- ( 11-12-07 ) - Music promotes drug abuse, rap is the worst
New York, Nov 12 - Is your teen hooked on rap music ? Chances are he or she is hearing a lot about drug abuse -- most of it positive.
A new study that analyses the most popular US songs of 2005 says references to drug abuse cut across all genres, but RAP was the worst offender -- a whopping 77 percent of the songs made some reference to it.
On average, the study found, one in three popular songs made a reference to drug abuse.
Findings of the study were presented Sunday at the American Public Health Association's Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington.
According to the study, which analysed 279 of 2005's most popular songs, the biggest culprit after rap was country music at a 37 percent reference rate, followed by rhythm and blues and hip-hop at 20 percent, rock at 14 percent and pop at nine percent.
Alcohol and marijuana were the substances most often mentioned, and these were commonly associated with partying, sex and violence.
A bulk of the songs that made a reference to drug abuse portrayed it in a positive rather than negative light.
'Previous research has shown that exposure to substance use messages in media is linked to actual substance use in adolescents,' said Brian A. Primack, lead researcher of the study.
'That is why we need to be aware of exposures such as these, especially when they are associated with highly positive consequences and associations.'
