The effects of dancehall genre on adolescent sexual and violent behavior in Jamaica: A public health concern

BACKGROUND: Research has shown that there is a direct correlation between the loud ‘hard-core’ music played on public transportation and the proliferation of sexual activities on these said transportations. AIM: To determine the extent to which dancehall music/genre impacts adolescent behavior. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The study is informed by quantitative and qualitative data, which were collected during the period February–May 2008. Convenience and judgmental sampling were used to target 100 subjects. RESULTS: Of the 100 adolescent cases (50 male, 50 female), females (40%) were more likely to gravitate to sexually explicit lyrical content than their male counterparts (26%). Females (74%) were also more likely to act upon lyrical contents than males (46%). There was no significant difference where males (100%) and females (98%) subconsciously sings the dancehall lyrics even without hearing it; as well as inspire their dreams 64% and 62% respectively. However, more females (74%) than males (46%) acted on lyrical contents of the dancehall genre. CONCLUSION: There is a correlation between hard-core dancehall genre and the sexual and violent behavior of adolescents.