The Effect Of Country Music On Suicide

The Efect of County Music on SuicideSIEVEN STACK,WayneState UniversityJiM GUNDLACH,Auburn UniversityAbstractarticleassessesthe link betweencountrymusicand metropolitanT7hissuiciderates.to nurturea suicidalmoodthroughits concernswithCountrymusicis hypothesizedproblemscommonin thesuicidalpopulation,suchas Theresultsof a multipleregressionanalysisof 49 edto countrymusic,thegreaterthewhitesuiciderate. The effectis independentof divorce,southernness,poverty,and gunTheexistenceof a countrymusicsubcultureavailability.is thoughtto odelexplains51%of thevariancein urbanwhitesuiciderates.Sociologicalwork on the relationshipbetweenart and society has been largelyrestricted to speculative, sociohistorical theories that are often mutuallyopposed.Some theoristssee artas 937)suggests that society and art are manifestedin cyclicalautonomous spheres;and still otherscontendthatart is a reflectionof social structure(Albrecht1954).Littleempiricalwork has been done on the impactof music onsocial problems.While some researchhas linked music to criminalbehavior(Singer,Levine&Jou1990),the relationshipbetweenmusicand suicideremainslargely unexplored.Music is not mentioned in reviews of the literatureonsuicide (Lester1983;Stack1982,1990b);instead,the impactof arton suicidehasbeen largely restrictedto analyses of televisionmovies and soap operas (for areview, see Stack1990b).In this article,we explore the link between a particularform of popularmusic (countrymusic) and metropolitansuicide rates. We contend that thethemesfound in countrymusic fostera suicidalmood amongpeople alreadyatrisk of suicide and that it is therebyassociatedwith a high suicide rate. Theeffectis buttressedby the countrysubcultureand a link betweenthis subcultureand a racialstatus relatedto an increasedsuicide risk.* Data on suicide mortality and most other variables were provided by the Inter-UniversityConsortiumfor Political and Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. We aregrateful to Richard Petersonfor his inspirations and helpful discussions, to the anonymousreviewersfor their probing reviews, and to Mitch Henryfor his help in gathering the data oncountrymusic.Direct correspondenceto Steven Stack, Departmentof Sociology, WayneStateUniversity, Detroit, MI 48202.i The University of North CarolinaPressSocial Forces, September1992, 71(1):211-218This content downloaded from 130.37.164.140 on Thu, 4 Dec 2014 05:49:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

212 / Social Forces 71:1, September 1992The ExplanatorySchemeMusic can directlyaffectpsychologicalmoods, which often are a contributingfactor in suicide (e.g., Asmus 1985). To the extent that the audience of aparticulartype of music formsa subculture- a group thatholds specialvaluesand beliefs and that interactsrecurrently- the impactof music on mood andbehaviorcan be multiplied (Gross1990).We suggest that countrymusic fansform a subculturethat reinforcesa suicidal mood conveyed in the themes ofcountrymusic. The subcultureis pulled togetherby such sharedtraitsas modeof dress,tastein music, radiostationslistenedto, concertsattended,and a valueattributed to rural life-styles; some evidence suggests a certain degree ofsubculturalsupportfor racialand genderinequalityas well (e.g.,Peterson1991).Countrymusic fans constitutea nationalsubculturebearingsome relationship to social class and region. As Petersonand DiMaggio (1975)point out,country music has diffused beyond an audience of the southern,rural,lowerclass, capturing the imaginationsof the working and lower middle classes(Peterson1991). It has diffused out of the South as well. Furthermore,thecountrymusicaudienceis still disproportionatelywhite (Peterson1991;Peterson& DiMaggio1975).Whiteshave a suicide rate double that of blacks,who tendto eptiveness(Blumer1969)to suicidogenicproblemssuch as alcoholabuseor maritaldiscordis fairlyhigh among country music s white audience:whites have a relatively highsuicide rate and tend to internalizeaggressionwhen frustrated.Contentanalyses of country songs note a numberof suicidogenicthemesthat can foster suicide (e.g., Lewis 1989; Peterson 1991). One such theme isdisharmony between the sexes, especially marital strife and dissolution(Chandler& Chalfant1985; Lewis 1989). In a content analysis of 1,400 hitcountrysongs, Rogers(1989)found thatnearlythree-fourthshad the travailsoflove as at least one of their themes. Given a link between maritalbreakdownand suicide (e.g., Stack 1990a), this country music theme might nurture apreexistingsuicidal mood. Furthermore,the same songs often containedotherreferencesto social problems that might serve as additional points of identification(Peterson1991).Country music may nurture suicide through its theme of alcohol abuse(Chalfant& Beckley1977;Connors& Alpher1989;Schaefer1988).Lyricsoftenportray drinking as a normal and necessary method of dealing with life'sproblems (Chalfant& Beckley1977).Field researchon drinkingbehaviorhaslinked exposureto countrymusic to increasedlevels of consumptionof alcohol(Schaefer1988).Alcohol consumption,in turn,has often been associatedwithincreasedsuicide risk (e.g., Wasserman1989).Additional themes in country music that might nurturea suicidal moodinclude financialstrainand exploitationat work (Peterson1991).Oftena senseof fatalism or hopelessness is conveyed in these songs. Hopelessness isconsidereda key psychologicalstate underlyingsuicide risk (Becket al. 1985).A sense of bitternessand hopelessness pervades many country songs aboutThis content downloaded from 130.37.164.140 on Thu, 4 Dec 2014 05:49:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Effectof CountryMusic on Suicide/ 213farmers,for example.Singing of a man whose farmhas been auctionedoff, theNitty GrittyDirt Band notes: "Workedthis place all my life, broke my heart,took my wife. Now I got nothing to show" (Peterson1991:8).More generally, many country songs have addressed and continue tochronicle the lonesome and often abusive features of life among the lowersocioeconomicclasses (Schaefer1988).Alfred Reed's "How Can a Man StandSuchThingsand Live?"suggestsa connectionbetweensuicideand impoverishment.Billy Hill's 1989hit, "There'sToo MuchMonthat the Endof the Money,"reflects the same problems of financial strain that have been dealt with indecades of countrysongs (Peterson1991).However,financialstrainis also feltamong the workingand middle classesin termsof relativedeprivation.Personsin these classes may also identify with the financial strains of the poor incountrysongs.Identificationwith exploitation at work can also cut across class lines.Country songs often use long-distance truckers as an illustration of suchexploitation,but truckersare not technicallypartof the officialpovertyclass. InDave Dudley's "SixDays on the Road,"for example,truckersare portrayedasenduringall kinds of dangersand alienatingworkingconditions- long hours,pep pills, evading police, violating load limit restrictions,fatigue - all in adesperateeffortto meet loan paymentson theirrigs. nectingwith suicidogenicconditionsand moods of the suicidalpopulation,countrymusic may increasesuicide risk. Countrymusic per se isnot expectedto drive people to suicide.But,given the existenceof an organizedcountrysubculture,the risk of suicideis enhanced.Sincecountrymusic appealsdisproportionatelyto whites (e.g., Peterson1991;Peterson& DiMaggio1975),we anticipatethat the relationshipbetweensuicide and music will be strongerfor whites than for blacks.MethodologyOursampleis comprisedof 49 largemetropolitanareasfor which dataon musicwere available.Exposureto country music is measuredas the proportionofradio airtime devoted to country music (as opposed to other forms of music,such as rockand classical).The dataare fromthe .Suicidedatawere extractedfromthe annualMortalityTapes,obtainedfromthe Inter-UniversityConsortiumfor Politicaland SocialResearch(ICPSR)at theUniversityof Michigan.The dependentvariableis the numberof suicides per100,000population. Rates are calculatedfor both whites and blacks (e.g., thewhite suicide rate refersto the numberof white suicides per 100,000whites). Itwould also be desirableto calculatesuicide rates by social class and by urbanvs. rurallocationto test the massification(of countrymusic)thesis as it appliesto these variables(Peterson& DiMaggio1975),but such data are unavailable.An averageof the 1984and 1985 rateswas takento reducemeasurementerror.(Fora systematicdefenseof officialsuicide data,see Pescosolido& Mendelsohn1986).This content downloaded from 130.37.164.140 on Thu, 4 Dec 2014 05:49:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

214 / Social Forces 71:1,September1992In order to test for spuriousnessin any zero-orderrelationshipbetweenmusic and suicide,controlvariablesare introduced.First,an indexof structuralpoverty(e.g.,Bankston,Allen & Cunningham1983)was constructed.If countrymusic is still largely the music of the impoverished,then the relationshipbetweencountrymusic and suicide,if any, may be reducedor may even vanishonce povertyis controlled.Five indicatorsof structuralpovertywere availablein CO-STAT3, which was obtained from the ICPSRat the University ofMichigan (U.S. Department of Commerce 1988). These indicators are thepercentage of households without plumbing, the infant mortality rate, thepercentage of female-headed households with children, the percentage offamilies who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and thepercentageof families with incomes of less than 2,500 a year. These werecombinedinto an index using principlecomponentsanalysis.2Countrymusichas traditionallybeen associatedwith the South, althoughsome have arguedthat it is no longer exclusivelya southernphenomenon(Peterson& DiMaggio1975).In orderto disentanglecountrymusicfromsouthernculture,a controlforsouthem region was introduced (1 - South, 0 non-South,where South iscomprisedof southAtlantic,eastsouthcentral,andwest southcentralstates[U.S.Bureauof the Census 1991]).Divorceis a powerfuldeterminantof suicide (e.g.,Trovato1987;Wasserman1990). Becausemarital trouble is a key theme in country music, divorce andcountry music may be related. Crude divorce rates were extracted fromCO-STAT3. Suicideis also relatedto opportunityfactorssuch as the availabilityof firearms,which are the chief means of suicide in the U.S. (Clarke& Lester1989). Since the stories in country music often encourage gun, ownership(Peterson,pers. com.),it is importantto controlfor this factor.Gun availabilityis measuredas the numberof retailoutlets(per100,000population)listed under"guns"or "firearms"in the Phoneficheversionof the yellow pages (UniversityMicrofilmsInternational1980).(Foran extendeddiscussionof this measureofgun availability,see Gundlach1990.)ResultsA significantzero-ordercorrelationwas foundbetweenwhite suicideratesandcountrymusic (r .54,p .05).Thegreaterthe airtimegiven to countrymusic, thegreaterthe white suicide rate.Theblacksuicide ratewas not relatedto countrymusic (r .11, p .05). Country music was also significantly related to gunavailability(r .50,p .05).Metropolitanareas high in country music also arehigh in opportunity for suicide. Countrymusic was also related to divorce(r .51,p .05) and to southern location (r .26, p .05). It was not, however,related to structuralpoverty, indicatingsupport for the massificationthesis.Otherfactorsrelatedto white suicide were divorce,southernlocation,and thestructuralpoverty index.In orderto test for possiblespuriousnessin the link betweencountrymusicand suicide, ordinaryleast squares regressiontechniqueswere applied. Theequations were first checked for problems of multicollinearityand outliers,which could invalidatethe results.A crude varianceinflationfactor (VIF)testThis content downloaded from 130.37.164.140 on Thu, 4 Dec 2014 05:49:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions