Violence and weapon carrying in music videos. A content analysis
R. H. DuRant, M. Rich, S. J. Emans, E. S. Rome, E. Allred and E. R. Woods
Department of Pediatrics, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. rdurant@bgsm.edu
BACKGROUND: The positive portrayal of violence and weapon carrying in
televised music videos is thought to have a considerable influence on the
normative expectations of adolescents about these behaviors. OBJECTIVES: To
perform a content analysis of the depictions of violence and weapon
carrying in music videos, including 5 genres of music (rock, rap, adult
contemporary, rhythm and blues, and country), from 4 television networks
and to analyze the degree of sexuality or eroticism portrayed in each video
and its association with violence and weapon carrying, as an indicator of
the desirability of violent behaviors. METHODS: Five hundred eighteen
videos were recorded during randomly selected days and times of the day
from the Music Television, Video Hits One, Black Entertainment Television,
and Country Music Television networks. Four female and 4 male observers
aged 17 to 24 years were trained to use a standardized content analysis
instrument. Interobserver reliability testing resulted in a mean (+/- SD)
percentage agreement of 89.25% +/- 7.10% and a mean (+/- SD) kappa of 0.73
+/- 0.20. All videos were observed by rotating 2-person, male-female teams
that were required to reach agreement on each behavior that was scored.
Music genre and network differences in behaviors were analyzed with chi 2
tests. RESULTS: A higher percentage (22.4%) of Music Television videos
portrayed overt violence than Video Hits One (11.8%), Country Music
Television (11.8%), and Black Entertainment Television (11.5%) videos (P =
.02). Rap (20.4%) had the highest portrayal of violence, followed by rock
(19.8%), country (10.8%), adult contemporary (9.7%), and rhythm and blues
(5.9%) (P = .006). Weapon carrying was higher on Music Television (25.0%)
than on Black Entertainment Television (11.5%), Video Hits One (8.4%), and
Country Music Television (6.9%) (P < .001). Weapon carrying was also
higher in rock (19.8%) and rap (19.5%) videos than in adult contemporary
(16.1%), rhythm and blues (6.9%), and country (6.3%) videos (P = .002). The
videos with the highest level of sexuality or eroticism were found to be
less likely to contain violence (P < or = .04). CONCLUSION: Because most
music videos are between 3 and 4 minutes long, these data indicate that
even modest levels of viewing may result in substantial exposure to
violence and weapon carrying, which is glamorized by music artists, actors,
and actresses.
