Teen's music choices linked to marijuana use

A new study has found that the musical choices of teenagers are linked to their propensity to take marijuana. Those who listen to songs containing references to the drug were more than twice as likely to take it as those who listened to songs without such references.

Based on a survey of nearly 1,000 teenagers in the US, the study asked them to report on how much music they listened to each week, as well as listing their favourite groups and musicians.

The researchers closely analysed the contents of the top songs in the US charts between 2005 and 2007. They estimated that the average study participant listened to 21.8 hours of music per week and were exposed to an estimated 40 marijuana references in music per day.

Twelve percent identified themselves as current marijuana users, with 32 percent identifying themselves as having previously tried the substance. Compared to those who cited a favourite artist with zero songs with cannabis references, students who identified a favourite artist with three or more songs with cannabis references had nearly double the odds of being current cannabis users.

However, it is unclear if it is the effects of smoking cannabis that influences what people want to listen to, or if listening to music mentioning the drug influences the listener's desire to smoke it.

Brian Primack, who led the study, said: “In either case, these results may help us develop more effective programs on drug education. For example, media literacy programs may help young people more accurately analyse and evaluate the marijuana-related messages they are likely to hear in popular music."

The study is published in the online journal Addiction and was carried out at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

This article was published on Wed 23 December 2009