Study says heavy metal fans grow up to be better adjusted adults

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Perhaps it’s fallacious to believe that the kind of music one likes is in any way indicative of one’s morality or social adjustment.

I’ve known plenty of people who listen to only rap or rock or gospel that are the scum of the earth.
 
Darryl,

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I’m not a huge metal fan, and as a child of the '80s my taste in metal was the very light pop metal like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. But there were a lot of metalheads around. And I would say this:

The kids who were into metal tended to be a little bit outcasts from the main social scene in high school. They didn’t tend to be part of the ‘popular’ cliques with the jocks and the cheerleaders. My experience is that, at least for some of the ‘popular’ kids, high school truly is the high point of their life, and that the rest of life may seem a let down. Furthermore, the social skills that one learns being part of the ‘popular’ clique in high school, are not ones that lead to happy relationships as adults.

That’s not to say the metalheads were all ‘sensitive’ types, but some of them were. Others that I know definitely came from troubled homes. But then so did a lot of the ‘popular’ kids.

So my hypothesis would be, that if you break down the study group by self-identified social status in high school, as opposed to simply what type of music you liked, that there might be other correlations to be found in the data.

Plus, looking back - do we really expect all the kids who listened to Vanilla Ice and Madonna to have come out that much better?
 
Hip hop is a far more sordid subculture. Murder, drugs, women, greed, violence, gangs, hatred, racism, avoiding parental responsibility, theft etc. are their typical themes. Heavy metal lyricss were about motorcycles, denim, leather, beer, parties, friends, standing up for yourself, political themes, creative writing themes, fantasy themes.

I used to find it funny that a gangster on my street would say Im going to hell for listening to metal music.
 
Norm_The_Robot said:
eddietrunk.com/new-study-says-heavy-metal-fans-grow-up-to-be-better-adjusted-adults/

NEW STUDY SAYS HEAVY METAL FANS GROW UP TO BE BETTER ADJUSTED ADULTS

July 8, 2015 Metal fans reportedly grow up to be happier and better adjusted adults than many fans of other genres, a study has suggested.

The research published by Taylor & Francis Online sought to test the validity of studies carried out in the 1980s which claimed fans of bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath were at risk of “poor developmental outcomes.”

And, Pacific Standard reports, the new research finds that most of the metal fans who took part in the study “were significantly happier in their youth, and better adjusted currently” compared to peers who were into other music.

The team was led by Humboldt State University psychologist Tasha Howe, who says, “Metal enthusiasts did often experience traumatic and risky ‘sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll’ lives. However, the metalhead identity also served as a protective factor against negative outcomes. Despite the challenges of adverse childhood events, and other stressful and risky events in their youth, they reported higher levels of youthful happiness. They were also less likely to have any regrets about things they had done in their youth.”

The study also reports that those who focused on types of music outside of heavy metal “sought psychological counselling for emotional problems more than any other group, indicating a less happy and fulfilling perspective on their 1980s adolescence.”

The research would appear to make a mockery of high-profile 1980s campaigns against the metal lifestyle, run by organizations such as Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Centre. Metal in the 80s was often frivolously linked to devil worship, drug abuse and suicide.

Spotify recently named metal fans as the most loyal of all listeners.
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Perhaps the study is correct regarding metal fans’ better adjustment. But what about their being hard of hearing?
 
meltzerboy said:
Perhaps the study is correct regarding metal fans’ better adjustment. But what about their being hard of hearing?
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One of the articles or tweets I read made a comments about it. Jokingly. It may have been someone like that person/tweet I linked above.
 
Well, they’ll probably be better adjusted than Beliebers will grow up to be… 😃
 
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