Health News
Pop music packed with drug and alcohol references

Feb 5, 2008, 04:42

 Hit songs today's teenagers listen to often contain references to alcohol and drug use, usually in "highly positive" terms, according to results of a study published today.

Dr. Brian A. Primack, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania, and colleagues analyzed the lyrics of Billboard magazine's 279 most popular songs for 2005, noting every mention of drug use in pop, rock, R&B, hip-hop, country and rap songs.

Overall, 41.6 percent of the songs contained any kind of reference to drugs and 33.3 percent contained explicit substance use references, the investigators report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Nearly 24 percent of the 279 songs depicted alcohol use, close to 14 percent depicted marijuana use, and roughly 11 percent depicted other or unspecified substance use. Only about 3 percent portrayed tobacco use.

The portrayal of drug and alcohol use varied widely by genre. One or more references to substance use were found in 77 percent of rap songs, 36 percent of country songs, 20 percent of R&B or hip-hop songs, 14 percent of rock songs and 9 percent of pop songs.

References to drug and alcohol use were frequently associated with partying, sex, violence and/or humor, and the behavior was often motivated by peer or social pressure. Most songs that mentioned drugs or alcohol "portrayed more positive than negative consequences; these positive consequences were most commonly social, sexual, financial or emotional," the researchers found.

"Only four songs (4 percent) contained explicit anti-use messages, and none portrayed substance refusal," Primack and colleagues also report.

"Since these messages are so common, just limiting exposure is not likely to be a feasible solution," Primack told Reuters Health. "Another option would be to give them the tools to analyze and evaluate these types of messages for themselves. This process of 'media literacy' seems to me to be a more empowering approach."

He said it's also important to continue to support research looking at the relationship between mass media messages and health. "It is only going to be through more sustained and careful research that we are going to be able to figure out which of these messages, if any, actually negatively impact behavior," the researcher added.