Summary article The role of music preferences in early adolescents’ friendship formation and
stability.
Introduction
•During adolescence, music becomes increasingly important in the personal and social lives of
adolescents. From early adolescence onwards, an increasing amount of time and money is spent on
music affairs. Music preferences may play an important role in early adolescent interaction with
peers, as music is listened to and shared with friends and peer crowds often center around certain
musical preferences.
•The present study examines similarity in music preferences in early adolescents’ mutual friendships
and the longitudinal role of this similarity in the formation and stability of these friendships.
Similarity in music preferences in adolescent friendships
•Several theoretical frameworks suggest that sharing musical preferences may be important in social
relationships. First, several researchers have applied social identity theory to the use of music
preferences in individuals’ identity within peer groups. SIT maintains that individuals gain a social
identity from the groups to which they belong and will therefor adopt similar preferences and
habits to those of the individuals in their group in an attempt to foster self-esteem and feelings of
belonging. This perspective suggest that adolescent friends have similar music preferences since
friends adopt each other preferences.
•Second, the similarity-attraction hypothesis and the perspective of assortative mating suggest
that individuals are most attracted to other people who have similar attitudes and values,
behaviours and personality characteristics, and will select these similar others as friends and
romantic partners.
•Filtering perspective: directly observable information about other individuals provide the initial
filter in the formation of friendship.
•Dutch adolescents’ music preferences can be clustered into four main music dimensions:
-Elite dimension
-Rock dimension
-Popular/dance dimension
-Urban dimensions.
•Adolescents’ musical taste can not only be considered as preferences for a specific music
dimensions, but also as a pattern across all the music genres.
•Similarity in the overall pattern of music genres is labelled overall music similarity.
The present study
•The present study will first examine the extent to which friends are similar in specific and overall
music similarity. In addition, the present study examines to what extent similarity in music
preferences predicts the selection of new friends as well as whether friends continue being friends or
discontinue being friends over a 1-year period.
•Following suggestions of prior research, we expect that similarity in music preferences especially
plays an important role in the formation of friendships, and less so in the instability of friendships.
Hypothesis
•Friends will show similarity in preferences for specific music dimensions and in the overall
patterning of music preferences.
•Specific and overall music similarity predict friendship formation.
•Specific and overall music preferences do not predict friendship instability.
stability.
Introduction
•During adolescence, music becomes increasingly important in the personal and social lives of
adolescents. From early adolescence onwards, an increasing amount of time and money is spent on
music affairs. Music preferences may play an important role in early adolescent interaction with
peers, as music is listened to and shared with friends and peer crowds often center around certain
musical preferences.
•The present study examines similarity in music preferences in early adolescents’ mutual friendships
and the longitudinal role of this similarity in the formation and stability of these friendships.
Similarity in music preferences in adolescent friendships
•Several theoretical frameworks suggest that sharing musical preferences may be important in social
relationships. First, several researchers have applied social identity theory to the use of music
preferences in individuals’ identity within peer groups. SIT maintains that individuals gain a social
identity from the groups to which they belong and will therefor adopt similar preferences and
habits to those of the individuals in their group in an attempt to foster self-esteem and feelings of
belonging. This perspective suggest that adolescent friends have similar music preferences since
friends adopt each other preferences.
•Second, the similarity-attraction hypothesis and the perspective of assortative mating suggest
that individuals are most attracted to other people who have similar attitudes and values,
behaviours and personality characteristics, and will select these similar others as friends and
romantic partners.
•Filtering perspective: directly observable information about other individuals provide the initial
filter in the formation of friendship.
•Dutch adolescents’ music preferences can be clustered into four main music dimensions:
-Elite dimension
-Rock dimension
-Popular/dance dimension
-Urban dimensions.
•Adolescents’ musical taste can not only be considered as preferences for a specific music
dimensions, but also as a pattern across all the music genres.
•Similarity in the overall pattern of music genres is labelled overall music similarity.
The present study
•The present study will first examine the extent to which friends are similar in specific and overall
music similarity. In addition, the present study examines to what extent similarity in music
preferences predicts the selection of new friends as well as whether friends continue being friends or
discontinue being friends over a 1-year period.
•Following suggestions of prior research, we expect that similarity in music preferences especially
plays an important role in the formation of friendships, and less so in the instability of friendships.
Hypothesis
•Friends will show similarity in preferences for specific music dimensions and in the overall
patterning of music preferences.
•Specific and overall music similarity predict friendship formation.
•Specific and overall music preferences do not predict friendship instability.
