How Wealth-Themed Lyrics Shape Youth Spending

Abstract

As society progresses, the responsibility of our economic status rests with the young adults of our world. With the increasing distractions young people face through media, like music, analyzing its impact on how young adults spend money becomes imperative. This study focuses on young adults aged 13–17 and how pop music affects their spending habits. Through a series of questions given to over 50 participants, as well as inferential statistics and quantitative analysis, a link between songs promoting careless spending habits and a correlative increase in such habits may be present.

3

Introduction

Money and how society uses this wealth metric is intriguing. One individual surveyed in this study explained that "the way I handle my money in the future may be the single most important thing in my life." However, this very valuable metric is just as easily manipulated. Especially for young adults who will soon enter adulthood and be forced to handle the social and emotional pressures of dealing with money, understanding the outside manipulators of how the mind perceives wealth is crucial. . A recent research project contributed to the idea that nearly half of the 4100 songs surveyed highlighted economic markers of status like luxury goods (Podoshen et al., 2014). This creates a gap: how does this exact study relate to the population of young adults (ages 13–17)? In this study, we will explore how pop music lyrics that depict wealth in positive, negative, or neutral ways influence teens' emotional perception of money.

Literature Review

Materialism is something that is with us for the majority of our lives, not just when we are adults. According to Chaplin and John’s (2007) study of individuals aged 8–18 years , significant evidence pointed to the fact that concepts of materialism begin as young as 12 years old and are linked with self-esteem. The study notes that an increase in self-esteem decreases materialistic thought; thus, during the period of young adulthood, it is very easy to be influenced. Pop music, a medium many teens consume daily, can be extremely influential. Furthermore, Primack et al. (2008) revealed that now more than ever, up to one-third of popular songs report substance and drug conversation, which, especially for young adults, drives not only interest in these illegal substances but a deeper dive shows that these substances inherently affect young adults' spending attitudes. Lastly, in L. K. L. D. F. (n.d.)., it is noted that very little of the

4

pop music we hear is positive. Especially at an age where almost all music should be positive and not about negative or severe adult topics, the fact most of the music is against what we should be listening tospeaks volumes on the potential for negative economic spending habits to come.

Research Questions and Hypothesis

Question: Is there a statistically significant difference in teenagers’ attitudes toward spending between songs that promote careless spending, not focusing on money, and neutral songs?

The hypothesis is yes, there is a statistically significant difference, because as the world we see today contributes to, the way our youth spends their earnings is far too rash. This testament is researched in this study.

Methods

Participants: 50 randomly selected individuals from ages 13–17 from the Walpole community.

Materials: Songs chosen by type: 2 songs that promote healthy financial attitudes and may discourage materialism, 2 songs that oppose healthy financial attitudes and may encourage materialism by glorifying wealth and reckless spending on luxuries, and 1 having characteristics of both (neutral).

Survey Design: A Google Form was sent out to the participants asking them to explain how the songs made them feel or what they thought the songs suggested.

5

Procedure: All participants received the survey through the same platform: Snapchat. Every participant who was asked to complete the survey did so.

Ethics: All answers are anonymous.

Results

Out of 250 responses to the question "What does this song perceive about money?" (all songs had the same question for consistency):

● 63 reported that money is just a means of fun/fantasy (25.2%)

● 59 reported that wealth = success (23.6%)

● 99 out of 250 responded that they relate to the vibe of the song (39.6%) ● 26 people reported that these lyrics felt like them (11%)

● 57 reported these songs influence how they may spend (22.8%)

Table 1

Mean rating scores for each evaluated song on a 1–4 scale of financial attitude Input from the 50 individuals in this study.

Song # Mean Score

Song 1 2.17

6

Song # Mean Score

Song 2 2.22

Song 3 2.66

Song 4 2.36

Song 5 2.46

Table 2

Interpretation scale used to classify lyrical attitudes about money. Interpreted by the researcher.

Score Label Interpretation

1 Money is bad / corrupting Criticizes wealth, promotes good financial habits 2 Be responsible with money Encourages cautious, ethical wealth use 3 Neutral / mixed No strong judgment on wealth

4 Money is awesome / desirable Celebrates materialism and luxury

Table 3

Linguistic analysis metrics for selected songs using LIWC categories.

7

Song Analytic Clout Authentic Tone Interpretation by Researcher 7 Rings 31.43 81.45 14.55 35.18 Glorification of wealth and luxury I Wanna Be a Billionaire 39.08 69.94 38.26 66.77 Negative financial attitude Royals 57.11 39.79 57.75 23.59 Critiques materialism It's Not About the Money 26.94 36.37 32.84 16.77 Anti-materialistic Just Got Paid 38.26 74.32 42.91 79.80 Mixed financial messaging Table 4

Categorization of song themes based on tone and messaging about wealth. Theme Songs Description

Wealth is fun to throw around

Critiquing materialism

7 Rings, I Wanna Be a Billionaire

Royals, It's Not About the Money

Promotes materialism and poor financial habits

Encourages good financial attitudes

Balanced Just Got Paid Mixed messages about wealth

8

Inferential Statistics

In the following matched-pairs t tests, the respondents believed that songs labeled as promoting bad attitudes were more attractive and influential in their lives (they were not told which song was which). The difference between "bad spending" and "good spending" songs is statistically significant, due to the t-test value being about 5.20. The p-value is also very low, far below the alpha of 0.05 as shown by table 5.

Table 5

Inferential statistics comparing lyrical influence across song categories. Comparison t Value df p-Value Significant? (alpha = 0.05)

Bad vs. Good 5.20 45 0.000 Yes

Bad vs. Neutral 3.59 45 0.0008 Yes

Good vs. Neutral 1.60 45 0.116 No

Discussion

As shown by table 1, since the average quantitative score is less than 2.5/4, it may be a signal of kids wanting to stay away from thoughts of materialism but may be influenced slightly. The translation of the question with the quantitative analysis to its respective quantitative measure is outlined in table 2. This may shape not only their wealth but also the attitudes that

9

develop, indirectly affecting youths' character. This could imply that media with wealth-promoting lyrics might encourage less responsible financial attitudes among teens. The t-test between wealth-promoting and non-wealth-promoting songs shows significant evidence of a link between wealth glorifying songs and that behavior reciprocated in young adults. This may be a thought of concern. However, due to the sample size not being large enough to completely justify the t-test, as well as issues with normality, independence, and inherent selection bias, some of the survey results may not fully encapsulate the truth.

Conclusion

This study points to the idea that wealth-glorifying lyrics promote negative spending habits in young adults. Tables 3 and 4 contextualize the scope of these lyrics and how they show whether they display positive or negative spending attitudes through measures like LIWC categories. While the scope of this study cannot be mainstream and is limited , the data and raw results may point towards a narrative that is true to our hypothesis. This study’s results become imperative, and we as a society must bring this to light and seriously analyze the critical effects of this challenge. This study serves as a gateway into further exploration of this issue.

References

Chaplin, L. N., & John, D. R. (2007). Growing up in a material world: Age differences in materialism in children and adolescents. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(4), 480–493. https://doi.org/10.1086/518546

10

L;, K. L. D. F. (n.d.). Trends in positive, negative, and neutral themes of popular music from 1998 to 2018: Observational study. JMIR pediatrics and parenting.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34184999/

Podoshen, J. S., Andrzejewski, S. A., & Hunt, J. M. (2014). Materialism, conspicuous consumption and American hip-hop subculture. Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25–25.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10873-5_19

Primack, B. A., Dalton, M. A., Carroll, M. V., Agarwal, A. A., & Fine, M. J. (2008). Content analysis of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs in popular music. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 162(2), 169. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2007.27