Citation

Peterson RJ, Safer MA, Jobes DA. Arch. Suicide Res. 2008; 12(2): 161-169.

Affiliation

The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, International Academy of Suicide Research, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13811110701857533

PMID

18340599

Abstract

This study attempted to predict reactions after listening to music with lyrics about suicide. One hundred and twenty-six volunteers completed self-reports of personality and mood, and then listened to the music. Afterwards, they completed projective stories, self-reports of moods and reactions, and a memory test for the lyrics. Low openness to experience, and to a lesser extent, high neuroticism and low self-esteem predicted higher levels of suicide-related content in projective story-writing, as did knowing a suicide victim. Both the personality measures and post-listening mood predicted remembering too many nihilistic lyrics. Surprisingly, 68% of participants wrote at least one projective story with altruistic content. Individual differences were modestly associated with suicidal thoughts after listening to the music.

Language: en