Substance use references in college students’ diverse personal music libraries predicts substance use behavior

Abstract

Aims: Musical preferences have been associated with substance use, but research has not fully considered the effect of the changes in music consumption in the digital age. We examined the effect of self-chosen music on substance use behaviors. Methods: Sixty college-age students volunteered to participate in exchange for class credit. Self-reported substance use behavior, sensation seeking, and school commitment were measured through surveys. Music preferences were assessed through self-report of the top 20 most played songs from each participant’s digital music devices. Each song was evaluated for references to substance use. Findings: Song and genre choices in private digital collections varied widely. Listening to music with a greater number of references to substance use was associated with greater reported substance use behaviors. Conclusion: The relationship between substance use and music preference in this study of idiosyncratic music libraries remains consistent with previous research that examined the effect of preferred genre alone.

Keywords

• adolescence
• music
• substance use