical styles such as classical
music would be reflected in generally conservative lifestyle preferences and
relatively pro-social attitudes and behaviours. For example fans of ‘problem’
music styles might be expected to be relatively liberal and anti-social when
compared with fans of classical music on factors such as number of sexual
partners, levels of homosexuality, co-habitation outside of marriage,
religious beliefs, general political preferences (and opinions concerning more
specific issues such as taxation and nuclear weapons), levels of criminality
and particularly drug use. These issues were investigated through a question-
naire distributed to fans of 35 different musical styles.
60 Psychology of Music 35(1)
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Method
A total of 2532 participants (mean age = 36.59 years, SD = 16.03 years) were
recruited from a variety of locations in a city in the East Midlands region of the
UK. In an attempt to obtain a cross-section of the general public, these locations
included a university campus, a city centre shopping mall, a train station, several
office complexes, a gas supply company, and an employment bureau. Full details
of the sample are provided in the ‘General Information’ section of the Results
and Discussion. All participants responded to a specially devised questionnaire
subdivided into 13 sections labelled ‘General information’, ‘Travel’, ‘Relation-
ships’, ‘Living Arrangements’, ‘Money’, ‘Education’, ‘Employment’, ‘Health’,
‘Drinking and Smoking’, ‘Media’, ‘Beliefs’, ‘Crime’, and ‘Music’, respectively. The
present article reports those findings derived from the sections concerning
general information, relationships, living arrangements, beliefs, and crime; it
complements North and Hargreaves (in press a) which reports those findings
from the sections of the questionnaire concerning media usage, leisure time
preferences, and patterns of music usage; and North and Hargreaves (in press)
which reports those findings from sections of the questionnaire concerning
travel, money, education, employment, health, and drinking and smoking.
The final section of the questionnaire (‘Music’) included a list of 35 differ-
ent musical styles (each followed by two exemplar composers/performers).
Participants were asked to ‘tick one that best describes your current taste in
music’. Sixteen of the 35 musical styles were selected by fewer than 50 of the
respondents, and were excluded from analyses: these styles were choral
music (n = 34), 20th-century classical music (n = 7), drum & bass (n = 38),
world music (n = 24), ambient (n = 21), baroque (n = 24), English folk (n =
19), new age/relaxation (n = 10), psychedelic rock (n = 8), early music (n =
3), reggae (n = 43), Irish folk (n = 40), punk (n = 35), electronic (n = 13),
funk/acid jazz (n = 47), and heavy metal (n = 43). The musical styles which
satisfied this criteria were opera (n = 61), country and western (n = 73), jazz
(n = 72), rock (n = 194), current chart pop (n = 133), R&B (n = 131), soul (n
= 105), classical (n = 149), disco (n = 152), dance/house (n = 131), hip-
hop/rap (n = 66), musicals (n = 121), blues (n = 65), sixties pop (n = 118),
indie (n = 128), adult pop/MOR (n = 156), DJ-based music (n = 65), other
pop music styles (n = 78), and other musical styles (n = 64). In addition to
this, a further 61 participants failed to state their preferred musical style or
ticked more than one, and these participants’ data were also excluded from
analyses. This produced a final sample for analysis of 2062 participants.
Most items on the questionnaire asked participants to select from several pre-
defined response options or to provide a specific number (e.g. the number of
people who live in their home). Some items required participants to give a
rating on an 11-point Likert scale where 0 represented the low point and 10
represented a correspondingly high rating. Full details of the questionnaire
are provided in the Results and Discussion section.
North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 61
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Results and discussion
GENERAL INFORMATION
Two separate χ
2
tests were carried out to investigate associations between
participants’ musical preferences and respectively their sex and ethnic
background. The resulting frequencies are reported in Tables 1 and 2, which
indicate a significant association between musical preference and both of
these factors. With regard to ethnic origin, note that the more detailed break-
down of participants was Black-African = 15 participants, Black-Caribbean
= 22 participants, Black-Other = 19 participants, Asian-Indian = 110
participants, Asian-Pakistani = 18 participants, Asian-Bangladeshi = 9
participants, Asian-Chinese = 21 participants, Asian-Other = 34 par-
ticipants, and White = 1808 participants, and six participants did not
disclose their ethnic origin. With regard to age 919 participants were aged
under 18 years, 371 participants were aged 18–34 years, 130 participants
were aged 35–59 years, and 642 participants were aged 60+ years. A one-
way ANOVA was carried out to test for any differences in age between the
fans of different musical styles. The result of this was significant (F(18,
2024) = 60.20, p < .001). Tukey HSD tests indicated 9 homogeneous subsets
of means, which are presented in Table 3.
62 Psychology of Music 35(1)
TABLE
1 Sex by musical preference (%)
Male Female
Opera 20 (32.8) 41 (67.2)
Country & western 33 (45.2) 40 (54.8)
Jazz 39 (54.2) 33 (45.8)
Rock 87 (44.8) 107 (55.2)
Current chart pop 22 (16.7) 110 (83.3)
R&B 36 (27.7) 94 (72.3)
Soul 41 (39.0) 64 (61.0)
Classical 68 (45.6) 81 (54.4)
Disco 50 (32.9) 102 (67.1)
Dance/house 50 (38.2) 81 (61.8)
Hip-hop/rap 29 (43.9) 37 (56.1)
Musicals 31 (25.6) 90 (74.4)
Blues 47 (72.3) 18 (27.7)
Sixties pop 53 (44.9) 65 (55.1)
Indie 65 (50.8) 63 (49.2)
Adult pop 60 (38.5) 96 (61.5)
DJ-based 32 (49.2) 33 (50.8)
Other pop 16 (20.5) 62 (79.5)
Other 27 (42.2) 37 (57.8)
χ
2
(18) = 115.27, p < .001
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North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 63
TABLE 2 Ethnic background by musical preference (%)
Black Asian White
Opera 2 (3.3) 4 (6.6) 55 (90.2)
Country & western 3 (4.1) 4 (5.5) 66 (90.4)
Jazz 6 (8.5) 9 (12.7) 56 (78.9)
Rock 3 (1.6) 7 (3.6) 183 (94.8)
Current chart pop 0 (.0) 12 (9.1) 120 (90.9)
R&B 7 (5.4) 36 (27.7) 87 (66.9)
Soul 9 (8.6) 14 (13.3) 82 (78.1)
Classical 1 (.7) 8 (5.4) 139 (93.9)
Disco 2 (1.3) 9 (5.9) 141 (92.8)
Dance/house 6 (4.6) 16 (12.2) 109 (83.2)
Hip-hop/rap 4 (6.2) 26 (40.0) 35 (53.8)
Musicals 0 (.0) 6 (5.0) 115 (95.0)
Blues 4 (6.2) 4 (6.2) 57 (87.7)
Sixties pop 2 (1.7) 2 (1.7) 114 (96.6)
Indie 2 (1.6) 2 (1.6) 124 (96.9)
Adult pop 2 (1.3) 9 (5.8) 145 (92.9)
DJ-based 1 (1.5) 3 (4.6) 61 (93.8)
Other pop 2 (2.6) 10 (12.8) 66 (84.6)
Other 0 (.0) 11 (17.2) 53 (82.8)
χ
2
(36) = 228.66, p < .001
TABLE 3 Homogeneous subsets of means of participant age in years
Musical
preference Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Set 6 Set 7 Set 8 Set 9
Hip-hop/rap 22.33
DJ-based 23.40
Dance/house 23.59
R&B 24.85
Indie 26.54
Current chart
pop 28.45 28.45
Other 33.47 33.47
Other pop 34.10 34.10 34.10
Rock 34.51 34.51 34.51
Soul 35.74 35.74 35.74
Disco 36.51 36.51 36.51
Adult pop 40.49 40.49 40.49
Jazz 42.11 42.11 42.11
Blues 44.46 44.46 44.46
Classical 47.63 47.63 47.63
Sixties pop 48.45 48.45 48.45
Musicals 49.65 49.65
Opera 50.30 50.30
Country &
western 52.12
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In addition to the data presented in Tables 1 and 2, this one-way ANOVA is
consistent with previous research on ‘taste publics’, which indicates an
association between musical taste and participants’ demographic charac-
teristics. With regard to sex, for example, fans of opera, current chart pop,
R&B, disco, dance/house, musicals, and other pop music styles were pre-
dominantly female, whereas fans of blues were predominantly male. With
regard to ethnic background, although the great majority of participants
were white, a relatively high proportion of participants from an Asian
background liked R&B, dance/house, and hip-hop/rap. With regard to age, it
is unsurprising that fans of what are arguably currently fashionable musical
styles such as hip-hop/rap, DJ-based music, dance/house, R&B, indie, and
current chart pop should be of a homogeneously low age compared to the
remainder of the sample; it is similarly unsurprising that fans of what are
arguably currently unfashionable musical styles such as classical music,
sixties pop, musicals, opera, and country and western should be of a homo-
geneously high age compared to the remainder of the sample. It is not the
case however that age is positively related to a liking for high art music: fans
of sixties pop and country and western were amongst the oldest within the
present sample. Rather, it is more accurate to state that fans of high art
musical styles are unlikely to be young.
RELATIONSHIPS
Eight separate χ
2
tests were carried out to investigate any association
between participants’ musical preferences and seven respective aspects of
their interpersonal relationships. The first test showed a significant asso-
ciation with the type of family group in which participants were brought up
(i.e. both parents vs other). The second test showed a significant association
with whether participants were currently in a romantic relationship. The
third test showed no significant association with whether participants were
in a romantic relationship with a partner of the same or different sex. The
fourth test showed a significant association with the number of sexual
partners the participants had had during the past five years (with
participants responding to this item by choosing from three different options).
The fifth test showed a significant association with whether the participant
was currently married, single, or had a deceased spouse. The sixth test
showed a significant association with whether the participant had ever been
divorced. The seventh test showed a significant association with whether the
participant was or was not living with their romantic partner. The eighth test
showed no significant association with whether the participant had or
wanted to have children. The resulting frequencies are shown in Tables 4–6.
64 Psychology of Music 35(1)
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Table 4 indicates that the majority of participants were brought up by
both of their parents. However, a relatively high proportion of fans of
country, R&B, soul, dance/house, hip-hop/rap were brought up outside two-
parent families. Table 4 indicates that a relatively high proportion of fans of
classical music, blues, sixties pop, and adult pop were currently in a romantic
relationship; whereas a relatively low proportion of fans of opera, current
chart pop, dance/house, hip-hop/rap, musicals, DJ-based music, and other
music were currently in a romantic relationship. Indeed it is interesting to
consider this finding in the light of the data presented in Table 5. This
indicates that dance/house, hip-hop/rap, and DJ-based music were the most
likely participants to have had more than one sexual partner during the past
5 years. Although the data presented in Table 4 indicate that there was no
significant association between the different musical styles and whether the
participants were in a romantic relationship with a partner of the same or
opposite sex, it is interesting that a relatively low proportion of the fans of
dance/house and hip-hop/rap were in a relationship with someone of the
opposing sex. It is tempting to speculate that, in conjunction with the data on
promiscuity reported in Table 5, this is contrary to the generally liberal
stereotype of the fans of the latter two musical styles. Although the fans of
North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 65
TABLE 4 Musical preference by type of family during childhood; whether the participant is
currently in a romantic relationship; and whether the romantic partner is of the same or
different sex (%)
Different sex
Two parents In a relationship partner
Opera 56 (91.8) 38 (62.3) 4 (10.0)
Country & western 60 (82.2) 52 (73.2) 5 (9.4)
Jazz 67 (93.1) 45 (63.4) 6 (11.8)
Rock 180 (93.3) 136 (71.6) 11 (8.0)
Current chart pop 118 (89.4) 80 (61.5) 10 (11.8)
R&B 110 (84.6) 84 (66.1) 5 (6.0)
Soul 88 (83.8) 70 (67.3) 10 (13.2)
Classical 135 (91.8) 120 (81.6) 9 (7.4)
Disco 142 (93.4) 111 (74.0) 14 (11.7)
Dance/house 105 (80.2) 80 (62.0) 3 (3.6)
Hip-hop/rap 55 (83.3) 40 (60.6) 1 (2.8)
Musicals 114 (94.2) 75 (62.5) 7 (8.5)
Blues 59 (90.8) 56 (86.2) 8 (14.5)
Sixties pop 103 (88.0) 95 (81.2) 8 (8.1)
Indie 111 (86.7) 80 (63.0) 4 (4.8)
Adult pop 141 (90.4) 121 (78.1) 11 (8.7)
DJ-based 56 (86.2) 37 (57.8) 2 (5.3)
Other pop 68 (87.2) 55 (73.3) 3 (5.6)
Other 55 (85.9) 38 (60.3) 2 (5.4)
χ
2
(18) = 36.18, χ
2
(18) = 59.84, χ
2
(18) = 16.47,
p < .01 p < .001 n.s.
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66 Psychology of Music 35(1)
TABLE 5 Musical preference by number of sexual partners during past five years; whether the participant is currently married; and has ever been divorced (%)
Currently Not currently Widow/ Has been
0–1 2–4 5+ partners married married Widower divorced
Opera 48 (84.2) 7 (12.3) 2 (3.5) 33 (55.0) 20 (33.3) 7 (11.7) 10 (18.9)
Country & western 58 (85.3) 9 (13.2) 1 (1.5) 47 (66.2) 20 (28.2) 4 (5.6) 12 (17.1)
Jazz 47 (70.1) 11 (16.4) 9 (13.5) 30 (44.8) 32 (47.8) 5 (7.5) 8 (11.9)
Rock 134 (72.0) 40 (21.5) 12 (6.5) 71 (38.6) 112 (60.9) 1 (0.5) 29 (15.8)
Current chart pop 76 (63.3) 27 (22.5) 17 (14.2) 38 (31.4) 82 (67.8) 1 (0.8) 7 (6.0)
R&B 45 (43.3) 37 (35.6) 22 (21.1) 17 (16.2) 88 (83.8) 0 (0) 9 (8.6)
Soul 59 (56.7) 28 (26.9) 10 (16.4) 41 (41.0) 57 (57.0) 2 (2.0) 15 (15.5)
Classical 121 (84.0) 17 (11.8) 6 (4.2) 101 (69.7) 37 (25.5) 7 (4.8) 19 (13.5)
Disco 101 (68.7) 30 (20.4) 16 (10.9) 75 (50.7) 70 (47.3) 3 (2.0) 16 (10.8)
Dance/house 44 (38.3) 38 (33.0) 33 (28.7) 9 (7.8) 106 (92.2) 0 (0) 7 (6.1)
Hip-hop/rap 17 (35.4) 13 (27.1) 18 (37.5) 2 (4.3) 44 (95.7) 0 (0) 3 (6.4)
Musicals 96 (83.5) 13 (11.3) 6 (5.2) 62 (52.5) 39 (33.1) 17 (14.4) 17 (14.7)
Blues 49 (76.6) 11 (17.2) 4 (6.2) 43 (66.2) 21 (32.3) 1 (1.5) 10 (15.6)
Sixties pop 102 (89.5) 11 (9.6) 1 (0.9) 69 (60.5) 39 (34.2) 6 (5.3) 16 (13.9)
Indie 63 (52.9) 35 (29.4) 21 (17.7) 25 (20.8) 94 (78.3) 1 (0.8) 6 (5.1)
Adult pop 120 (77.9) 23 (14.9) 11 (7.2) 94 (61.8) 58 (38.2) 2 (1.3) 26 (17.0)
DJ-based 19 (30.6) 25 (40.3) 18 (29.1) 3 (1.9) 56 (36.4) 1 (0.6) 2 (3.4)
Other pop 52 (70.3) 12 (16.2) 10 (13.5) 28 (43.8) 45 (70.3) 2 (3.1) 8 (10.8)
Other 34 (58.6) 13 (22.4) 11 (19.0) 18 (31.6) 35 (61.4) 4 (7.0) 4 (6.9)
χ
2
(36) = 266.51, χ
2
(36) = 432.31, χ
2
(18) = 35.27,
p < .001 p < .001 p < .01
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North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 67
TABLE 6 Musical preference by whether the participant is currently living with their romantic partner; and has or wants to have children; and homogeneous
subsets of means of number of months for which participants had lived with their romantic partner (%)
Living with Has or wants
partner children Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Set 6 Set 7 Set 8
Opera 35 (68.6) 52 (86.7) Dance/house 33.02
Country & western 53 (76.8) 56 (78.9) Hip-hop/rap 41.40 41.40
Jazz 33 (55.0) 61 (87.1) DJ-based 45.93 45.93
Rock 101 (58.7) 167 (89.8) R&B 80.54 80.54 80.54
Current chart pop 47 (42.3) 105 (83.3) Indie 98.35 98.35 98.35
R&B 34 (34.7) 105 (86.1) Chart pop 114.44 114.44 114.44 114.44
Soul 49 (55.1) 89 (85.6) Other pop 145.62 145.62 145.62 145.62 145.62
Classical 107 (79.3) 127 (86.4) Rock 163.71 163.71 163.71 163.71 163.71
Disco 84 (58.7) 128 (86.5) Other 173.57 173.57 173.57 173.57 173.57
Dance/house 27 (25.2) 107 (84.9) Soul 180.90 180.90 180.90 180.90 180.90
Hip-hop/rap 9 (19.6) 52 (86.7) Adult pop 181.48 181.48 181.48 181.48 181.48
Musicals 65 (63.7) 98 (82.4) Disco 196.72 196.72 196.72 196.72 196.72
Blues 47 (78.3) 52 (81.3) Jazz 235.19 235.19 235.19 235.19 235.19
Sixties pop 86 (77.5) 96 (81.4) Blues 248.47 248.47 248.47 248.47
Indie 46 (42.2) 107 (90.7) Sixties pop 261.89 261.89 261.89 261.89
Adult pop 111 (74.0) 140 (90.9) Classical 279.79 279.79 279.79
DJ-based 13 (25.5) 55 (85.9) Country & western 298.00 298.00
Other pop 35 (49.3) 65 (86.7) Opera 322.68
Other 22 (39.3) 52 (83.9) Musicals 322.77
χ
2
(18) = 228.94, χ
2
(18) =
p < .001 16.33, n.s.
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dance/house and hip-hop/rap are by no means predominantly male (see
Table 1), these data suggest that the fans have a stereotypically masculine
approach to sexual relationships, with low levels of (self-reported) homo-
sexuality and a high level of (self-reported) promiscuity. In contrast, it is also
worth noting that Table 5 indicates that a very high proportion of the fans of
opera, country and western, classical music, musicals, and sixties pop had
been monogamous or had no sexual partners during the past 5 years.
The data in Table 5 concerning whether or not the participants were
currently married are consistent with those on promiscuity. The former
indicates that the most promiscuous fans (namely those of dance/house, hip-
hop/rap, and DJ-based music) were the least likely to be married. In contrast
the least promiscuous fans (namely those of opera, country and western,
classical music, musicals, and sixties pop) were among those most likely to be
married. Other fans who were relatively likely to be married were those of
blues and adult pop. Fans of opera and musicals were relatively likely to be
widow(er)s, consistent with their higher age (see Table 3). However, given
their relatively young age, fans of jazz might be interpreted as relatively likely
to be widow(er)s, whereas the high mean age of country and western fans
means that they are perhaps fortunate in that only 5.6 percent of them were
widow(er)s. Age variations between the fans of the different styles might also
explain some of the data presented in Table 5 concerning divorce (since older
fans have had greater opportunity to be divorced). In particular, fans of
current chart pop, dance/house, hip-hop/rap, indie, and DJ-based music were
among the youngest fans (see Table 3) and those least likely to have been
divorced (see Table 5). However variations in divorce rates between the fans of
other musical styles are much more difficult to explain simply in terms of age.
For example, fans of adult pop and disco were of very similar mean ages, but
17.0 percent of the fans of adult pop had been divorced compared with only
10.8 percent of the fans of disco; fans of country and western music were the
oldest in the present sample (see Table 3), but their divorce rate (of 17.1%)
was comparable with that of the fans of adult pop (17.0%) who were almost
12 years younger on average. In a similar vein, it is perhaps unsurprising that
Table 6 shows that the oldest groups of fans were among the most likely to be
living with their romantic partner, although again there are some differences
between different groups of fans that are difficult to explain in terms of this
argument, given the similarity in their mean ages: for example, despite the
similarity in their ages, 42.2 percent of indie fans live with their partner
compared to only 25.2 percent of the fans of dance/house.
In addition to providing this information, participants were also asked to
state the number of months for which they had lived with their romantic
partner, and to provide Likert scale ratings for three further variables, namely
the extent to which they preferred larger groups over one-to-one interactions;
the extent to which they would like to have more friends; and the extent to
which their current friends were outgoing. A separate one-way ANOVA was
68 Psychology of Music 35(1)
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carried out for each of these four variables to investigate any difference
between the musical preference groups. These indicated that significant
differences obtained between the musical preference groups for each of the
variables except the second (F(18, 1035) = 15.61, p < .001; F(18, 1995) =
1.44, n.s.; F(18, 2010) = 2.95, p < .001; and F(18, 2005) = 6.96, p <.001
respectively). Homogeneous subsets of means (as indicated by Tukey HSD
tests) for those variables giving rise to significant results are presented in
Tables 6–7. The data presented in Table 6 concerning whether the participant
is currently living with their romantic partner and has or wants to have
children support those concerning the number of months for which partici-
pants had lived with their romantic partner and require no further discussion.
Table 7 indicates that classical music fans were most satisfied with their existing
number of friends whereas fans of hip-hop/rap, R&B, and dance/house music
were the most eager to have more friends. Table 7 indicates that the latter three
groups of fans, along with fans of current chart pop and DJ-based music, also
had the most outgoing friends, whereas fans of musicals, classical music,
opera, and country and western had the least outgoing friends.
This highlights a distinct pattern of results from this section of the
questionnaire: at the risk of over-generalizing, responses seem to fall into
three loose groupings, with those from the fans of country and western,
North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 69
TABLE 7 Homogeneous subsets of means of the extent to which participants would like to
have more friends and the extent to which participants’ friends are outgoing
More friends Outgoing
Musical preference Set 1 Set 2 Set 1 Set 2
Classical 4.49 Musicals 5.74
Blues 4.78 4.78 Classical 5.75
Country & western 4.83 4.83 Opera 5.78
Adult pop 4.84 4.84 Country & western 5.84
Opera 4.90 4.90 Adult pop 5.88 5.88
Rock 4.99 4.99 Blues 5.95 5.95
Sixties pop 4.99 4.99 Sixties pop 5.99 5.99
Other pop 5.03 5.03 Rock 6.14 6.14
Jazz 5.08 5.08 Indie 6.35 6.35
Soul 5.12 5.12 Other pop 6.36 6.36
Musicals 5.22 5.22 Jazz 6.38 6.38
Other 5.27 5.27 Soul 6.54 6.54
DJ-based 5.28 5.28 Other 6.65 6.65
Disco 5.38 5.38 Disco 6.81 6.81
Current chart pop 5.53 5.53 R&B 7.13 7.13
Indie 5.63 5.63 Hip-hop/rap 7.21 7.21
Hip-hop/rap 5.85 Current chart pop 7.31 7.31
R&B 5.86 DJ-based 7.74 7.74
Dance/house 5.95 Dance/house 8.11
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opera, musicals, sixties pop, adult pop, classical music, and blues being the
most conservative in their relationships, responses from fans of hip-hop/rap,
DJ-based music, and dance/house being the least conservative in their
relationships (with the notable exception of their propensity towards homo-
sexuality), and responses from the fans of other musical styles falling
between those of the two other groups. Such a pattern of responses is incon-
sistent with the often-claimed dichotomy between classical and pop music:
the present data seem to group together fans of classical music, adult pop,
and sixties pop. Similarly, this pattern of responses is inconsistent with the
often-claimed and more general dichotomy between high culture and low
culture: the present data seem to group together fans of country and western
with fans of opera. Rather the groupings of fans highlighted here seem more
consistent with a distinction between musical styles that promote conser-
vative versus liberal ideologies. Note that this conservative–liberal distinction
cannot be regarded as rooted within simple age differences between the fans
of different musical styles (such that older fans are more conservative than
younger fans): the data presented in this section provide numerous examples
of how groups of fans with similar mean ages are very different in terms of
their scores on other variables. For example, fans of indie were of a very
similar age to fans of e.g. hip-hop/rap, but tended to produce markedly
different data.
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
Three separate χ
2
tests were carried out to investigate any association
between participants’ musical preferences and eight respective aspects of
their living arrangements. The first test showed a significant association with
whether the participants owned their own home. The second test showed a
significant association with the type of home in which the participants lived
(and note that 70 participants who lived in bungalows were excluded from
this analysis since they were too widely dispersed across the different musical
styles). The third test showed a significant association with whether
participants had spent more than half their life in the same TV region in
which they were born. The resulting frequencies are shown in Tables 8–9. In
addition to providing this information, participants were also asked to state
the number of people who lived in their home in addition to themselves (and
could include children, elderly relatives, etc.); how many of these people had
a personal income in excess of £1000 per annum; and to provide a Likert
scale rating of the extent to which they lived in an urban versus rural area. A
series of three separate one-way ANOVAs showed that only the last of these
three variables did not give rise to significant differences between the musical
preference groups (F(18, 2022) = 5.18, p < .001; F(18, 1967) = 3.28, p <
.001; and F(18, 1992) = 1.11, n.s., respectively). Homogeneous subsets of
means for those variables giving rise to significant results (as indicated by
Tukey HSD tests) are presented in Table 10.
70 Psychology of Music 35(1)
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North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 71
TABLE 8 Musical preference by whether participants own their own home and what type of home the participants live in (%)
Owns home Lives in terrace Lives in semi-detached Lives in detached Lives in flat
Opera 46 (76.7) 10 (16.4) 18 (29.5) 23 (37.7) 6 (9.8)
Country & western 56 (76.7) 13 (18.1) 37 (51.4) 16 (22.2) 3 (4.2)
Jazz 46 (64.8) 11 (15.7) 20 (28.6) 25 (35.7) 9 (12.9)
Rock 114 (59.1) 36 (18.8) 73 (38.0) 57 (29.7) 23 (12.0)
Current chart pop 61 (46.9) 32 (24.8) 52 (40.3) 29 (22.5) 11 (8.5)
R&B 45 (34.9) 40 (31.7) 48 (38.1) 24 (19.0) 13 (10.3)
Soul 64 (61.0) 25 (24.0) 33 (31.7) 30 (28.8) 12 (11.5)
Classical 121 (82.9) 20 (13.8) 41 (28.3) 55 (37.9) 17 (11.7)
Disco 93 (61.6) 35 (23.3) 59 (39.3) 45 (30.0) 7 (4.7)
Dance/house 38 (29.0) 31 (24.4) 54 (42.5) 26 (20.5) 11 (8.7)
Hip-hop/rap 15 (22.7) 19 (29.7) 15 (23.4) 22 (34.4) 7 (10.9)
Musicals 85 (70.8) 21 (17.6) 38 (31.9) 40 (33.6) 13 (10.9)
Blues 47 (72.3) 16 (25.4) 19 (30.2) 21 (33.3) 7 (11.1)
Sixties pop 87 (73.7) 22 (18.6) 48 (40.7) 29 (24.6) 10 (8.5)
Indie 50 (39.4) 26 (20.6) 51 (40.5) 31 (24.6) 13 (10.3)
Adult pop 123 (78.8) 30 (19.2) 56 (35.9) 55 (35.3) 13 (8.3)
DJ-based 16 (24.6) 14 (21.9) 19 (29.7) 20 (31.3) 11 (17.2)
Other pop 47 (62.7) 14 (18.7) 23 (30.7) 29 (38.7) 9 (12.0)
Other 24 (37.5) 14 (22.6) 21 (33.9) 14 (22.6) 13 (21.0)
χ
2
(18) = 284.61, χ
2
(54) = 83.82,
p < .001 p < .01
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Table 8 indicates that fans of opera, country and western, classical music,
and adult pop were most likely to own their own home whereas fans of R&B,
dance/house, hip-hop/rap, and DJ-based music were least likely to. Fans of
opera, jazz, classical music, hip-hop/rap, and adult pop were most likely to
live in a detached home (i.e. the most expensive type of housing); whereas
R&B, hip-hop/rap, and blues fans were most likely to live in a terraced house,
and fans of jazz, rock, DJ-based music, other pop, and other musical styles
were most likely to live in a flat. Table 9 indicates that fans of blues and
country and western were least likely to still live within the same TV region
(i.e. same geographical area) in which they were born. Table 10 indicates that
fans of country and western and opera lived with the fewest number of other
people, whereas fans of hip-hop/rap lived with the greatest number of other
people. Table 10 indicates that fans of jazz lived in households where the
fewest number of people had an annual income in excess of £1000 per
annum, whereas fans of hip-hop/rap scored highest in this respect. More
generally, the data presented in this section indicate numerous differences in
the living arrangements of the fans of different musical styles.
BELIEFS
Four separate χ
2
tests were carried out to investigate any association between
participants’ musical preferences and four respective aspects of their political
72 Psychology of Music 35(1)
TABLE 9 ‘Have you spent more than half your life in the same TV region in which you
were born?’ by musical preference (%)
Yes
Opera 41 (67.2)
Country & western 46 (63.9)
Jazz 51 (71.8)
Rock 151 (78.6)
Current chart pop 108 (83.1)
R&B 105 (82.0)
Soul 76 (72.4)
Classical 101 (69.2)
Disco 119 (78.8)
Dance/house 100 (77.5)
Hip-hop/rap 50 (76.9)
Musicals 81 (67.5)
Blues 41 (63.1)
Sixties pop 91 (77.1)
Indie 98 (77.2)
Adult pop 116 (74.4)
DJ-based 45 (70.3)
Other pop 59 (78.7)
Other 49 (79.0)
χ
2
(18) = 32.11, p < .05
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North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 73
TABLE 10 Homogeneous subsets of means of the number of other people living in the participant’s home and the number of people living in the
participant’s home with an annual income in excess of £1000 per annum
Other people £1000+
Musical preference Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4
Country & western 2.49 Jazz 1.55
Opera 2.49 Opera 1.67 1.67
Jazz 2.63 2.63 Musicals 1.71 1.71 1.71
Classical 2.69 2.69 Classical 1.71 1.71 1.71
Sixties pop 2.81 2.81 2.81 Other pop 1.75 1.75 1.75
Adult pop 2.85 2.85 2.85 Blues 1.78 1.78 1.78
Musicals 2.86 2.86 2.86 Country & western 1.79 1.79 1.79
Blues 2.88 2.88 2.88 Adult pop 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.82
Other pop 2.93 2.93 2.93 2.93 Disco 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.82
Rock 3.17 3.17 3.17 3.17 Other 1.84 1.84 1.84 1.84
Soul 3.19 3.19 3.19 3.19 Sixties pop 1.91 1.91 1.91 1.91
Indie 3.35 3.35 3.35 3.35 3.35 Rock 1.94 1.94 1.94 1.94
Disco 3.39 3.39 3.39 3.39 3.39 Current chart pop 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95
Other 3.42 3.42 3.42 3.42 3.42 Indie 1.96 1.96 1.96 1.96
Current chart pop 3.48 3.48 3.48 3.48 3.48 DJ-based 2.03 2.03 2.03 2.03
R&B 3.71 3.71 3.71 3.71 Soul 2.07 2.07 2.07 2.07
Dance/house 3.86 3.86 3.86 R&B 2.13 2.13 2.13
DJ-based 4.03 4.03 Dance/house 2.22 2.22
Hip-hop/rap 4.33 Hip-hop/rap 2.36
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74 Psychology of Music 35(1)
TABLE 11 Musical preference by participants’ voting preferences (%)
Labour Conservative Liberal Don’t vote No preference
Opera 20 (32.8) 21 (34.4) 5 (8.2) 6 (9.8) 5 (8.2)
Country & western 23 (32.9) 25 (35.7) 7 (10.0) 9 (12.9) 3 (4.3)
Jazz 23 (33.3) 23 (33.3) 8 (11.6) 3 (4.3) 9 (13.0)
Rock 53 (28.0) 45 (23.8) 25 (13.2) 36 (19.0) 28 (14.8)
Current chart pop 33 (26.6) 27 (21.8) 14 (11.3) 32 (25.8) 16 (12.9)
R&B 33 (27.0) 25 (20.5) 9 (7.4) 28 (23.0) 25 (20.5)
Soul 34 (33.0) 27 (26.2) 9 (8.7) 16 (15.5) 15 (14.6)
Classical 50 (36.2) 42 (30.4) 13 (9.4) 12 (8.7) 17 (12.3)
Disco 46 (31.5) 34 (23.3) 16 (11.0) 24 (16.4) 22 (15.1)
Dance/house 32 (27.4) 18 (15.4) 9 (7.7) 30 (25.6) 28 (23.9)
Hip-hop/rap 19 (29.7) 7 (10.9) 5 (7.8) 18 (28.1) 15 (23.4)
Musicals 38 (31.9) 35 (29.4) 11 (9.2) 18 (15.1) 15 (12.6)
Blues 23 (36.5) 18 (28.6) 7 (11.1) 6 (9.5) 8 (12.7)
Sixties pop 51 (45.5) 29 (25.9) 13 (11.6) 9 (8.0) 6 (5.4)
Indie 36 (28.8) 16 (12.8) 18 (14.4) 25 (20.0) 26 (20.8)
Adult pop 51 (34.0) 38 (25.3) 17 (11.3) 19 (12.7) 22 (14.7)
DJ-based 13 (20.6) 12 (19.0) 2 (3.2) 23 (36.5) 11 (17.5)
Other pop 18 (24.7) 18 (24.7) 7 (9.6) 16 (21.9) 14 (19.2)
Other 16 (25.0) 12 (18.8) 9 (14.1) 11 (17.2) 14 (21.9)
χ
2
(72) = 150.06, p < .001
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North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 75
TABLE 12 Musical preference by whether the participant is vegetarian/vegan; religious affiliation; and whether the participants worship as regularly as their
religion says they should (%)
Vegetarian/ Worships as
vegan None Protestant Catholic Other regularly as should
Opera 10 (17.2) 19 (31.7) 21 (35.0) 12 (20.0) 8 (13.4) 18 (43.9)
Country & western 9 (13.8) 17 (25.0) 25 (36.8) 14 (20.6) 12 (17.6) 13 (27.1)
Jazz 6 (9.1) 23 (34.3) 24 (35.8) 11 (16.4) 9 (13.4) 16 (34.0)
Rock 19 (10.2) 69 (37.1) 87 (46.8) 14 (7.5) 16 (8.7) 29 (25.0)
Current chart pop 17 (13.9) 38 (30.6) 48 (38.7) 16 (12.9) 22 (17.7) 19 (22.4)
R&B 22 (18.3) 42 (33.9) 34 (27.4) 14 (11.3) 34 (27.4) 12 (15.8)
Soul 23 (23.2) 37 (36.3) 37 (36.3) 12 (11.8) 16 (15.6) 12 (19.3)
Classical 17 (12.5) 42 (29.4) 62 (43.4) 20 (14.0) 3 (13.3) 33 (35.5)
Disco 10 (7.1) 40 (27.8) 62 (43.1) 18 (12.5) 24 (16.7) 12 (13.0)
Dance/house 15 (12.9) 52 (43.3) 39 (32.5) 8 (6.7) 21 (17.4) 11 (17.2)
Hip-hop/rap 10 (16.1) 20 (32.3) 12 (19.4) 5 (8.1) 25 (40.3) 7 (18.4)
Musicals 11 (9.5) 28 (23.3) 58 (48.3) 17 (14.2) 17 (14.1) 37 (39.8)
Blues 8 (12.9) 20 (30.8) 26 (40.0) 12 (18.5) 7 (10.7) 11 (27.5)
Sixties pop 9 (8.0) 41 (36.0) 46 (40.4) 15 (13.2) 12 (10.6) 13 (19.7)
Indie 18 (15.3) 55 (44.4) 53 (42.7) 10 (8.1) 6 (4.8) 15 (24.2)
Adult pop 12 (8.3) 45 (30.0) 70 (46.7) 20 (13.3) 15 (10.0) 20 (21.3)
DJ-based 4 (7.0) 33 (55.0) 15 (25.0) 7 (11.7) 5 (8.4) 4 (20.0)
Other pop 6 (8.2) 27 (38.6) 23 (32.9) 6 (8.6) 14 (20.0) 8 (18.6)
Other 9 (14.5) 21 (33.9) 18 (29.0) 10 (16.1) 14 (21.0) 16 (41.0)
χ
2
(18) = 31.36, χ
2
(54) = 138.95, χ
2
(18) = 49.30,
p < .05 p < .001 p < .001
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and moral beliefs. The first test showed a significant association with the
political party for which the participant usually voted (and note that this
analysis excluded 50 participants who voted for an ‘Other’ party since these
people were too widely dispersed across the musical preference groups to
allow analysis). The second test showed a significant association with
whether the participant was vegetarian/vegan. The third test showed a
significant association with the religion with which participants associated
themselves most closely. The fourth test showed a significant association with
whether participants who were religious worshipped as regularly as their
religion said they should. The resulting frequencies are shown in Tables 11
and 12. Table 11 indicates that fans of country and western, opera, and jazz
were most likely to vote for the most right-wing of Britain’s main political
parties, the Conservatives. This is consistent with the earlier assertion that
these fans are more generally among the most conservative within the
present sample. In contrast, fans of rock, indie, and other music styles were
most likely to vote for what is at present arguably Britain’s most left-wing
main political party, the Liberal Democrats. Table 12 indicates that fans of
soul were most likely to be vegetarian/vegan, whereas fans of disco and DJ-
based music were least likely to be. Table 12 indicates that fans of dance/
house, indie, and DJ-based music were most likely not to be religious, whereas
fans of country and western, classical music, disco, and musicals were least
likely not to be religious (i.e. most likely to be religious); fans of rock,
musicals, and adult pop were most likely to be Protestant; fans of opera and
country and western were most likely to be Catholic; and fans of R&B and
hip-hop/rap were most likely to follow other religions. Table 12 shows that of
those participants who were religious, fans of opera, musicals, and other
musical styles, were most likely to worship as regularly as their religion said
they ought, whereas fans of disco were least likely to worship as regularly as
they ought.
Participants were asked to state whether or not they regularly recycled
each of glass, paper, aluminium cans, plastic, and old clothes. A score of 1
was awarded for each of these items recycled and a total was calculated for
each participant. An ANOVA was carried out to test for any difference
between the musical preference groups in these total recycling scores. The
result of this was significant (F(18, 2019) = 2.77, p < .001) and
homogeneous subsets of means are provided in Table 13. These means
indicate that fans of country and western, sixties pop, classical music, and
opera were most likely to recycle whereas fans of DJ-based music, hip-
hop/rap, and R&B were least likely to recycle, contrary again to their liberal
stereotype.
Participants were then asked to provide ratings on Likert scales
concerning 11 particular socio-political issues. A separate one-way ANOVA
was carried out for each issue, with ratings indicating a significant difference
between the musical preference groups on whether they believed that taxes
76 Psychology of Music 35(1)
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should be raised in order to pay for improved public services (F(18, 1957) =
3.64, p < .001); whether they believed that the government should do more
to exploit alternative energy sources (F(18, 1944) = 3.62, p < .001); whether
they believed that Scotland should be granted full independence from the UK
should most Scots want it (F(18, 1922) = 1.67, p < .05); whether they
believed that Britain should enter the Euro if the economic conditions were
right (F(18, 1919) = 1.76, p < .05); whether they believed that nuclear
weapons reduce the risk of international conflict (F(18, 1907) = 3.09, p <
.001); whether they believed that the government should pay more attention
to environmental issues (F(18, 1918) = 1.92, p < .05); and whether they
believed Britain should retain a state-funded National Health Service (F(18,
1929) = 4.30, p < .001). Homogeneous subsets of means for those variables
giving rise to significant results (as indicated by Tukey HSD tests) are
presented in Tables 14–15. One-way ANOVAs indicated no significant
differences between the musical preference groups on ratings of whether
they believed that the USA’s foreign policy was too aggressive (F(18, 1873) =
1.47, n.s.); whether they believed that Britain should play a more active role
in international relations (F(18, 1915) = 1.25, n.s.); whether they believed
that Republicans in Northern Ireland should be favoured over Unionists
(F(18, 1781) = 1.06, n.s.); and whether they believed children should be
taught in separate classes on the basis of their academic ability (F(18, 1932)
= 1.06, n.s.).
North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 77
TABLE 13 Homogeneous subsets of means of total recycling scores
Musical preference Set 1 Set 2 Set 3
DJ-based 1.40
Hip-hop/rap 1.56 1.56
R&B 1.67 1.67
Indie 1.79 1.79 1.79
Dance/house 1.82 1.82 1.82
Current chart pop 1.83 1.83 1.83
Other 1.84 1.84 1.84
Disco 1.87 1.87 1.87
Rock 1.99 1.99 1.99
Blues 2.00 2.00 2.00
Other pop 2.01 2.01 2.01
Adult pop 2.04 2.04 2.04
Soul 2.04 2.04 2.04
Musicals 2.16 2.16 2.16
Jazz 2.18 2.18 2.18
Country & western 2.25 2.25
Sixties pop 2.31 2.31
Classical 2.37 2.37
Opera 2.53
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78 Psychology of Music 35(1)
TABLE 14 Homogeneous subsets of means of whether taxation should be raised to pay for improved public services; whether the government should do more
to exploit alternative energy sources; and whether Scotland should be granted full independence if desired by the population
Tax Energy Scotland
Musical preference Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 1 Set 2
R&B 4.64 Hip-hop/rap 5.48 Musicals 5.62
Hip-hop/rap 4.68 R&B 5.72 5.72 Sixties pop 5.79 5.79
Current chart pop 4.85 4.85 Current chart pop 5.78 5.78 5.78 Opera 5.92 5.92
DJ-based 4.85 4.85 Other pop 5.95 5.95 5.95 5.95 Jazz 6.00 6.00
Dance/house 5.03 5.03 5.03 DJ-based 6.20 6.20 6.20 6.20 Adult pop 6.14 6.14
Disco 5.19 5.19 5.19 Dance/house 6.32 6.32 6.32 6.32 Rock 6.14 6.14
Other pop 5.28 5.28 5.28 Adult pop 6.33 6.33 6.33 6.33 Soul 6.16 6.16
Country & western 5.31 5.31 5.31 Disco 6.33 6.33 6.33 6.33 Disco 6.20 6.20
Musicals 5.41 5.41 5.41 Musicals 6.35 6.35 6.35 6.35 Other 6.28 6.28
Soul 5.53 5.53 5.53 Rock 6.39 6.39 6.39 6.39 Classical 6.33 6.33
Sixties pop 5.73 5.73 5.73 Other 6.42 6.42 6.42 6.42 Hip-hop/rap 6.38 6.38
Rock 5.86 5.86 5.86 Soul 6.51 6.51 6.51 6.51 Current chart pop 6.44 6.44
Other 5.90 5.90 5.90 Sixties pop 6.67 6.67 6.67 6.67 Other pop 6.44 6.44
Adult pop 5.91 5.91 5.91 Country & western 6.71 6.71 6.71 6.71 Country & western 6.48 6.48
Indie 6.02 6.02 6.02 Opera 6.82 6.82 6.82 Dance/house 6.79 6.79
Jazz 6.03 6.03 6.03 Blues 6.95 6.95 6.95 DJ-based 6.97 6.97
Blues 6.05 6.05 6.05 Classical 7.05 7.05 Indie 7.05 7.05
Classical 6.29 6.29 Indie 7.08 R&B 7.09 7.09
Opera 6.37 Jazz 7.21 Blues 7.47
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North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 79
TABLE 15 Homogeneous subsets of means of whether the UK should join the Euro if the economic conditions were favourable; whether nuclear weapons
discourage international conflict; whether the government should pay more attention to environmental/green issues; and whether Britain should retain state-
funded health care
Euro Nuclear Green Health
Musical preference Set 1 Set 1 Set 1 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
Musicals 3.87 Other 4.16 Other pop 6.06 Hip-hop/rap 7.06
Current chart pop 3.91 Dance/house 4.20 Hip-hop/rap 6.10 Dance/house 7.30 7.30
Country & western 3.98 Other pop 4.34 R&B 6.21 R&B 7.38 7.38 7.38
Adult pop 4.14 R&B 4.36 DJ-based 6.29 DJ-based 7.49 7.49 7.49 7.49
Disco 4.15 Current chart pop 4.37 Dance/house 6.40 Disco 8.12 8.12 8.12 8.12 8.12
Rock 4.18 Hip-hop/rap 4.48 Other 6.41 Adult pop 8.15 8.15 8.15 8.15 8.15
Sixties pop 4.25 Disco 4.52 Current chart pop 6.58 Rock 8.18 8.18 8.18 8.18 8.18
Other 4.30 Opera 4.55 Musicals 6.63 Other pop 8.24 8.24 8.24 8.24 8.24
Classical 4.32 DJ-based 4.65 Opera 6.72 Current chart pop 8.25 8.25 8.25 8.25 8.25
R&B 4.34 Jazz 5.06 Jazz 6.72 Jazz 8.34 8.34 8.34 8.34
Other pop 4.36 Adult pop 5.07 Blues 6.75 Opera 8.37 8.37 8.37 8.37
DJ-based 4.54 Soul 5.15 Disco 6.83 Other 8.42 8.42 8.42 8.42
Opera 4.71 Rock 5.20 Soul 6.87 Soul 8.43 8.43 8.43 8.43
Blues 4.73 Indie 5.20 Adult pop 6.90 Indie 8.47 8.47 8.47 8.47
Dance/house 4.81 Classical 5.29 Classical 6.91 Sixties pop 8.49 8.49 8.49 8.49
Jazz 4.85 Musicals 5.34 Rock 6.93 Blues 8.61 8.61 8.61
Soul 4.89 Country & western 5.44 Sixties pop 6.93 Classical 8.64 8.64
Hip-hop/rap 4.90 Sixties pop 5.49 Country & western 7.20 Musicals 8.70 8.70
Indie 5.43 Blues 5.55 Indie 7.33 Country & western 8.96
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Table 14 indicates that fans of opera and classical music were most in
favour of raising taxation to pay for improved public services, whereas fans of
R&B, hip-hop/rap, current chart pop, and DJ-based music were least in favour
of increasing taxes. Fans of jazz, indie, classical music, blues, and opera
agreed most strongly that the government should do more to exploit
alternative energy sources, whereas fans of hip-hop/rap, R&B, and current
chart pop disagreed most with this assertion. Fans of blues were most likely
to agree with Scottish independence whereas fans of musicals were least
likely to. Table 15 indicates that fans of indie, hip-hop/rap, soul, and jazz were
most likely to believe that the UK should join the Euro whereas fans of
musicals, current chart pop, country and western, and adult pop were least
likely to. Fans of blues, sixties pop, country and western, and musicals were
most likely to believe that nuclear weapons discourage international conflict
whereas fans of other musical styles, dance/house, other pop music styles,
and R&B were least likely to. Fans of indie, country and western, sixties pop,
and rock were most likely to believe that the government should pay more
attention to environmental issues, whereas fans of other pop music styles,
hip-hop/rap, R&B, DJ-based music, and dance/house were least likely to. Fans
of country and western, musicals, classical music, and blues were more likely
than most to believe that state-funded health care should be retained,
whereas fans of hip-hop/rap, dance/house, R&B, and DJ-based music were
least likely to believe in this.
At the risk of over-generalizing, as with previous sections of the question-
naire, participants’ responses to items concerning their beliefs seem to fall
into three loose groupings. Again there seems to be some similarity in the
responses of fans of country and western, opera, musicals, sixties pop, adult
pop, classical music, and blues; and between the responses of fans of hip-
hop/rap, DJ-based music, and dance/house. Furthermore there was some
evidence that these two sets of fans could be distinguished in terms of their
degree of conservatism. Fans of hip-hop/rap, DJ-based music, and dance/
house were less likely to be religious. Similarly, fans of country and western,
opera, musicals, sixties pop, adult pop, classical music, and blues were
generally more likely to be religious, and to worship as regularly as they
should. However, fans of hip-hop/rap, DJ-based music, and dance/house were
no more likely than most to be vegetarian or to vote for liberal political
parties, and were among the least likely groups of fans to agree with liberal
beliefs such as increased taxation to pay for public services, exploitation of
alternative energy sources, and state-funded health care. In short, although
the fans of ‘problem’ musical styles had some liberal beliefs their responses
also indicated a rather anti-social element consistent with previous research
concerning their elevated level of delinquency. In contrast, fans of country
and western, opera, musicals, sixties pop, adult pop, classical music, and
blues were among the most likely to agree with these pro-social beliefs.
80 Psychology of Music 35(1)
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CRIME
Three separate χ
2
tests were carried out to investigate any association
between participants’ musical preferences and three respective aspects of
their criminal behaviour. The first test showed a significant association with
whether the participant had ever received a penalty for a minor motoring
offence. The second test showed a significant association with whether the
participant had ever been arrested. The third test showed a significant
association with whether the participant had ever committed an act which,
had it been detected by police, would have led to their arrest. The resulting
frequencies are shown in Table 16. Participants were also asked to state
whether they had ever tried each of solvents, temazepam, psilocybin,
amphetamine, LSD, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, magic mushrooms, or any other
illegal drugs. Participants were also asked to state whether they had ever tried
narium: this is a fictional drug and any participant who stated that they had
tried it (n = 7) was excluded from further analyses concerning drug usage. A
score of 1 was awarded for each type of drug tried and a total was calculated
for each participant. An ANOVA was carried out to test for any difference
between the musical preference groups in these total drug use scores. The
result of this was significant (F(18, 1929) = 7.68, p < .001) and
homogeneous subsets of means are provided in Table 17. The number of fans
within each musical preference group who had tried each of the different
types of drugs is shown in Table 18. Finally, participants were asked to state if
they had ever tried cannabis and if they had ever tried any illegal drugs, with
χ
2
tests indicating a significant association between both of these and
musical preference (χ
2
(18) = 101.01, p < .001 and χ
2
(18) = 151.39, p <
.001, respectively). The resulting frequencies from these tests are shown in
Table 18.
Table 16 indicates that fans of R&B, hip-hop/rap, and DJ-based music were
least likely of all the participants to drive, although this is perhaps
attributable to their age (see Table 3). However, despite the fact that they were
much older, fans of country and western, other musical styles, and sixties
pop were also relatively unlikely to drive. Furthermore, fans of musicals seem
to stand out as having been relatively unlikely to have received a driving
penalty. It is also worth noting that despite the claims of previous studies, and
their delinquent stereotype, fans of ‘problem’ musical styles such as hip-
hop/rap and rock were no more likely than most to have received a driving
penalty. A similar pattern of findings obtained when considering whether
participants had been arrested. Fans of rock music were among those fans
least likely to have been arrested; although fans of hip-hop/rap were among
those more likely to have been arrested, the relevant percentage was no
greater than for fans of blues and perhaps not a great deal higher than for
fans of country and western. However, fans of dance/house, hip-hop/rap,
indie, and DJ-based music stand out much more when considering whether
they had ever committed an ‘arrestable’ act. The most likely explanation of
North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 81
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82 Psychology of Music 35(1)
TABLE 16 Musical preference by whether the participant has ever received a minor motoring penalty; whether the participant has ever been arrested; and
whether the participant has ever committed an act that would have led to arrest, had it been detected (%)
Do not drive Received driving penalty Has been arrested Committed ‘arrestable’ act
Opera 8 (13.6) 27 (45.8) 5 (8.5) 12 (20.3)
Country & western 13 (19.1) 31 (45.6) 8 (11.6) 18 (26.5)
Jazz 10 (14.3) 26 (37.1) 7 (10.1) 27 (38.6)
Rock 33 (17.4) 68 (35.8) 13 (6.8) 62 (32.6)
Current chart pop 21 (16.5) 36 (28.3) 2 (1.6) 36 (28.3)
R&B 26 (21.0) 45 (36.3) 11 (8.7) 49 (39.5)
Soul 13 (12.7) 45 (44.1) 8 (7.8) 38 (36.9)
Classical 22 (15.6) 64 (45.4) 8 (5.6) 35 (25.2)
Disco 20 (13.8) 61 (42.1) 6 (4.1) 37 (25.2)
Dance/house 18 (14.9) 47 (38.8) 12 (9.8) 70 (56.9)
Hip-hop/rap 20 (32.8) 21 (34.4) 9 (14.1) 34 (53.1)
Musicals 25 (21.2) 27 (22.9) 4 (3.4) 21 (17.9)
Blues 3 (4.6) 32 (49.2) 9 (14.1) 21 (33.3)
Sixties pop 23 (20.2) 45 (39.5) 10 (8.8) 33 (29.7)
Indie 19 (15.3) 46 (37.1) 7 (5.6) 68 (54.8)
Adult pop 11 (7.3) 66 (43.7) 10 (6.5) 42 (27.6)
DJ-based 15 (25.4) 19 (32.2) 7 (11.7) 39 (67.2)
Other pop 10 (13.7) 31 (42.5) 3 (4.1) 23 (31.9)
Other 18 (28.6) 18 (28.6) 8 (12.7) 29 (46.8)
χ
2
(36) = 73.47, χ
2
(18) = 31.00, χ
2
(18) = 131.40,
p < .001 p < .05 p < .001
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these higher percentages is provided by Table 17 which indicates that fans of
musicals, adult pop, rock, and classical music had tried the narrowest range
of drugs whereas fans of dance/house, hip-hop/rap, DJ-based music had tried
the widest.
Table 18 illustrates that although fans of dance/house, hip-hop/rap, DJ-
based had tried the widest range of drugs, they still very much had ‘drugs of
choice’ that they were particularly likely to try (i.e. amphetamine, LSD, and
ecstasy) whereas they seemed relatively uninterested in other drugs (e.g.
heroin). More simply, there is evidence that particular types of drugs are
associated with particular musical subcultures. However, although different
groups of fans were differentially likely to have tried cannabis, it is also worth
noting that a considerable proportion of the fans of all the musical styles
considered in the present research had tried this drug (including approxi-
mately a quarter of the fans of opera and classical music). Similarly, although
12.3 percent of hip-hop/rap fans had tried magic mushrooms, so had 12.3
percent of opera fans and 12.9 percent of soul fans. In short, although the
fans of dance/house, hip/hop/rap, and DJ-based music had tried a greater
range of drugs, it would be wrong to assume that these fans are the only ones
with an interest in them.
North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 83
TABLE 17 Homogeneous subsets of means of total drug use scores
Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Set 6
Musicals .10
Adult pop .13
Rock .16 .16
Classical .20 .20
Current chart pop .23 .23 .23
Sixties pop .27 .27 .27
Disco .27 .27 .27
Other pop .32 .32 .32 .32
Country & western .36 .36 .36 .36
Blues .39 .39 .39 .39 .39
Opera .45 .45 .45 .45 .45
Jazz .52 .52 .52 .5 .52
R&B .63 .63 .63 .63 .62
Soul .67 .67 .67 .67 .67
Indie .81 .81 .81 .81 .81
Other .87 .87 .87 .87
Dance/house .94 .94 .94
Hip-hop/rap 1.05 1.05
DJ-based 1.41
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84 Psychology of Music 35(1)
TABLE 18 Musical preference by whether participants have ever tried solvents, temazepam, psilocybin, amphetamine, LSD, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, magic
mushrooms, cannabis, and no drugs (%)
Solvents Temazepam Psilocybin Amphetamine LSD Ecstasy
Opera 1 (1.8) 1 (1.8) 1 (1.8) 5 (8.8) 4 (7.1) 3 (5.3)
Country & western 0 (0) 3 (4.3) 1 (1.4) 7 (10.1) 2 (2.9) 2 (2.9)
Jazz 4 (5.8) 1 (1.4) 0 (0) 7 (10.1) 7 (10.1) 4 (6.0)
Rock 5 (2.7) 1 (0.5) 1 (0.5) 6 (3.3) 5 (2.7) 7 (3.8)
Current chart pop 1 (0.8) 3 (2.3) 1 (0.8) 8 (6.2) 4 (3.1) 6 (4.7)
R&B 7 (5.6) 6 (4.7) 0 (0) 14 (11.0) 9 (7.1) 19 (15.0)
Soul 6 (5.9) 3 (3.0) 1 (1.0) 15 (14.9) 10 (9.9) 11 (11.1)
Classical 0 (0) 1 (0.7) 0 (0) 6 (4.4) 5 (3.6) 6 (4.4)
Disco 4 (2.8) 4 (2.8) 1 (0.7) 13 (9.1) 3 (2.1) 6 (4.2)
Dance/house 4 (3.1) 7 (5.4) 6 (9.1) 25 (19.4) 19 (14.7) 27 (20.9)
Hip-hop/rap 8 (12.5) 6 (9.2) 1 (1.5) 11 (16.9) 10 (15.4) 12 (18.5)
Musicals 1 (0.9) 1 (0.9) 0 (0) 3 (2.8) 0 (0) 3 (2.7)
Blues 1 (1.6) 1 (1.6) 2 (3.3) 5 (8.1) 5 (8.1) 2 (3.2)
Sixties pop 0 (0) 1 (0.9) 0 (0) 10 (8.9) 5 (4.5) 3 (2.7)
Indie 7 (5.7) 2 (1.6) 1 (0.8) 22 (17.9) 11 (8.9) 19 (15.4)
Adult pop 1 (0.7) 3 (2.0) 1 (0.7) 5 (3.3) 3 (2.0) 5 (3.3)
DJ-based 4 (6.3) 4 (6.3) 5 (7.9) 18 (29.0) 11 (17.5) 20 (31.7)
Other pop 0 (0) 3 (3.9) 0 (0) 8 (10.5) 3 (3.9) 5 (6.6)
Other 6 (9.5) 6 (9.5) 2 (3.2) 11 (17.5) 7 (11.1) 8 (12.7)
Continued
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North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 85
TABLE 18 Continued
Cocaine Heroin Magic mushrooms Cannabis No drugs
Opera 3 (5.3) 0 (0) 7 (12.3) 14 (24.6) 40 (71.4)
Country & western 4 (5.8) 2 (2.9) 4 (5.8) 16 (23.2) 47 (68.1)
Jazz 7 (10.1) 0 (0) 5 (7.2) 27 (39.1) 38 (55.1)
Rock 4 (2.2) 1 (0.5) 9 (4.9) 63 (34.2) 112 (61.2)
Current chart pop 7 (5.5) 2 (1.6) 5 (3.9) 34 (26.6) 74 (57.8)
R&B 15 (11.8) 0 (0) 8 (6.3) 52 (40.9) 48 (38.1)
Soul 13 (12.9) 2 (2.0) 13 (12.9) 42 (41.6) 51 (50.5)
Classical 4 (2.9) 2 (1.5) 3 (2.2) 37 (27.0) 92 (67.2)
Disco 4 (2.8) 1 (0.7) 12 (8.4) 40 (28.0) 93 (65.0)
Dance/house 20 (15.5) 3 (2.3) 16 (12.4) 62 (48.1) 48 (37.5)
Hip-hop/rap 9 (13.8) 1 (1.5) 8 (12.3) 27 (41.5) 18 (28.1)
Musicals 2 (1.9) 0 (0) 1 (0.9) 22 (19.8) 85 (76.6)
Blues 4 (6.5) 2 (3.2) 3 (4.8) 21 (33.9) 41 (66.1)
Sixties pop 3 (2.7) 1 (0.9) 6 (5.4) 41 (36.6) 67 (59.8)
Indie 8 (6.5) 2 (1.6) 12 (9.8) 73 (58.9) 44 (36.1)
Adult pop 6 (4.0) 1 (0.7) 4 (2.7) 42 (28.0) 101 (67.3)
DJ-based 18 (28.6) 4 (6.3) 10 (15.9) 40 (63.5) 17 (27.0)
Other pop 3 (3.9) 0 (0) 2 (2.6) 24 (31.6) 47 (61.8)
Other 6 (9.5) 4 (6.3) 5 (7.9) 22 (34.9) 36 (57.1)
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Conclusion
The findings described here indicate numerous associations between
participants’ musical preferences and various aspects of their interpersonal
relationships, living arrangements, beliefs and criminal behaviour. As such,
they suggest that musical preference is a means of differentiating the life-
styles of particular groups of fans. There was also a considerable amount of
evidence for the more specific assertion that it might be possible to
differentiate groups of fans along a liberal–conservative dichotomy such that
fans of ‘problem’ music should evidence liberal yet occasionally anti-social
lifestyles and beliefs, whereas fans of classical music and other styles should
evidence relatively conservative, law-abiding lifestyles.
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ADRIAN C. NORTH gained his PhD in music psychology in 1996. He is currently a
Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Leicester and is interested in music
and consumer behaviour, music in adolescence, and experimental aesthetics.
Address: School of Psychology, Henry Wellcome Building, University of Leicester,
Lancaster Road, Leicester LE1 9HN, UK. [acn5@le.ac.uk]
DAVID J. HARGREAVES is Professor of Education, Froebel Research Fellow and
Director of the Centre for International Research on Creativity and Learning in
Education at Roehampton University. He has been Editor of Psychology of Music and
Chair of the Research Commission of the International Society for Music Education
(ISME). His research covers various areas of the social and developmental psychology
of music and music education.
Address: Centre for International Research on Creativity and Learning in Education
(CIRCLE), Roehampton University, Southlands College, Roehampton Lane, London
SW15 5SL, UK. [email: d.j.hargreaves@roehampton.ac.uk]
North and Hargreaves: Lifestyle correlates of musical preference 87
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