 Effect Of Country Music On Suicide |
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stoirmeil  |
Posted: 10-Oct-2007, 11:05 AM
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Celtic Guardian
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 3,581
Joined: 07-Nov-2004
Zodiac: Birch
Realm: New York
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OK, this is real science, not a joke. But still somewhat intriguing to think about -- notice the line about independence of the findings from other factors.
This is only the abstract -- I imagine you could get hold of the whole report, including the methods section detailing exactly how they set up the research, through your library.
I always wondered why there wasn't a "Yankee Gothic" genre in literature . . . this may shed some light (or maybe some dark) on the subject.
The Effect of Country Music on Suicide
STEVEN STACK, Wayne State University
JIM GUNDLACH, Auburn University
Abstract
This article assesses the link between country music and metropolitan suicide rates.
Country music is hypothesized to nurture a suicidal mood through its concerns with
problems common in the suicidal population, such as marital discord, alcohol abuse, and
alienation from work. The results of a multiple regression analysis of 49 metropolitan
areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white
suicide rate. The effect is independent of divorce, southernness, poverty, and gun
availability. The existence of a country music subculture is thought to reinforce the link
between country music and suicide. Our model explains 51% of the variance in urban
white suicide rates.
Sociological work on the relationship between art and society has been largely
restricted to speculative, sociohistorical theories that are often mutually
opposed. Some theorists see art as creating social structure ( Adorno 1973), while
Sorokin ( 1937 ) suggests that society and art are manifested in cyclical autono
mous spheres; and still others contend that art is a reflection of social structure
( Albrecht 1954). Little empirical work has been done on the impact of music on
social problems. While some research has linked music to criminal behavior
( Singer, Levine & Jou 1990), the relationship between music and suicide remains
largely unexplored. Music is not mentioned in reviews of the literature on
suicide ( Lester 1983; Stack 1982, 1990b); instead, the impact of art on suicide has
been largely restricted to analyses of television movies and soap operas (for a
review, see Stack 1990b).
In this article, we explore the link between a particular form of popular
music (country music) and metropolitan suicide rates. We contend that the
themes found in country music foster a suicidal mood among people already at
risk of suicide and that it is thereby associated with a high suicide rate. The
effect is buttressed by the country subculture and a link between this subculture
and a racial status related to an increased suicide risk.
____________________
© The University of North Carolina Press Social Forces, September 1992 71(1):211-218
* Data on suicide mortality and most other variables were provided by the Inter-University
Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. We are
grateful to Richard Peterson for his inspirations and helpful discussions, to the anonymous
reviewers for their probing reviews, and to Mitch Henry for his help in gathering the data on
country music. Direct correspondence to Steven Stack, Department of Sociology, Wayne State
University, Detroit, MI 48202.
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| stoirmeil |
Posted: 11-Oct-2007, 07:17 AM
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Celtic Guardian
Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 3,581
Joined: 07-Nov-2004
Zodiac: Birch
Realm: New York
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Interesting how we resist the idea of music's influence, as though it were a primary cause. The idea is that music is or can be a significant influence on someone who is already being affected by other factors. We admit it is uplifting, or adds to feelings of love -- but it has also always been used as a support to war efforts (the pipes are as much a weapon of war as they are a dance instrument: there are several World War I accounts of the tune "Blue Bonnets" bringing the men "over the top"), and there have been plenty of studies on the social effects of violent or degradingly sexual popular music, like some (but not all) rap.
It's not being talked about as a primary cause in this study -- but as a factor which has a strong potential to tip a balance that is already heading in a direction. Music is a powerful adjunct to education, faith, work, sexuality, optimism, patriotism, war, expression of grief and despair -- any tendency can be strengthened by it, the more so because it is almost completely an emotional rather than a thinking influence. So it certainly could contribute to tipping over a fragile balance for someone who is depressed enough to be thinking about death already. This is different from saying that it "leads to" it.
I don't know how they conducted this study without seeing the whole report, and I have only seen the abstract, so I can't tell if their methods and results are valid; but I don't think their results can be rejected based solely on personal experience either. It seems like they are following up on a solid history of study on the effect music can have on all kinds of behaviour.
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