Intergenerational Continuity of Taste: Parental and Adolescent Music Preferences

• Published in: Social forces 2011-09, Vol.90 (1), p.297-319
• Main Authors: ter Bogt, Tom F.M., Delsing, Marc J.M.H., van Zalk, Maarten, Christenson, Peter G., Meeus, Wim H.J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescents; Appreciation; Art music; Children; Children & youth; Choices; Classical Music; Couples; CULTURE; Dance; Daughters; Education; Educational Attainment; Factor Structure; Fathers; Generational Differences; Individualized Instruction; Intergenerational relationships; Level of education; Mothers; Music; Music Appreciation; Music Education; Music preferences; Musical aesthetics; Parent Influence; Parents; Parents & parenting; Personal preferences (Social sciences); Popular Culture; Popular music; Predictor Variables; Preferences; Psychology; Psykologi; Rock Music; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP; Sexuality. Marriage. Family relations; Simmel, Georg (1858-1918); Social forces; SOCIAL SCIENCES; Socialvetenskap; Sociology; Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture; Sociology of leisure and mass culture; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Sons; Weber, Max (1864-1920)
• ISSN: 0037-7732; 1534-7605; 1534-7605
• DOI: 10.1093/sf/90.1.297

In this article, the continuity in music taste from parents to their children is discussed via a multi-actor design. In our models music preferences of 325 adolescents and both their parents were linked, with parental and adolescent educational level as covariates. Parents' preferences for different types of music that had been popular when they were young were subsumed under the general labels of Pop, Rock and Highbrow. Current adolescent music preferences resolved into Pop, Rock, Highbrow and Dance. Among partners in a couple, tastes were similar; for both generations, education was linked to taste; and parental preferences predicted adolescent music choices. More specifically, the preference of fathers and mothers for Pop was associated with adolescent preferences for Pop and Dance. Parents' preferences for Rock seemed to indicate their daughters would also like Rock music, but not their sons. Parental passion for Highbrow music was associated with Highbrow preferences among their children. It is concluded that preferences for cultural artifacts such as (popular) music show continuity from generation to generation.