Study: Anxiety, Depression High Among Young Heavy Metal Fans

April 16, 2013

According to Pacific Standard, newly published research has found "significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression among listeners of heavy metal/hard rock music, as compared with non-listeners."

A sample of 551 college students was assessed on music preference and on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trait anger. 57 percent of the participants in the study, which was conducted by psychologists Gavin Ryan Shafron of Columbia University and Mitchell Karno of the University Of California-Los Angeles, described themselves as heavy metal listeners. The high rate of preference was attributed to the geographic location of the data-collection site, being proximal to where modern heavy metal subgenres are popular.

The participants were asked to disclose their preference for various heavy metal sub-genres, including emo, hardcore punk, death metal, and thrash metal. These more recent offshoots to classic heavy metal "have dark overtones and often use graphic lyrics that express angry, depressed, or painted emotions, in combination with screams, groans, and particularly dense and/or particularly syncopated rhythms," the researchers wrote.

Researchers hypothesized that participants who listen to heavy metal music would report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and trait anger as compared with participants who do not listen to heavy metal music. As predicted, analyses of variance indicated significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression among listeners of heavy metal/hard rock music as compared with nonlisteners. The groups differed most on level of anxiety. The groups did not significantly differ on trait anger. Analyses of specific subgenres of heavy metal indicated significant differences on measures of dysphoric mood between nonlisteners and listeners of several, but not all of the subgenres.

Fans of hardcore scored significantly higher than the others on anger, anxiety, and depression, with depression also scoring high among emo fans. Researchers also found that anxiety was elevated among listeners of emo, screamo, and classic heavy metal.

To purchase the full text of the study findings, visit PsycNET.

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