Rap music videos have become a prominent source of entertainment among U.S. adolescents. Evolving from African American music forms, rap music has as it’s source rhythm and blues, fusion, contemporary gospel and bebop. The themes and images portrayed in rap music videos have been the subject of much concern and debate. However, limited research focusing on the impact of rap music videos on adolescent risk behavior has been conducted.

This study investigated whether exposure to rap music videos at baseline could predict the occurence of health risk behaviors and STD infection among African American adolescent females over a 12-month follow-up period.

Methodology

Participants were 522 female teenagers residing in non-urban, lower social-economic-status neighborhoods recruited from school health classes and county health department clinics in Birmingham, Alabama. African American females between ages 14 and 18 who had been sexually active in the previous six months were eligible to participate. Data was collected between December 1996 and April 1999. Of those enrolled, 92% completed the 12 month follow-up assessment.

Outcomes of the Study

95% reported ever viewing rap music videos. The median hours of explosure to rap music videos per week at baseline and at 6- and 12- months follow-up were 14 hours, 14 hours, and 12 hours, repectively. The majority of rap music videos viewed were “gangsta,” with a minority of videos categorized as “bass” and “hip-hop.” Most watched videos with brothers, sisters, cousins, or alone and in the home.

Major findings include:

• Compared to female adolescents who had more exposure to rap music vidoes, females who had less exposure were almost two times more likely to have had multiple sexual partners.

• Females who had more exposure to rap music videos were 110% more likely to never use condoms than those who had less exposure.

• Females who had more exposure to rap music videos were 1.3 times more likely to have acquired a new STD during the study than those who had less exposure.

• Compared to those who had less exposure to rap music videos, females who had more exposure were 140% more likely to report ever using drugs and 120% more likely to report using alcohol.

• Females with more exposure to rap music videos were almost two and one-half times more likely to ever been arrested, three times more likely to have ever hit a teacher and 110% more likely to have ever been in a fight.

Implications for Prevention

This study found that more exposure to rap music videos was associated with sexual risk behaviors and STD infection among African American adolescent females. Gangsta rap, which is explicit about sex and violence, rarely illustrates the long-term consequences of risk behaviors. Teenagers may identify with the characters and themes of rap music and model their behaviors. Public health educators should be aware of the risk associated with of rap music videos.

SOURCE: Wingood, G M.. et al. (2003). A prospective study of exposure to rap music videos and African American female adolescents’ health. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 437-439.

Sources:
http://www.blackelectorate.com/articles.asp?ID=821
http://www.indiana.edu/~aids/vol7_no5.pdf
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/93/3/437