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Thesis
Favorite songs and adaptation during adolescence: popular music facilitating the achievement of developmental milestones
Master of Arts (M.A.), Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University
Aug 2001
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-2661
Abstract
This study examines the role that favorite songs play in the adaptational process during adolescence. In recent years, concern about the effects that popular music has on teenagers has been expressed by parents, religious groups, the medical community, and political agencies because of the lyrical and musical content of the music (Took and Weiss, 1994). However, there is little research that demonstrates a causal relationship between popular music and destructive behavior in adolescents (Hoga and Bar-On, 1996). The purpose of this study is to examine the role that favorite songs play during adolescence, especially their use as a mechanism for reaching the developmental and psychological milestones of the time period, such as the development of identity and autonomy from parental figures (Thompson and Larson, 1995). Through a content analysis of interviews with adolescents regarding what their favorite songs meant to them, it was found that songs do indeed function as an adaptational tool, helping adolescents to negotiate developmental milestones in the passage to adulthood. Upon initial analysis, the categories of response most often seen in interview content were favorite songs providing feelings of connectedness, understanding, and intimacy. Further analysis revealed additional categories of response, including favorite songs evoking memories and contributing to a sense of personal history, and favorite songs helping the adolescent to cope with stress. This information may prompt music therapists to recognize favorite songs as a means to gain understanding of the developmental tasks that the adolescent client is negotiating at a given time, and whether or not these developmental tasks are being achieved successfully (McConville, 1995).
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Details
- Title
- Favorite songs and adaptation during adolescence
- Creators
- Margret Hofmann Patterson - DH
- Contributors
- Ellen Schelly Hill (Advisor) - DH
- Awarding Institution
- Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Publisher
- Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Creative Arts in Therapy [Historical]; Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University (1993-1996, 1998-2002); College of Nursing and Health Professions (2000-2002)
- Other Identifier
- 2661; 991014632820804721