TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychosocial risks and benefits of exposure to heavy metal music with aggressive themes: Current theory and evidence
AU - Olsen, Kirk N.
AU - Terry, Josephine
AU - Thompson, William Forde
N1 - Funding Information:
Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP160101470) awarded to William Forde Thompson.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/5/25
Y1 - 2022/5/25
N2 - Concerns have been raised that prolonged exposed to heavy metal music with aggressive themes can increase the risk of aggression, anger, antisocial behaviour, substance use, suicidal ideation, anxiety and depression in community and psychiatric populations. Although research often relies on correlational evidence for which causal inferences are not possible, it is often claimed that music with aggressive themes can cause psychological and behavioural problems. This narrative review of theory and evidence suggests the issues are more complicated, and that fans typically derive a range of emotional and social benefits from listening to heavy metal music, including improved mood, identity formation, and peer affiliation. In contrast, non-fans of heavy metal music — who are often used as participants in experimental research on this topic — invariably report negative psychological experiences. Our review considers a comprehensive set of empirical findings that inform clinical strategies designed to identify fans for whom heavy metal music may confer psychological and behavioural risks, and those for whom this music may confer psychosocial benefits.
AB - Concerns have been raised that prolonged exposed to heavy metal music with aggressive themes can increase the risk of aggression, anger, antisocial behaviour, substance use, suicidal ideation, anxiety and depression in community and psychiatric populations. Although research often relies on correlational evidence for which causal inferences are not possible, it is often claimed that music with aggressive themes can cause psychological and behavioural problems. This narrative review of theory and evidence suggests the issues are more complicated, and that fans typically derive a range of emotional and social benefits from listening to heavy metal music, including improved mood, identity formation, and peer affiliation. In contrast, non-fans of heavy metal music — who are often used as participants in experimental research on this topic — invariably report negative psychological experiences. Our review considers a comprehensive set of empirical findings that inform clinical strategies designed to identify fans for whom heavy metal music may confer psychological and behavioural risks, and those for whom this music may confer psychosocial benefits.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130748482&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12144-022-03108-9
DO - 10.1007/s12144-022-03108-9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130748482
SN - 1046-1310
JO - Current Psychology
JF - Current Psychology
ER -