Nihilistic Adolescents, Heavy Metal Rock Music, and Paranormal Beliefs

Bibliographic Data

ID13650416
AuthorsLawrence C Trostle (Claremont Graduate School, corresponding author)
Year1986
Volume59
Issue2
Pages610-610
Publication date1986-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychological Reports (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-2941 • E-ISSN: 1558-691X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2466/pr0.1986.59.2.610
OpenAlexW2330799198
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited2

Recently, there has been a great deal of media attention devoted to various groups of nihilistic adolescents who have adopted the sobriquet, These juveniles are reputed to be actively engaged in demonic worship and satanic rituals which include animal and blood sacrifices as well as cemetery desecrations and grave robbing (1, 3). They are also alleged to be avid followers of such heavy metal rock groups as Motley Crew, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath, whose musical lyrics and album covers portray satanic themes (3). However, there are few, if any, data available which address the stoners' alleged paranormal beliefs and/or life style. Most research into paranormal and pseudoscientific beliefs has used randomly selected college students as respondents (2, 4). The purpose of this study then was to determine whether selfidentified stoners differ from other adolescents in their beliefs regarding witchcraft, magic, and voodoo and to discover to whac extent heavy metal rock music was correlated with this self-identification. The witchcraft subscale (4), which was modified by including the term black in Questions 3 and 4, was administered to 66 adolescent volunteers who reside in the eastern metropolitan area of Los Angeles. All respondents were located through case workers in community service agencies who deal directly with street gangs in the geographical area. Subjects responded on a four-point Likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Scores from 1 to 4 were assigned so that a high score always indicated a more favorable paranormal attitude. A question designed to elicit the subjects' contemporary music preference was appended ro the questionnaire. Half of the subjects (n = 33) were self-identified stoners. The 48 male ancl 18 female respondents were equally distributed between the two groups and ranged in age from 12 to 20 yr. (M = 16.5 yr., SD = 2.2). Self-identification as a stoner was directly correlated with a reported preference for heavy metal rock music (r = .66, fi < .001). A ratio indicated significant differences in paranormal belief between the groups on all four measures of the witchcraft subscale: Black magic really exists (M, = 3.49, SD = .SO, vs 1.73, SD = .57; tat = 13.18, p < .001). Witches do exist (M, = 3.39, SD = .GI vs 1.55, SD = .51; to, = 13.41, p < ,001). Voodoo [and/or magic] is a real method to use paranormal powers (M. = 3.21, SD = .82 vs 1.76, SD = .61; tar = 8.16, p < .001). There are actual cases of voodoo [and/or magic] death (M. = 3.24, SD = 33, vs 1.76, SD = .56; k4 = 8.51, p < .001). The small sample may not be representative of the total stoner population. However, this study does offer support, albeit preliminary, to the suppositional position that a segmenc of today's youth are being influenced by witchcraft and the occult sciences and thac heavy metal rock music is directly correlated with this identification. Further research is needed to establish if this association is widespread or unique to this sample. REFERENCES

Art · Literature · Lyrics · Paranormal · Popular music · Pseudoscience · Rock music · Jungian Analytical Psychology · Medicine · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Psychology · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Social Psychology

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