Content

Page
Acknowledgement 2

Research Topic 3

Research Objectives 4

Problem Statement 5

Research Questions 6

Introduction 7

Literature Review 8

Data Collection Sources 9

Presentation of Findings 10-12

Interpretation of Findings 13-14

Discussion of Findings 15

Conclusion 16

Bibliography 17

Appendix 18

1|Page
 Acknowledgement

Without the help of my Father, Mother, Sister, collogues and teacher this Internal Assessment
would not have been a success .The researcher wishes to thank these persons for their
continuous help and support given that contributed to the completion of this Internal
Assessment.

2|Page
 Research Topic
The influences of Dancehall music; on young adults/ teenagers in the Black and White Street,
South Turkeyen community.

3|Page
 Research Objectives
 To find out the reasons young adults listen to Dancehall music.
 To examine ways in which dancehall music influences young adults in the Black and
White Street South Turkeyen Community
 To assets ways in which the effect dancehall music has on young adults in the Black and
White Street South Turkeyen Community can be reduced.

4|Page
 Problem Statement
Dancehall music influences young adults. This research seeks to investigate the causes and
effects of dancehall music on young adults in the Black and White Street, South Turkeyen
community.

5|Page
 Research Questions
1. Why young adults in the Black and White Street, South Turkeyen community listen to
Dancehall music?
2. What positive impacts Dancehall music has on this community?
3. What negative impacts Dancehall music has on this community?

6|Page
 Introduction

Dancehall music influences on young adults have come under criticism from both local and
international media and other concerned persons. This popular genre of music has caught the
attention of a number of young adults in the Black and White Street, South Turkeyen
community. But this genre of music that has become so popular seems to be having negative
effects on the young adults in the community. This caused many members of the community to
become concerned about the influences of Dancehall music on young adults in the community.

The Black and White Street, South Turkeyen community is located on the East coast in Greater
Georgetown, Guyana. Dancehall music influences young adults in the community. This research
seeks to investigate the causes and effects of dancehall music on young adults in the, community.

This research is of great educational value as it seeks to understand the influences of dancehall
music on young adults in the community and why these young adults are influenced by the music
and also ways in which the problem being faced can be best solved. This research can also serve
to raise awareness among members of the community who are ignorant about the problem being
faced.

Technical Terms
 Dancehall Music- a style of dance-oriented reggae, originating in the late 1980s
 Influence- a power of affecting a person thing or course of events
 Genre- a style or category of music
 Immoral- deliberately violating accepted principles of right and wrong behavior
 Explicit- fully or clearly expressed or demonstrated leaving noting merely implied

7|Page
 Literature Review

The literature reviewed in this research shows that according to a study, conducted by public
policy analyst and doctoral candidate, Tazhmoye Crawford, at the University of the West Indies,
Mona in 2007 showed that teenagers are identifying music mainly of the dancehall genre as a
trigger for early sexual intercourse, a document don‟t by North America journal of Medial
Sciences, „A public health concern” agree with the West Indies University that dancehall music
has a strong sexually negative impact on young adults because of the strong sexual content and
graphic violence that dancehall music contains. This field research done by this journal showed
that devotion to dancehall music influences violence in Schools and public places, similarly this
research seeks to directly link dancehall music to these issues mentioned.

An article done by yardflexarchives.com in 2010 mentioned that dancehall music has both
positive and negative impacts on young adults; the article stated that since dancehall music plays
a part in increasing of STDs and teenage pregnancy while at the same time it uplifts Men and
Women in society .But they also raise the question of why a genre of music so popular should
have so many negative impacts on youths in society.

Even though some argue that dancehall music is not one of the main causes of crime and
violence among young adults, behavioral scientist and music educator, Dr Marily Anderson says
despite the fact that music is being laid cut as a part of today culture, there is no doubt that the
violent lyrics of dancehall music affects emotional behavior in humans, particularly the young
.She also said that parents and peers plays a role in what type of music young adults listen to
since music is listen to in the home. As a result the researcher seeks to find out if parents and
peers in the community play a role in what kind of music young adults in the community listen
to.

Maybe as time passes dancehall music will become a more widely accepted of genre of music as
some artistes seeks to change their message in their music as popular dancehall artiste Bennie
Man and Mr. Vageus have apologize for the harmful lyrics portray in their songs, but these signs
of changes are often met with mixed reactions from fans and critics of these artiste. This even
prompted a local business man to write his opinion to a local newspaper “Kaietuer News” on
May 20th 2012, saying that there are do dancehall artiste who can be seem as role model material.

These information gathered from different articles and previous study conducted relating to the
problem being faced by the members of the community being studied, prompted the researcher
to seek information and analyze it in order for the researcher to understand and compare these
information with data gathered from other studies conducted.

8|Page
 Data Collection Sources

The type of research done by the researcher was applied and quantitive.These methods were
chosen by the researcher in order to adequately address the problem faced and to gather
information that can be analyzed to construct charts and graphs. Questionnaire was the method
chosen to conduct the survey needed to be carried out in this research. A questionnaire is a set of
written or printed questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purpose of a survey or
statistical study. This method was chosen in order for the researcher to be able to easily analyze
responses obtained in the survey and so that respondents can easily answer the questions asked.

Eight open ended and twelve closed ended questions were included in the questionnaire. From a
population of approximately one hundred and fifty persons in the community, twenty persons
between the age of eleven years and twenty years old were randomly selected to answer the
questionnaires. The respondents were randomly selected in order for the researcher to receive
varying responds.

This study was conducted during the period between 1st March, 2013 and 15th March,
2013.Questionnaire were distributed on 10th March, 2013 and collected on 11th March, 2013.The
data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed and presented using a variety of graphs.

9|Page
 Presentation Of Data

Figure 1 showing reasons why dancehall music have a

negitive impact on young adults

20% Dancehall artiste that young

25% adults listen to promate violence

Young adults look up to dancehall

artiste as role models for their life

Dancehall artiste promate

immoral acts that attracts young
adults
15%
Young adults take the words in
dancehall songs literally
40%

The above pie chart shows the reasons why young adults of the South Turkeyen Black and White Street
are so negatively influenced by dancehall music. Because the artistes promote violence 25% and
because young adults look to the artistes as, role models in their life 15% or because the music
promote immoral acts which attracts young adults 40% and that young adults take the lyrics of
dancehall music literally 20%.

10 | P a g e
 Figure 2 is a colum graph showing negitive effects of Dancehall
music on young adults

6 Because of the explict contents

Encourage illegal activities

5
Promate violance
Number of Responses

4 Men loose respect for women

Cause children to loose respect for

3 elders
Encourage immoral acts

2 Encourage stealing

Encourage having children out of

1 wedlock

0
Responses

The above diagram is a Colum graph showing the negative effects of dancehall music on young
adults in the community. This is done by dancehall music influencing them negatively with the
lyrics of the songs which promote violence 15% of responses, encouraging illegal activities5% of
responses, immoral acts5%, because of explicit contents 35% ,cause men to lose respect for
women 5% and encouraging having children out of wedlock 5%.

11 | P a g e
 Figure 3 is a Bar graph showing positive effects of Dancehall
music

Showcase talented young adults

Educate young adults about Raise self esteem

everyday life

Inspire young adults

Some songs encourage young
Responses

aults to take in their education

Help release stress

Help release stress

Some songs encourage young aults
to take in their education
Educate young adults about
Inspire young adults
everyday life
Showcase talented young adults
Raise self esteem

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of Responses

The above Graph shows how dancehall music can positively influence the young adults in the
community. 5% said it can positively influence them by raising their self esteem, 20% said by
inspiring them, 5% said because it release stress, 30% said because some songs encourage young
adults to take in their education and 20% said by showcasing young talents

12 | P a g e
 Interpretation of Findings

The survey done showed that a majority of young adults 60% listen to dancehall music when
compared with other results obtained which showed that 10% listen mostly to Pop, 10% listen to
R & B,5% listen to Rock 10% listen to Rap,5% listen to Reggae and non listen mostly to Gospel.
It also showed that 85% of respondents have family members that listen to dancehall music
home or around the respondent this may be a reason why so many young adults listen to
dancehall music in the community since they hear their elders and/or family listening to it.

55% of responses supported that dancehall music has both a negative and positive influences on
young adults while 30 % said its negative and 15 %said it has a positive influence. The
researcher determine from the information gathered that 45% of respondents listen to dancehall
music at home, 20% listen to it at school ,25% listen to it in public transportation (buses and cars
mainly) and 10% hear it playing at houses in the neighborhood. This shows that the environment
young adults are exposed to may be a reason why they listen to dancehall music.

The responses also indicated that dancehall music can positively influence young adults by
lifting their self esteem and educating them about life around but can also influence them
negatively with the lyrics of the songs which promote violence, encourage illegal activities and
other immoral acts. Most respondents listen to dancehall music because their peers or family
listen to it or because it relates to things they encounter in life.90% of respondents claimed that
yes there is a dancehall artiste that they admire and 50% of that 90% mentioned that that
dancehall artiste is Kartel , 45% said Tommey Lee and 5% said Popcaan. These dancehall
artistes that respondents admire are the most popular artiste in the Caribbean who sings lewd and
violent songs. Respondents claimed that they view these artistes as role models in their life
because they are popular 55%, their songs relate to their life 11% or because the artiste inspire
them11%.

Dancehall music seems to have an influence on the age that young adult became sexually active
as supported by 75% of responses but this was denied by 25% of respondents. This may lead to
other problems such as increase in teenage pregnancy 25%, increase in STDs in the community
65% and juvenile delinquency and school dropouts in the community 10%.This may be because
of dancehall music exposing young adults to raw, explicit, sexual and violent lyrics that
encourages young adults to take part in those acts by glorifying those acts.

Most responses 80% claimed that the government plays a role in promoting dancehall music and
20% claimed that the government does not. The responses indicated that to help prevent
dancehall music effect on young adults the government can ban dancehall music from being
played in public transportation 30%, ban songs and videos from certain dancehall artiste from the
country 45% or open community centers and playgrounds where young adults can take part in

13 | P a g e
activities instead of liming and listening to music 45%. Community members can also help by
having church activities in the communities that involve young adults 15%, monitor what their
children watch on TV or do on the internet 55%, ban their children from listening to dancehall
music 5% or have community meetings to discuss problems faced in the community and find out
the ways in which these problems can be best dealt with 25%.

Respondents said that dancehall music has a negative impact on young adults because the artistes
promote violence 25% and because young adults look to the artistes as, role models in their life
15% or because the music promote immoral acts which attracts young adults 40% and that young
adults take the lyrics of dancehall music literally 20%. In order to reduce the impact dancehall
music has on young adults respondents propose that dancehall artistes sing songs without explicit
lyrics 15%, put restrictions on shows so that only persons of a certain age and above can attend
70% or encourage young adults to stay away from violence and crime 15%.

14 | P a g e
 Discussion of Findings

The researcher must agree with the study, conducted by public policy analyst and doctoral
candidate, Tazhmoye Crawford, at the University of the West Indies, Mona in 2007 that showed
that teenagers are identifying music mainly of the dancehall genre as a trigger for early sexual
intercourse as was also found out in this survey that dancehall music which is the most popular
genre of music in the community influences young adults to become sexually active early in life
as was supported by a majority of the responses.

Family members and peers seems to influence what type of music young adults listen to as said
by Dr Marily Anderson in her article as results from this research supports what she said. The
results also showed that dancehall music is listen to mostly at home. Results also show that they
are also influence by the popularity of the artiste or how good the song sounds.

Not everyone agree with North America Journal of medical science who said that dancehall
music impact is purely negative as but it can be said that yardflex archives may be right as data
obtain shows that dancehall music has both positive and negative impacts on young adults. It can
also be said that young adults may not view the content of dancehall music that the North
America Journal of Medial sciences view negative in the same context. Although results
obtained also shows that dancehall music encourages sexual activities, promote violence along
with other immoral acts as was stated by the North American journal. But other results show the
positive aspects.

While most respondents believe that their favorite dancehall music can be consider a good role
model evidence obtained shows that these artiste may not have the quality of a good role model
as supported by a letter written the Kaietuer News paper. Although ideas proposed by
respondents to reduce the impact of dancehall music on young adults are of good quality the
researcher worries they might not work as critics and fans all have their own ideas of right and
wrong.

15 | P a g e
 Conclusion

The Black and White Street South Turkeyen community young adults are influenced and thus
affected by the positive and negative aspects of dancehall music as many other countries and
Caribbean territories. This survey done to have investigated the influences and effects of
dancehall music, it also found solutions that can be put in place help solve the problem faced.

This survey was limited by the size of the area that research was done in and also by the
questions in the questionnaire .This may mean that data gathered may relate to other
communities but data gathered relates to data gathered by other studies done before.

The researcher suggests that the members of the community come together and discuss the
problem faced and at the same time educate community members who are ignorant about the
influences of dancehall music and also find solutions that be best implemented in the
community.

16 | P a g e
 Bibliography

www.yardflex.com

http://thecaribbeancurrent.com

www.Jamaica-gleaner.com

www.kaieteurnewsonline.com

www.thefreedictionary.com

17 | P a g e
 Appendix

Picture above showing one of the popular Dancehall music dance moves

Picture of popular Dancehall artiste glorifying guns

Picture showing young adults “dancing” to Dancehall music

18 | P a g e