161729-1 Student ID 161729 Teacher ID 6030 Class Title Eng 1HP Date Due in MLA Format 18 May 2012

Where is Music Taking the New Generation? Teenagers have been known to embrace music and act upon what the lyrics are saying. It has been discovered that teenage boys and girls listen to music for at least 4.5 hours a day (Campbell, Connell, and Beegle). Listening to an excessive amount of music can have many negative effects. Especially if the music contains dirty lyrics and encourages bad behavior. Music plays a valuable role in the individuals social and emotional and intellectual- artistic domains all through infancy, childhood, and adulthood. Teens that have iPods and are filled of music with raunchy, sexual lyrics start having sex sooner than those who prefer other songs, a study found. In the United States it is more common of adolescents consumption of popular music. This is due to the multi-billion dollar industry (Geter 8c Streisand, 1995). Most of the music that is done there is by teenagers of both personal resources (Campbell, Connell, Beegle). The songs/music teenagers listen to now a day can prompt early sex, influence alcohol use, and cause a negative change in behavior. Seen from a developmental perspective, music happens to appear at every stage and age of human growth. Most of the research that has to do with adolescents engagement with music has been given to the field of sociology (Campbell, Connell, and Beegle). What this does is, it presents adolescents with a list of possible reasons for them having an engagement to music and it asks them to rate the extents to what each of the reason relates to their personal experiences. Specialist in music have found many perspectives of expressed goals and teaching behaviors.

161729-2 Teens who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having intercourse or other sexual activities within the following two years as were teens who listened to little or no sexually degrading music (Dirty). Most of the adolescents that have listened to music that prompts sex driven lyrics are more likely to experiment with sex or start having intercourse, than those who dont listen to dirty music. Among heavy listeners, fifty- one percent started having sex within two years, versus twentynine percent of those who said they listened to little or no sexually degrading music (Dirty). The exposure to a lot of sexually degrading music gives them a specific message about sex, said lead author Steven Martino. Many studies were done to test this question. Most of the participants were virgins when they were first questioned in 2001. Follow-up interviews were done in 2002 and 2004 to see if music choice had influence subsequent behavior (Dirty). Results showed that dirty song lyrics can prompt teen sex. More recently, another type of music containing explicit lyrics has come to public attentionrap. Some so sexually explicit, a U.S. district judge ruled one of the albums obscene by community standards in Florida. The parents Music Resource Center, a nonprofit group organized to issue of lyrics that glorified graphic sex and violence and glamorized the use of drugs and alcohol, dist information packet that included a list of recent releases with graphic, violent, and explicit lyrics (Took and Weiss). To begin with, most adolescents are not mature enough to listen to music that encourages alcohol use. The ideas that run through most of the teens mind when they hear that drinking alcohol is cool or fun, is that they believe that if they participate in such thing, then they will fit in with most social groups. Despite the public concern about the effects of music on adolescents over the years, and unfortunately and surprisingly little has been done to change something about it (Took and Weiss). Other researchers have examined the ability of children and adolescents to

161729-3 comprehend the lyrics of rock Prinsky and Rosenbaum (1987) found that many adolescents misinterpreted the lyrics, speculating that their limited life experience and immature cognitive development. Unlike adults, who find references to drugs and alcohol, adolescents tended to interpret the lyrics of their favorite songs as being about love, break ups, friendship, and other rather benign subjects (Took and Weiss). For many teens, drinking alcohol is the cool thing to do. Since it is so common, it is accepted more. Most of the teens try to do anything to fit in with their social crowd. Some teens will try to deny by saying it is not the music that causes behavioral changes such as drinking alcohol (Dirty). But in reality they do know that it is the music. A chief executive officer of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network also understands that music lyrics reflect social and economic realities (Dirty). That is why many teens like to listen to bad, but also true, lyrics. For many teens, listening to bad music will help them fit in with many social groups or make more friends because it makes them seem cool. Music was also found to provide adolescents with a medium through which to construct, negotiate, and modify aspects of their personal and group identities, offering them a range of strategies for knowing themselves and connecting with others (Campbell, Connell, and Beegle). There have been concerns about the negative effects of music on human behavior. The group that is most affected after watching music videos that promote sexuality and profanity is children and teens (Music). Although they dont see the negative point of view of the music, they just see it as some sort of entertainment. Since they are young and not matured yet, most of them do not realize how immoral and distressing the contents are. Their mentality reaches a point where they begin to do the stuff they see in the real world. Specialist in music have found many perspectives of expressed goals and teaching behaviors. Also young women on the other hand begin to accept the idea that they engage in sex even at such a young age simply because

161729-4 they want to interpret the music and music videos (Music). Although there has been concern about the negative effects of music on human behavior throughout interest in this issue rose sharply with the introduction of rock and roll music in the 1950s. Since that rock and roll, many changes have taken place in the music. The lyrics have become more explicit in the sex, drugs, and violence (Fedler, Hall and Tunzi, 1982; Radecki, 1995) (Took and Weiss). The author claimed that there has been concern about the negative effects of music on human behavior, this is happening because most songs now a day focus on themes like sex, drugs/alcohol use, and violence. A number of investigators have examined why music is important to adolescents. Although the results vary from study to study, common motivations for adolescents involvement with music include the fulfillment of emotional needs, distractions from boredom and the relief of tension and stress. Music may be an element that supports the transformation from child to adult (Campbell, Connell, and Beegle). The reason that music is so important to adolescents is because results show that music is common motivation for adolescents. The problem is they fail to accept it as something thats bad for them as something worth imitating. This mentality even reaches to a point where they begin to model their own behavior in the real world to that of what they usually see in music videos (Music). According to what the author has commented tens later on start to imitate the bad behaviors of the music videos. In conclusion, after so much research being done it has been proven that dirty song lyrics can prompt early sex. In order for the results to come out valid they had to test the right people. For this topic, the right people or girls in this case, are virgins. One of the girls that were tested in 2001 with the music came up to show results. She and other teens sometimes, not always, listen to sexually explicit songs just for the fact they like the beat. So in reality, they dont know what they are listening to. It has also been proven that music can influence alcohol use. But not

161729-5 all teens are affected by the influence alcohol in music. It is mostly the adolescents that are not mature that are affected the most. They try to express and act upon what the lyrics say and the leads to big consequences later on. According to the American context, it has been always a symbol of socialization and entertainment. The most common music that adolescents listen to now a day is pop music.