If you ask the general population whether there is a link between someone’s personality and his or her music preference, a large portion will resoundingly say yes. It’s easy to see that people with certain personalities will choose one type of music over the other. However, is there any scientific backing to that statement? Well, it turns out there is.
Does Music Influence Our Personality?
A study published in Journal of Youth and Adolescence concluded that there’s a strong link between young people’s choice of music with their personalities and problems they are coping. For the study, researchers divide a group of teens into three music preferences: heavy, light, and wide-range music preference.
According to this study, teens who enjoy heavy music such as rap, heavy metal, classic rock, and hard rock are mostly anti-conformist and independent. They question authorities and other peoples’ rules and motives.
Yes, that description fit the stereotypes rather well and it irks us that it does.
On the other end of the spectrum are teens who prefer light music like dance and pop. This group belongs to the teens who know how to keep their emotions in check. They care more about doing things the right way in accordance to general norm. However, this group is also prone to peer-related relationship problems and self-expression.
And then there’s the third group. Teens with wide-ranging music taste tend to cope better with their problems. They have good relationships with their families and friends. They also understand how to deal with authority figures and do well in school. However, researchers are still unsure if having wide-ranging music taste helps these teens living their lives or if teens who are doing well in their lives have wide-ranging music taste.
So, what’s the significance of knowing all this?
Knowing what teens are listening can give parents, teachers, and counselors insights of teenagers personality profiles. Teen’s music preference can be used to understand how they view their world including their feelings, values, and attitudes. Such information is highly valuable in conducting constructive dialogs with teens and facilitating the correct coping mechanisms for their problems.
As an example, teens with rigid music preferences have a higher probability of undergoing personality adjustment and developmental problems. Adults should reach out to these teens to help them deal with their problems. The researchers also suggest exposing these teens to a wider range of music types to help them explore themselves.
As with any other researchers and studies, one should take the result of this one with a grain of salt. This particular one, for instance, focuses the study on teens. Still, wouldn’t it be cool if instead of yelling at kids to behave we could just go, “Chill, son! Put on these headsets and listen to this calming music. Have some cookies while you’re at it.” We’re sure teens will prefer to do that instead of doing a two-hour session with a psychiatrist. It will be cheaper too.
Speaking of calming sounds, there are plenty of those on ambient-mixer.com. Should you or your teens need any kind of relaxation, there are ambient sounds of rain, storm, and their varieties you can use. You can even add and mix your own sounds to customize them to your liking.