The Impact of Suicidal Rock Music Lyrics on Youth: an Investigation of Individual Differences

This study attempted to predict reactions after listening to music with lyrics about suicide. 126 volunteers completed self-reports of personality & mood, & then listened to the music. Afterwards, they completed projective stories, self-reports of moods & reactions, & a memory test for the lyrics. Low openness to experiences, & to a lesser extent, high neuroticism & low self-esteem predicted higher levels of suicide-related content in projective story writing, as did knowing a suicide victims. Surprisingly, 68% of participants wrote at least one projective story with altruistic content. Individual differences were modestly associated with suicide ideation after listening to the music. (31 refs.)