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It has been suggested (particularly in the 1980s) that individuals that listen to heavy metal are more likely to be commit a crime, as shown here and here. Have any studies statistically shown so?

LanceLafontaine
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  • Can someone please tag this question as "heavy metal" for me? – LanceLafontaine Apr 03 '12 at 19:57
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    [heavy metal] tag would be to ambiguous, as there are quite a few questions related to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_(chemistry) – vartec Apr 03 '12 at 20:47
  • Very true, didn't think of that one. – LanceLafontaine Apr 03 '12 at 22:12
  • ... Why the downvote? Let me know how this question can be improved. – LanceLafontaine Apr 04 '12 at 00:14
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    I didn't downvote it, but I am not a big fan. You are asking if there is any correlation. Such a result would be largely moot. Correlation is not causation. If fans of some random product *tend* to be young and criminals *tend* to be young, or if the fans *tend* to be male and criminals *tend* to be male, you would *expect* a correlation, no matter what the product. – Oddthinking Apr 04 '12 at 01:55
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    Very true, but it is nonetheless a claim that has been made that could use debunking. The "more crimes on a full moon" and "programmers likely to be musicians" are both correlations, and yet they are statistically relevant, no...? – LanceLafontaine Apr 04 '12 at 15:28
  • "More crimes on a full moon" is interesting because it isn't clear if there is a correlation at all. I strongly suspect there will be a correlation here between crime and heavy metal listeners. I also strongly suspect that owning a pair of gardening gloves is inversely correlated to violent crime. Both of these facts are ho hum. It seems to me the *real* claim to be investigated is that heavy metal music *causes* people to commit crimes. Find an example of that claim, and we may be in business. – Oddthinking Apr 28 '12 at 01:23
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    Related: [Can music incite murder?](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/1729/782), [Does listening to rap music increase violent behavior?](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/5436/782), [Backwards masking in music](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/1674/782), [Does listening to rap music increase violent behavior?](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/5436/782), and [Do violent video games cause violent behavior?](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/598/782). – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten May 22 '12 at 22:13
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    @Oddthinking - Thinking as an insurer, if you are insuring people and there is a signifigant correlation between listing to a certian type of music and an increase in certian crimes (Espically violent and/or property crimes) then a correlation is important. – Chad May 24 '12 at 13:12
  • @Chad, yeah, I guess. Kind of a long bow to draw. I'm suggesting asking their gender and age would get a more accurate model. (Putting aside the ethical issues of prejudging people based on factors that are out of their control.) – Oddthinking May 24 '12 at 16:10
  • This source suggests, no, it doesn't. But their statistics is based on a survey of 600 pupils. Not much. "The effects of violent music on children and adolescents", by DF Roberts, PG Christenson, DA Gentile - 2003 [link](http://drdouglas.org/drdpdfs/106027_08.pdf) – Alexander Janssen Oct 01 '12 at 17:39
  • Another near miss: "[Lifestyle correlates of musical preference](http://pom.sagepub.com/content/35/1/58)" (Part 1), Psychology of Music January 2007 35: 58-87, looks at arrest rates and crime rates by preferred musical genre, but they only had 43 Heavy Metal listening respondents, and a minimum cut-off of 50, so it doesn't have statistics for them. – Oddthinking Oct 20 '12 at 05:42

2 Answers2

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There's a couple of studies on this:

Lifestyle correlates of musical preference: 1. Relationships, living arrangements, beliefs, and crime

Sadly, this study doesn't seem to differentiate between "rock" and "heavy metal". People who prefer "rock" have been arrested the most (13 times, but that's a fairly low number overall) and committed "arrestable" acts the third-highest, after Dance/House and Indie-fans. Check Table 16.

The relationship between heavy metal and rap music and adolescent turmoil: real or artifact?

Adolescents who preferred heavy metal and rap music were compared with those who preferred other types of music. Results indicated that adolescents who preferred heavy metal and rap had a higher incidence of below-average school grades, school behavior problems, sexual activity, drug and alcohol use, and arrests. However, when gender was controlled, only below-average current and elementary school grades and a history of counseling in elementary school for school problems remained significant.

A longer, good write-up is Music Psychology: Heavy Metal Music.

tl;dr: Metal itself doesn't cause crimes, but adolescents with problems (who are more likely to commit crimes) are drawn to it more than adolescents without problems

Iain Samuel McLean Elder
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Philipp
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This topic featured today in the newspaper (The Times, Sat Nov 17 2012, page 43). The article mentions a new survey of "the nation's metal fans" by the British Phonographic Industry with 3700 respondents.

Being a piece of journalism rather than a scientific work, the article does not give me a reference to cite, but mentions that according to the study the average metal fan is "more sporty, sociable and musical than fans of other genres ... highly educated" and that metal "is seen as a positive force in the lives of those who listen to it".

I mention this in case anyone is interested in tracking down the original survey; the Times article itself is only available online behind a paywall (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/article3603301.ece).