Primack et al. “Content analysis of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs in popular music” (1008)

Design Analysis of the 279 top songs on the 7 lists of Billboard Magazine (entire population for 2005) Categories Sex of singer Musical category Smoking or drug use Motivations for use (peer pressure, sex, addiction) Associations with use (violence, sex, partying, driving) Consequences of use (mental, sexual, emotional, legal)

Statistical Analysis 33.3% of songs contained explicit references to substance use 16% of songs mentioned negative consequences more frequently than positive ones 65% of songs mentioned positive consequences more often than negative ones 77% of rap songs contained references to substance use 9% of pop songs contained references to substance use

Interpretation “Because adolescents age 15 to 18 years are exposed to an average of 2.4 hours of popular music per day, our results suggest that the average adolescent is exposed to approximately . . . 30,732 references per year. This represents a pervasive source of exposure to positive portrayals of substance use. Furthermore, exposure varies substantially be genre: the average adolescent listening wholly to pop would be exposed to 5 references per day, whereas the average adolescent listening wholly to rap would be exposed to 251.” p. 24