Musical Preferences of High School Students: The Roles of Emotional Moods and Demographic Characteristics
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Abstract
The study aimed to determine the musical preferences of high school students with respect to their emotional mood and demographic characteristics. The study was designed based on the survey and causal-comparative designs. The sample comprised high school students in İstanbul, Malatya, and Muş, Turkey (N=317). The data collection tool was a survey including questions about demographic characteristics, emotional mood, and musical preferences. The Chi-square, frequency, percentage, and Cramer’s V analyses were employed in the analyses of the data. The results revealed that the students mostly listened to music when they were in a joyful-happy mood, the most preferred genre was Turkish pop-rock, and Ahmet Kaya was the most preferred vocalist. Turkish pop-rock was the most preferred genre when the students experienced love, joy, and surprise while the students mostly preferred arabesque-fantasy music when they were in a sad mood, religious music when they were in a fearful mood, and Turkish rap-hip hop when they were in an angry mood. Musical preferences significantly varied by gender, place of residence, and music listening frequency with moderate effect sizes. The female students mostly preferred Turkish pop-rock while the male students mostly preferred arabesque-fantasy music. The students living in İstanbul mostly preferred Turkish pop-rock and foreign pop-rock; the students in Malatya mostly preferred Turkish pop-rock, and the students in Muş mostly preferred arabesque-fantasy music. Moreover, most students daily listened to music regardless of genre.