Heavy Metal Music and Emotional Dysphoria Among Listeners

The objective of the present study was to examine the emotional states of late adolescent/emerging adult contemporary listeners of heavy metal music as compared with nonlisteners. A sample of 551 college students was assessed on music preference and on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trait anger. Fifty-seven percent (n 315) of the sample indicated a preference for heavy metal/hard rock music. The high rate of preference may be owed to the geographic location of the data-collection site, being proximal to where modern heavy metal subgenres are popular. We hypothesized that participants who listen to heavy metal music would report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and trait anger as compared with participants who do not listen to heavy metal music. As predicted, analyses of variance indicated significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression among listeners of heavy metal/hard rock music as compared with nonlisteners. The groups differed most on level of anxiety. The groups did not significantly differ on trait anger. Analyses of specific subgenres of heavy metal indicated significant differences on measures of dysphoric mood between nonlisteners and listeners of several, but not all of the subgenres. These findings help to establish an emotional profile of a predominantly adolescent sample of heavy metal/hard rock listeners. Implications for future research include examining and characterizing the temporal sequence of dysphoric mood and music preference.