Associations Between Suicide Risk Factors and Favorite Songs
Content Analysis and Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract
Abstract.Background: For several decades, the question of whether personal suicidality is reflected in individual music preferences has been the subject of debate in suicide research. Despite many studies investigating the relationship between music use and suicidal behavior, it is still unclear whether suicide risk is reflected in individual music preferences. Aims: The present study aimed to assess whether music preferences are reflected in suicide risk factors. Method: We assessed suicidal ideation, depression, and hopelessness among 943 participants in a cross-sectional online survey. Participants provided up to five examples of their favorite music. We conducted a content analysis and coded all reported songs as suicide-related, coping-related, or unrelated to suicide. Results: Multivariate analyses controlling for gender, age, education level, and amount of daily music use indicated associations of preferences for suicide-related songs with suicidal ideation and depression. Limitations: Limitations of the present study include the use of a convenience sample and a cross-sectional design, the small number of participants with preferences for coping-related songs, and the relatively small effect size of the associations found. Conclusion: Music preferences appear to reflect suicide risk factors, with individuals who prefer suicide-related songs scoring higher in terms of suicidal ideation and depression.
References
1995). The immediate effects of homicidal, suicidal, and nonviolent heavy metal and rap songs on the moods of college students. Youth & Society, 27, 148–168. 10.1177/0044118X95027002003
(1990). Relationship between hopelessness and ultimate suicide: A replication with psychiatric outpatients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 190–195. 10.1176/ajp.147.2.190
(1988). Manual for the Beck Hopelessness Scale. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
(2000). A review of suicide assessment measures for intervention research with adults and older adults. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania.
(2002). Music preferences and suicidality: A comment on Stack. Death Studies, 26, 501–504. 10.1080/074811802760139021
(1988). Suicide Probability Scale (SPS). Los Angeles, CA: WPS.
(2009). Suicide and Emo youth subculture – a case analysis. Collegium Antropologicum, 33, 173–175.
(2008).
(Psychonanalytische Überlegungen zum Phänomen der Imitationssuizide [Psychoanalytic considerations on the phenomenon of imitational suicides] . In A. HerberthT. NiederkrotenthalerB. TillEds., Suizidalität in den Medien: Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen [Suicidality in the media: Interdisciplinary contributions ] (pp. 33–44). Münster, Germany: LIT.1998). Preventing suicide by influencing mass-media reporting. The Viennese experience 1980-1996. Archives of Suicide Research, 4, 67–74. 10.1080/13811119808258290
(1986). The impact of suicide in television movies: Evidence of imitation. New England Journal of Medicine, 315, 690–694. 10.1056/NEJM198609113151107
(2008).
(Todeswege und Engel. Darstellungen des Suizids und der Suizidalität im ungarischen Spielfilm von 1970 bis 2000 [Paths of death and angels. Portrayal of suicide and suicidal tendencies in Hungarian cinema between 1970 and 2000] . In A. HerberthT. NiederkotenthalerB. TillEds., Suizidalität in den Medien: Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen [Suicidality in the media: Interdisciplinary contributions ] (pp. 107–119). Münster, Germany: LIT.2003). Interpreting the magnitudes of correlation coefficients. American Psychologist, 58, 78–80. 10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.78
(2010). Wozu Musik? Musikalische Verhaltensweisen, Vorlieben und Einstellungen der Österreicher/innen
([Why music? Musical behavior, preferences, and attitudes of Austrians] . Vienna, Austria: Institute for Music Sociology.1994). Skalen zur Erfassung von Hoffnungslosigkeit (H-Skalen). Deutsche Bearbeitung und Weiterentwicklung der H-Skalen von Aaron T. Beck
([Scales for assessment of hopelessness (H-scales). German adaption and enhancement of the h-scales by Aaron T. Beck] . Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
(2001). Heavy metal music and adolescent suicide risk. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 30, 321–332.
(1983). Erlanger Depressions-Skala EDS
([Erlangen Depression Scale EDS] . Vaterstetten, Germany: Vless.2011a). Lyrics of national anthems and suicide rates. Psychological Reports, 109, 137–138.
(2011b). National anthems and suicide rates. Psychological Reports, 108, 43–44.
(1996). Music preference, depression, suicidal preoccupation, and personality. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 26, 68–70.
(1994). Reassessing the link between country music and suicide. Social Forces, 72, 1239–1243. 10.2307/2580301
(2005). Suicide prevention strategies – a systematic review. JAMA, 294, 2064–2074. 10.1001/jama.294.16.2064
(1993). Adolescent suicide: Music preference as an indicator of vulnerability. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 530–535. 10.1097/00004583-199305000-00007
(1994). Comments on Stack and Gundlach's "The effect of country music on suicide": An "achy breaky heart" may not kill you. Social Forces, 72, 1249–1255. 10.2307/2580303
(2007). Can we predict suicide and non-fatal self-harm with the Beck Hopelessness Scale? A meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 37, 769–778. 10.1017/S0033291706009664
(2001). Psychological testing and psychological assessment: A review of evidence and issues. American Psychologist, 56, 128–165. 10.1037/0003-066x.56.2.128
(2014). Increasing help-seeking and referrals for individuals at risk for suicide by decreasing stigma: The role of mass media. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 47, 235–243. 10.1016/j.amepre.2014.06.010
(2009). Copycat effects after media reports on suicide: A population-based ecologic study. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 1085–1090. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.07.041
(2010). The role of media reports in completed and prevented suicide: Werther versus Papageno effects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 197, 234–243. 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.074633
(1974). The influence of suggestion on suicide: Substantive and theoretical implications of the Werther effect. American Sociological Review, 39, 340–354. 10.2307/2094294
(1986). Clustering of teenage suicides after television news stories about suicide. New England Journal of Medicine, 315, 685–689. 10.1056/NEJM198609113151106
(2009). Preferencia musical e risco de suicidio entre jovens
([Music preference and suicide risk among youths] . Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 58, 26–33. 10.1590/S0047-208520090001000042001a). Suicide and the media. Part I: Reportage in nonfictional media. Crisis, 22, 146–154. 10.1027//0227-5910.22.4.146
(2001b). Suicide and the media. Part II: Portrayal in fictional media. Crisis, 22, 155–162. 10.1027//0227-5910.22.4.155
(2009). Metal music and mental health in France. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 33, 473–488. 10.1007/s11013-009-9138–2
(2011). Listening, watching, and reading: The structure and correlates of entertainment preferences. Journal of Personality, 79, 223–257. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00662.x
(2003). One hundred years of social psychology quantitatively described. Review of General Psychology, 7, 331–363. 10.1037/1089-2680.7.4.331
(2003). The impact of rock videos and music with suicidal content on thoughts and attitudes toward suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 33, 120–131.
(1999). Heavy metal music and adolescent suicidality: An empirical investigation. Adolescence, 34, 253–273.
(1995). Suicide as psychache: A clinical approach to self-destructive behavior. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
(1998). Heavy metal, religiosity and suicide acceptability. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 28, 388–394.
(2000). Blues fans and suicide acceptability. Death Studies, 24, 223–231. 10.1080/074811800200559
(2002). Opera subculture and suicide for honor. Death Studies, 26, 431–437. 10.1080/07481180290086763
(2005). Suicide in the media: A quantitative review of studies based on nonfictional stories. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 35, 121–133. 10.1521/suli.35.2.121.62877
(2011). Durkheim at the movies: A century of suicide in film. Crisis, 32, 175–177. 10.1027/0227-5910/a000121
(2012). Suicide movies: Social patterns 1900-2009. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe Publishing.
(1992). The effect of country music on suicide. Social Forces, 71, 211–218. 10.2307/2579974
(1994). The heavy metal subculture and suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 24, 15–23.
(2014). Exposure to suicide movies and suicide attempts. Sociological Focus, 47, 61–70. 10.1080/00380237.2014.856707
(2007). Gloomy Sunday: Did the "Hungarian suicide song" really create a suicide epidemic? Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 56, 349–358. 10.2190/OM.56.4.c
(2012). Music and suicidality: A quantitative review and extension. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 42, 654–671. 10.1111/j.1943-278X.2012.00120.x
(2011). Bildungsstand der Bevölkerung im Alter von 25 bis 64 Jahren, 1971 bis 2009
. ([Educational background of the population between 25 and 64 years of age, 1971–2009] . Retrieved from http://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/bildung_und_kultur/bildungsstand_der_bevoelkerung/020912.html2015). Determining the effects of films with suicidal content: A laboratory experiment. British Journal of Psychiatry, 207, 72–78. 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.152827
(2016). Music and suicidality: A study on associations between music preferences and risk factors of suicide. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 72, 340–356. 10.1177/0030222815575284
(2017). Papageno vs. Werther effect online: Randomized controlled trial of beneficial and harmful impacts of educative suicide prevention websites. British Journal of Psychiatry, 211, 109–115. 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.177394
(2014). Associations between film preferences and risk factors for suicide: An online survey. PLOS ONE, 9, e102293. 10.1371/journal.pone.0102293
(2013). Personal suicidality in the reception of and identification with suicidal film characters. Death Studies, 37, 383–392. 10.1080/07481187.2012.673531
(2017). Preventing suicide. A resource for media professionals: Update 2017. Geneva, Switzerland: Author.
. (2006). Prevalence of deliberate self-harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: Longitudinal cohort study. British Medical Journal, 332, 1058–1061. 10.1136/bmj.38790.495544.7C
(