“Don't Step on My Groove!”: Gender and the Social Experience of Rock

This article utilizes a symbolic interactionist framework to examine how gender is, and is not, salient in “depth‐listening” practices. Based on qualitative interviews with male and female fans of contemporary “angry” rock music by female performers, the author shows that men and women engage in similar processes of cultivation (especially with regard to emotion) in depth listening, but that they also employ gender as a socio‐semiotic resource to interpret their relationships to the music and artists differently and to evaluate what this music could mean in their daily lives. Gender identity is influential in how the music is constructed as personally transformative for informants and as having implications for social change.     

CULTURAL CAPITAL AND THE VARIETY OF MODES OF CULTURAL CONSUMPTION IN THE OPERA AUDIENCE

Research on cultural consumption and its social conditions mainly focuses on tastes and on products consumed rather than on modes of consumption. This article takes up this desideratum and studies the modes of listening to classical music in opera audiences based on a visitor survey. In contrast to the prevailing image of the silent and intellectual audience in high‐brow institutions, the study shows there is a broad array of modes people use to listen to classical music. With respect to Bourdieu's theory of arts perception, in particular his notion of cultural capital, one can show empirically that the modes of cultural consumption in this case are determined by listeners' cultural capital.     

Discovering the Listener Within Us: The Impact of Trait-Like Personality Variables and Communicator Styles on Preferences for Listening Style

Extending past research, the present study provides an initial examination of the relationship between trait-like personality variables, communicator style, and individual listening preferences. A series of canonical correlations were run to ascertain to what degree certain communication preferences and trait-like personality variables are related to preferences for receiving information. Results indicated a similar pattern of listening styles is found regardless of the variables under question adding validity to the newly formed scoring method for the LSP. Specifically, people-orientation was advocated by a more competent, caring individual who enjoys conversation and is able to juggle affection with accomplishing conversational goals. The combination of high content- and action-orientations in listening is associated with a more masculine personality and greater tendency to engage in active, precise, and impression leaving arguments. High time and action (and to a lesser extent people) orientations correlates with high neuroticism and a high motive for control. Finally, individuals reporting time- and content-orientations also report high psychoticism and prefer a friendlier, more open communication style.     

Political talk radio and public opinion

This article examines the relationship between listening to political talk radio (Rush Limbaugh in particular) and attitudes toward public figures, groups, and policies. We employ a variety of methods to combat the selection bias inherent in such relationships. We find that listening to Limbaugh is independently associated with attitudes toward issues that Limbaugh emphasizes but shows no independent covariance with attitudes toward salient issues that Limbaugh neglects. Moreover, Limbaugh listening independently corresponds to greater negativity toward Ross Perot, a figure for whom affect cannot be accurately predicted from individual party identification or ideology. Finally, regular listening to Limbaugh predicts substantial change in attitudes from 1994 to 1996, but the effects are substantially muted when the Limbaugh message is positive rather than negative.     

The multiplicity of iPod cultures in everyday life: uncovering the performative hybridity of the iconic object

This article looks at the Apple iPod as an iconic and hybrid music object and explores the multiplicity of iPod cultures in everyday life. It reviews the existing literature on the iPod and advances two main paradigms on iPod culture – the individual cognition enabled by the Apple object during private and mobile listening practices or the algorithmic socialization afforded by the use of the Genius recommendation system for example. Tackling these two existing paradigms, I pose the hybridity of the iPod as the basis of its iconicity. Thus, the iPod allows its users to associate its materiality with various sorts of activities in everyday life (individual mobile listening, music sharing, algorithmic connections), and with other material objects (computers, earphones) and media (music social media). As an iconic object that accompanies the various moments of users’ everyday lives, the iPod embodies the new possibilities and directions of music consumption in the digital age of technologies and entangles issues that emerge in contemporary society, such as the increasing blurry separation between individual experiences and social structures.     

Risk and Protective Factors for Early Substance Use Initiation: A Longitudinal Study of Mexican‐Origin Youth

Substance use initiation in adolescence is a critical issue, given its association with substance dependency and associated problems in adulthood. However, due to the dearth of fine‐grained longitudinal studies, the factors associated with early initiation are poorly understood, especially in minority youth. The present study examined substance use initiation in a sample of Mexican‐origin youth (n = 674) assessed annually from age 10 to 16. Using discrete‐time survival analyses, we found that initiation escalated rapidly from late childhood to adolescence, and we identified a wide range of factors, from the individual to the cultural level of analysis, that significantly increased or decreased risk for early initiation. These findings have important implications for programs aimed at preventing early substance use by Mexican‐origin youth.     

Political Orientation and Music Preferences among College Students

The socio-political implications of contemporary music are investigatedusing survey data pertaining to the political orientations,music involvement, and musical preferences of college students.The analysis indicates that political orientation is associatedwith amount of music involvement and with preferences for particularmusical styles. Zero-order relationships are not substantiallyaltered by controls for demographic background characteristicsof respondents.     

Age‐Specific Associations Between Violence Exposure and Past 30‐Day Marijuana and Alcohol Use

Using data from a cohort study of students at risk for high school dropout, we examined associations between violence exposure and past 30‐day alcohol and marijuana use. We used varying‐coefficient regression with person‐level fixed effects to estimate how those associations changed within‐person across ages approximately 14–23. Generally, violence perpetration was most strongly associated with substance use, within‐person. Substance use became increasingly associated with both observed violence and violence perpetration during early/middle adolescence; this increase continued longer into development (age 18+) for alcohol use. Across most of the age range studied here, violence victimization was minimally associated with within‐person changes in substance use. Results indicate age‐specific associations between violence exposure and alcohol and other drug use, which may be useful for informing prevention strategies.     

Technological affluence and subjective well-being

This study measures the welfare effects of technological goods using a recent European pooled cross-sectional dataset. We find that fixed and mobile phones, music players and personal computers, including those with an Internet connection, are associated with significantly higher levels of well-being measured by individual self-reported life satisfaction. Further controlling for mobile and broadband country penetration levels, we provide evidence suggesting that the latter matters for life satisfaction, especially for the users who already possess the relevant devices. Keeping life satisfaction constant, we subsequently derive substantial GDP per capita estimates equivalent to a 10 percentage point increase in broadband and mobile phone penetration.     

Substance use among women at risk for HIV infection.

This article reports results from a survey of culturally diverse women at risk for HIV infection in south Florida. Data concerning their substance use and its association with HIV risk behaviors are presented. Results indicate levels of consumption which exceed expectations based on general estimates of female substance use. Further, substance use was associated with specific behaviors and lifestyles which placed the women at increased risk for HIV infection.     

Adolescent Work and Alcohol Use Revisited: Variations by Family Structure

Previous research finds adolescent work hours to be associated with increased alcohol use. Most studies, however, fail to account for possible selection effects that lead youth to both work and substance use. Using data from the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 12,620), a fixed effects regression method is employed to control for stable between‐person differences neglected by previous studies. Results show little relationship between work hours and alcohol use when controlling for individual heterogeneity. Results reveal variations, however, by family structure, with work hours being negatively associated with alcohol use among those from single‐parent households. Although exhibiting significant main effects, family and peer processes fail to account for differences by family structure.     

Preferences for popular music in and outside school among Chinese secondary school students

During the last two decades, China has experienced the emergence of vibrant popular music, resulting from globalisation and commercialisation. This empirical study investigates Chinese secondary students' popular music preferences in daily life, and to what extent and in what ways they prefer learning about popular music in school in the city of Changsha. Based on the findings from the survey questionnaires completed by 1816 secondary school students and interviews with 45 students from 8 secondary schools, this study revealed that Chinese teenagers preferred popular music styles in their daily lives and in school, particularly popular songs from Mainland China, the USA and the UK. There was a strong relationship found between school music teachers and the students' preferences for learning popular songs. Many of the students surveyed had their own popular music idols, but they mostly maintained that they liked their music idols because of their songs' melodies and lyrics. The findings also showed that there was a gap between the students' preferences for popular music and the popular music styles taught in school music lessons. Despite the division of classical and popular music learning among Chinese youths, most students conceded that these two musical styles should be taught in school music education. This study's findings challenge the notion of how popular music education in a culturally diverse community can be improved, as well as stimulate further examination of young students' music preferences in and outside the school environment.     

Is “cost disease” contagious? The case of early music ensembles

The article aims to supplement traditional explanations of why performing arts institutions tend to run a deficit. The case of early music ensembles shows that the traditionally cited mechanisms do not suffice to explain why these institutions catch Baumol’s “cost disease.” Baumol’s model may be supplemented by another, based on two related hypotheses: the deepening deficit of early music ensembles is related to their going professional and is due to the fact that they are simultaneously competing with subsidized orchestras on two markets: the concert market and the labor market for musicians.     

Twelve-month-old infants’ physiological responses to music are affected by others’ positive and negative reactions

Infants show remarkable skills for processing music in the first year of life. Such skills are believed to foster social and communicative development, yet little is known about how infants’ own preferences for music develop and whether social information plays a role. Here, we investigate whether the reactions of another person influence infants’ responses to music. Specifically, 12-month-olds (N = 33) saw an actor react positively or negatively after listening to clips of instrumental music. Arousal (measured via pupil dilation) and attention (measured via looking time) were assessed when infants later heard the clips without the actor visible. Results showed greater pupil dilation when listening to music clips that had previously been reacted to negatively than those that had been reacted to positively (Exp. 1). This effect was not replicated when a similar, rather than identical, clip from the piece of music was used in the test phase (Exp. 2, N = 35 12-month-olds). There were no effects of the actor's positive or negative reaction on looking time. Together, our findings suggest that infants are sensitive to others’ positive and negative reactions not only for concrete objects, such as food or toys, but also for more abstract stimuli including music.     

How Academic Achievement,Attitudes, and Behaviors Relate to the Course of Substance Use During Adolescence: A 6‐Year,Multiwave National Longitudinal Study

Self‐report data regarding alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use were collected biennially from ages 14 to 20 in a nationally representative panel sample of adolescents (N=1,897) from the Monitoring the Future study. Growth curve analyses were performed using hierarchical linear modeling to consider psychosocial background, motivation and school attitudes, and parental and peer influences at age 14 as predictors of concurrent substance use and change in substance use. Results indicated that school misbehavior and peer encouragement of misbehavior were positively associated with substance use at age 14 and with increased use over time; school bonding, school interest, school effort, academic achievement, and parental help with school were negatively associated. The protective effects of positive school attitudes and perceptions of high status connected to academics were stronger for low‐achieving compared with high‐achieving youth. Implications for a developmental perspective on substance use etiology and prevention are discussed.     

Entrepreneurial Motivations and Capabilities of Migrant Entrepreneurs in Australia

This article presents findings on immigrant entrepreneurship in Australia. The relationship between the entrepreneurial start‐up motivation, co‐ethnic preferences and entrepreneurial capabilities of established immigrant businesses are explored. We analyse data collected with a self‐administered survey questionnaire from 157 immigrant entrepreneurs in Melbourne's suburbs. Our findings show that immigrant entrepreneurs who report a high level of individual achievement as their start‐up motivation also report high levels of entrepreneurial capabilities in terms of opportunity recognition, managerial innovativeness and proactiveness. Immigrant entrepreneurs who are highly influenced by co‐ethnic preferences on staff employment and customer targeting report higher opportunity recognition than those who have a co‐ethnic preference on suppliers. We provide important insights and explanations for these findings and their implications for Australian immigrant entrepreneurs and policymakers.     

Perception of Substance Use Problems in Asian American Communities by Chinese,Indian, and Vietnamese American Youth

SUMMARY

The study was a cross-sectional survey using a convenience sample of 87 Asian American youth respondents to examine their perceptions of substance use problems in the Asian American community. The authors examined respondents' perceptions of the severity of substance use problems in the Asian American community, perceived characteristics of persons with problems of substance use, perceived etiology of substance use problems, beliefs about treatment, perceived help-seeking preferences and helpful services. The youth demonstrated an increased awareness of the severity of substance use problems in the community, although such awareness was more prominent for drinking problems than drug use problems. Respondents showed a positive attitude toward treatment, although such an attitudinal change was not yet accompanied by a change in their behavioral preferences. Findings suggested a tendency for Asian American youth respondents to utilize personal resources rather than professional help or formal treatment programs in response to substance use problems. In addition, respondents shared similar “myths” of Asian problem drinkers and drug users. Implications for developing culturally relevant interventions for prevention and treatment as well as future research are discussed.     

The Role of Assertiveness and Decision Making in Early Adolescent Substance Initiation: Mediating Processes

This study examined the mediating processes linking assertiveness and decision making to early adolescent substance initiation, along with the moderating effect of gender on those processes. Models specifying negative expectancies and refusal intentions as mediators of individual rights assertiveness and decision‐making effects on substance initiation were evaluated across 18 months on a nontreatment cohort of young adolescents participating in a prevention trial (average age 12.3 years at baseline; N=357). Results indicated that individual rights assertiveness and decision making had indirect effects on substance initiation through effects on negative outcome expectancies and refusal intentions. Gender differences were found in both the average level and the pattern of relationships among the variables. For girls, refusal intentions were negatively associated with later substance initiation. For boys, early levels of substance initiation were negatively associated with later levels of negative expectancies and refusal intentions. Implications for prevention programming are discussed.     

Homophily of music listening in online social networks of China

Homophily, ranging from demographics to sentiments, breeds connections in social networks, either offline or online. However, with the prosperous growth of music streaming services, whether homophily exists in online music listening remains unclear. In this study, two online social networks of the same group of active users who listened to complete songs over 1000 times and posted over 100 tweets are established, separately, in Netease Music and Weibo. Through presented multiple similarity measures, it is evidently demonstrated that homophily does exist in music listening for both online social networks. The unexpected listening similarity in Weibo also implies that knowledge from generic social networks can be confidently transferred to domain-oriented networks for context enrichment and algorithm enhancement. Comprehensive factors that might function in the formation of homophily are further probed, and many interesting patterns are profoundly revealed. It is found that female friends are more homogeneous in music listening and that positive and energetic songs significantly pull users close. Our methodology and findings shed light on realistic applications in online music services.