Many parents and mental health professionals have watched the rising rate of adolescent suicide and the growing popularity of heavy metal music among teenagers and wondered, with some concern, if there is any connection between the two phenomena. A new study presented at the convention offers the first direct assessment of the suicidal risk of American adolescent heavy metal fans compared to that of peers who do not like heavy metal music.

For the study 121 midwestern public high school students (mean age 17.2) were given two psychological assessments, the Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL) and the Suicide Risk Questionnaire (SRQ) (both measures of risk for suicide) and their musical preferences were assessed.

Compared with fans of country, pop/mainstream rock and rap music, heavy metal fans had lower scores on the RFL (indicating greater risk of suicide) and they were more likely to say they occasionally or seriously thought about killing themselves (74 percent vs 35 percent for females; 42 percent vs 15 percent for males).

But the author cautions that while these findings "do suggest that a teenager's liking of heavy metal music may be a useful 'red flag' for suicidal vulnerability for psychologists and other professionals who work with adolescents," she adds that these findings should not be thought of as indicative of imminent suicidal risk and that they "are not suggestive of any important causal effects of heavy metal listening on suicidality."

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