Heavy Metal and Hip-Hop Style Preferences and Externalizing Problem Behavior

TLDR

The study investigates the stability of Dutch adolescents’ preferences for heavy metal and hip‑hop styles, their longitudinal links to externalizing problem behavior, and whether gender moderates these associations. Data were collected via questionnaires from 931 Dutch adolescents aged 11–18 at two waves separated by two years. Heavy‑metal and hip‑hop preferences were moderately stable over two years, hip‑hop preference predicted later externalizing problems in both sexes, while heavy‑metal preference predicted such problems only in boys, and externalizing problems did not predict later music preferences.

Abstract

This study examines (a) the stability of Dutch adolescents' preferences for heavy metal and hip-hop youth culture styles, (b) longitudinal associations between their preferences and externalizing problem behavior, and (c) the moderating role of gender in these associations. Questionnaire data were gathered from 931 adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 years in two waves with a 2-year interval. Results suggest that preferences for heavy metal and hip-hop youth culture styles are moderately stable over a 2-year period. Preference for the hip-hop style was found to predict later externalizing problems in both boys and girls. Preference for the heavy metal style predicted later externalizing problems exclusively in boys. Adolescents' externalizing problems did not predict later preferences for hip-hop or heavy metal.