Abstract

Considering the vast number of youth that participate in sexual behavior and start using illicit drugs at a young age, it is imperative to investigate the prevalence of media filled with both subliminal and blatant messages about drugs and sexuality. It is hypothesized that lyrical content of music and the content and imagery of music videos will contain conscious messages about drug and alcohol use, and sexual behaviors. Content analysis that used the frequency method determined the amount of sexual and drug messages within five songs from each artist. Additionally, it is postulated that participants who frequently listen to specific music genres, regularly watch music videos, and stay up-to-date on music artists will be more likely to engage in health compromising behaviors compared to participants who are not as involved with popular music. Applying the bio-ecological systems perspective, it is hypothesized that the negative influences of music (i.e., exosystem) can be minimized or heightened by microsystem (i.e., family, friends) influences as well as internal characteristics of participants (i.e., personality). A series of analyses of variance were conducted to determine if there was a relationship between exposure to lyrical content and drug and sexual behavior. Linear regression analysis was conducted to determine if public image of the artist was correlated to health compromising behavior. Overall results indicate that a relationship between music genre preferences - though the combination of lyrical content, the public image of artists, and the imagery in music videos - and illicit drug usage and sexual behavior.

Notes

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Thesis Completion

2013

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Wright, Chrysalis

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Degree Program

Psychology

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences;Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

Location

UCF South Lake

Format

PDF

Identifier

CFH0004335

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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