Name: Anthonyo Calvin

School: Cornwall College

Centre Number: 100023
Territory: Jamaica
Table Of Content
 Introduction
Problem statement
This research main focus is “the negative impact of dancehall music on teenagers in Montego
Bay, Jamaica”
Statement of problem
There has been concerned evidence of teenagers misconducting themselves in schools,
furthermore these behaviours have been linked to dancehall music. There were also concerns
that a particular age group has been influenced by dancehall music. With rising concerns of
teenagers being negatively impacted by dancehall music; the government has imposed
measures to help reduce the negative impact of dancehall.
Research Question

1. What is the average age group that listens to dancehall music?

2. What are the common behaviours influenced by dancehall music in
schools?
3. What are the measures imposed to help reduce the influence dancehall
music has on teenagers?
Purpose of study
The purpose of this research is to provide steps to help teenagers to understand how these
negative impacts of dancehall music can be detrimental to their lives. In addition, this would
raise awareness about the problems and recommend solutions to help solve the problem.
This research is a requirement from C.A.P.E to contribute to the researcher final grade, the
researcher chose this topic, because he aspires to become a dancehall artist. This research is
aimed to hone the critical thinking, writing and reading skills of the researcher.

Definition of key term

 Dancehall music- A style of Jamaica popular music that had genesis in political
turbulence and became Jamaica’s dominant music.
 Impact- A significant influence caused by something.
 Student- A person enrol in a school for learning.
 School- An institution for educating people.
 Literature Review
Dancehall music is prevalent in Jamaica, and has captured the attention of many teenagers.
Due to its detrimental negative influence on teenagers, Jamaica has banned negative
dancehall music. According to Smith (2019), the influence of dancehall music on teenagers
has impacted their minds negatively. This contributes heavily to crime and violence, sexual
behaviours, and causes a drastic increase in drug use among youth.
Dancehall music in today’s society exposes teenagers to immoral sexual behaviours. Such
kind of immoral sexual behaviour is due to the stimulating effect of sexual music our
teenagers gravitate towards. This raises much public health and policy concerns, especially in
an era where first sexual debut is at the mean age of 11.4 years for boys and 12.8 years for
girls in Jamaica according to statistics. The study, which centered on contraceptive use
among adolescents, revealed that a number of children aged nine to 17, identified popular
music as the main influence for experimenting with sex. The promotion of promiscuous
behaviour and sexual acts are a common fixture in the genre, and the lyrical content tends to
influence the young listeners. Songs like Mavado's  “Neva Believe Yuh” and “Vybz
Kartel's Dumper Truck” accompany lewd images of how women, in particular, and men
should behave. Is this what we want our teens to be emulating? “Backing it up” on each other
to loud music in public displaying sexual acts? Artistes fail to take responsibility for their
strong influence on the nation's youth.
According to Thomas (2022), charges have been laid against the three teenagers who were
allegedly found with an illegal firearm in Falmouth, Trelawny on Monday. The three
juveniles, one of whom is 14 and the other two 16, were scheduled to appear in the Family
Court in Falmouth on Thursday. Dancehall music in today's society exposes young minds to
violence. This influences the youngsters to behave violently and it seems acceptable in their
minds.
Furthermore, according to Jordan (2022), more Jamaican teenagers are dabbling in
dangerous drugs such as Molly and edibles and engaging in vaping but are unaware of the
grave risks.
A risk assessment study carried out in 13 parishes and high schools among 160 students in
grades eight to 10 found that Molly, vaping and edibles were among the top three sources of
abuse among teenagers. An artist who goes by the name ‘Skeng’ is the main Dancehall artist
who glorifies the intake of molly. The artist entails the Molly drying on lips, as it was found
that drugs were on the teenager's lips.
According to Carter (2022), Jamaica's broadcasting regulator has banned music and TV
broadcasts deemed to glorify or promote criminal activity, violence, drug use, scamming and
weapons.
The government said the ban is meant to cut back on material that 'could give the wrong
impression that criminality is an accepted feature of Jamaican culture and youths.
 Data Collection
Primary Source
Firstly, I will be participating in observation to get a first-hand view of reactions of teenagers
whilst partaking. This observation was done at Cornwall College on November 5-10 2022. It
Easy way to gather information, thereby posing little or no difficulty in completing.
An interview was conducted among 10 students at Cornwall College on November 7, 2022,
based on the negative impacts that dancehall music had posed on them. These students were
chosen mainly, because they have been caught violating many school rule policies and the
researcher believes dancehall music is the reason for it. This instrument was chosen, because
the interview is able to collect relatively accurate first hand responses from individual, as the
data responded is easily analyse.
Furthermore, primary data were studied as they were essential to the overall understanding of
the topic.
 Presentation and Analysis of Data
Figure 1. Table showing the amount of students who listen dancehall music

Students Yes I listen Dancehall music I don’t listen dancehall

music
Student A I do
Student B I do
Student C I don’t
Student D I do
Student E I do
Student F I do
Student G I do
Student H I do
Student I I do
Student J I don’t

Of the student sample 80% listen dancehall music, while 20% does not listen dancehall
music.

Figure 2. Pie chart showing the student’s reasons for listening dancehall
music
 Student's reasons for listening dancehall
music

Entertainment
20% Listen it because it is trendy
It helps when studying
I don’t listen to it
10% 50%

20%

50% indicated that they listen because it is entertainment, while 20% listen for
its trendiness, 10% says it helps when studying, and 20% doesn’t listen
dancehall music.
Figure 3. Column chart showing how students were introduced to dancehall music

How students were introduce to dancehall music

40.00%

35.00%

30.00%

25.00%

20.00%

15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00%
Percentage

35% of the students were introduced by family, while 25% were introduced by Social media, 25%
were introduced by their friends, and 15% were introduced by the Radio.
Figure 4. Sunburst Chart showing how often students listen dancehall music

50% of students listen it every day, 20% of the students listen it twice per week, 10% of the
students listen it every week, and 20% don’t listen to it.
Figure 5. Table showing the gender listened most frequently
Students Male Female
Student A I do
Student B I do
Student C I do
Student D I do
Student E I do
Student F I do
Student G I do
Student H I do
Student I I do
Student J I do

Most frequently listen gender is male with 80% and 20% to female.
Figure 6. Pie chart showing student’s mood whilst from listening dancehall music?

Student's mood whilst from listening dancehall music

High spirit Relax Positive
Aggression Idont listen to dancehall music

20% 20%

10%
20%

30%

The students indicated that 20% of them became high spirited when listening dancehall
music, 30% felt a positive mood whilst, 20% felt aggression, 20% felt aggression and 20%
felt relax while listening dancehall music.
Figure 7. Sunburst chart showing the negative impact of dancehall music.

Negativity of dancehall music

Yes No

20%

80%

80% responded that dancehall music has a negative impact, and 20% disagree.
Figure 8. Column chart showing the strength of negative impact dancehall music has on the
students

Str ength of negati ve im pact of

dancehall m us ic
Series 1
45.00%
40.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Weak Average Strong It doesn't have an
impact

40% of the students doesn’t think dancehall music has an negative impact on them, 10% felt
it has a weak impact, 20% felt is has an average impact, and 30% felt it has a strong impact
on them.
Figure 9. Area chart showing the amount of student’s dancehall change their personality.

Percentage of student's dancehall change

their personality
70

60

50

40

30 No

20 Yes

10

0
Yes No

percnetage of studen'ts dancehall change their personality

Majority of the the student’s personality wasn’t changed by dancehall music which is 60%
and 40% of them personality was changed.
Figure 10. Pie chart showing student’s role model artist

Student's role model artist

20%

30%

20%

20%
10%

Vybz Kartel Skeng Teejay

Skillibeng I don’t have a role dancehall artist

30% of the student’s role model was vybz kartel, 20% of the student’s role model was
skillibeng, 10% of the student’s role model was Teejay, 20% of the student’s role model was
skeng, and 20% don’t have a role model artist.
Figure 11. Student’s reason on whether dancehall music promotes violence among teenagers

Student's reason for violence among teenagers

45%

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
The negtive message the The negative actions the It does not promote gang
lyrics promote artist do violence

Percentage

40% of the student’s felt that negative message the lyrics promote from dancehall music
promotes gang violence, 30% felt that the negative actions artist commit stems to the reason
violence is been promoted violence among teenagers, and 30% doesn’t think it promotes
violence.
Figure 12. Pie chart showing amount of student’s opinion of dancehall music degrading
women in society.

Amount of student's who think dancehall music degardes

women

Yes No

Majority of the student’s responded that dancehall music degrades women in society with
60%, and 40% disagree.
Figure 13. Tree map showing student’s opinion on whether dancehall music promotes drugs
among teenagers

70% of the student’s agree that dancehall music promotes drugs among teenagers, and 30%
disagree.
Figure 14. Bar chart showing recommendations to reduce the negative effects of dancehall
music

Chart Title

Fines

Cernsorship

Ban

Other

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Column2 Column1 Series 1

Response shows that the majority of 50% of students choose ban, 25% choose fine, while
25% choose censorship, and 0% choose others.
 Discussion of Finding
According to carter (2019) the influence of dancehall music on teenagers has impacted their
minds negatively. This contributes heavily to crime and violence, sexual behaviours, and
causes a drastic increase in drug use among youth. However, the students (70%) agree that
dancehall music promotes drugs in school, furthermore 40% of the student’s felt that negative
message the lyrics promote from dancehall music promotes gang violence, 30% felt that the
negative actions artist commit stems to the reason violence is been promoted violence among
teenagers. This supports the recent dancehall feud between “vybz kartel” and “Movado” from
their factitious behaviours which was publicized. Which led to students forming alliance and
fighting one another.
This supports Thomas (2022) statement that dancehall music in today's society exposes
young minds to violence. This influences the youngsters to behave violently and it seems
acceptable in their minds. 40% of the student’s personalities were altered. According to
Jordan (2022), more Jamaican teenagers are dabbling in dangerous drugs such as Molly and
edibles and engaging in vaping but are unaware of the grave risks. This dramatic increase of
drug abuse among teenagers has been link to the influence of Dancehall music. An artist who
goes by the name ‘Skeng’ is the main Dancehall artist who glorifies the intake of molly. 20%
of the students viewed “skeng” as their role model.
According to Carter (2022), Jamaica's broadcasting regulator has banned music and TV
broadcasts deemed to glorify or promote criminal activity, violence, drug use, scamming and
weapons. 50% of the students choose to ban dancehall music to reduce the negative impact
of dancehall music on teenagers.
 Conclusion/Limitations/Recommendation

In general, the students of Cornwall College School are negatively impacted by dancehall
music. It was established that the lyrics play a driving factor and so do the artistes of these
songs. The lyrics aid with gang evidence within the school and degrade young women.
However, a significant majority of the sample does not believe that dancehall music has an
impact on them.
Interestingly, the recent feuds between dancehall Skeng and Skillibeng has led to affecting
the emotional behaviours of the teenagers. Causing them to affirm themselves into informal
allegiance resulting in an outbreak of gang violence in the school.
Limitation
The presented research was easily accessible by the researcher. As a result, this research was
limited by the precise sample size, making it difficult to make generalizations about students
in Jamaica. The instruments utilized for collection of data were not time consuming.
Recommendation
Negative impacts such as: gang violence and degrading lyrics of young women promote
indicates that there is need for censorship of lyrics or fines to be enforced. These necessary
actions should be taken by the relevant authorities to prevent dancehall music from degrading
society. In addition, the government of Jamaica could provide various resources that would
motivate artists to promote positive lyrics which would impact on the youths. Also, the wider
society of Jamaica can contribute by putting a stop to listening to negative and degrading
dancehall music.
 Bibliography
1. https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!
&&p=a254e789e5a18eafJmltdHM9MTY3MDQ1NzYwMCZpZ3VpZD0wMWViOD
E2My00NzJhLTZiYzItM2FmZi05MWFmNDY0NjZhYzUmaW5zaWQ9NTIwOQ&
ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=01eb8163-472a-6bc2-3aff-
91af46466ac5&psq=negative+effects+dancehall+has+on+youths&u=a1aHR0cHM6L
y93d3cuc3R1ZHltb2RlLmNvbS9lc3NheXMvTmVnYXRpdmUtRWZmZWN0cy1EY
W5jZS1IYWxsLU11c2ljLUhhcy00NDk0ODYwNS5odG1s&ntb=1

2. Jamaica Observer (2022)

3. Jamaica Gleaner (2019)

 Appendix
Interview Questions
1. Do you listen dancehall music?
2. What is/are the reason you listen dancehall music?
3. How were you introduce to dancehall music?
4. How often do you listen dancehall music?
5. Which gender music you listen more?
6. What mood do you get from listening dancehall music?
7. Do you think dancehall music promotes negative messages?
8. What is/are the negative impact of dancehall music on you?
9. Does dancehall music change your personality?
10. Who is your dancehall artist as a role model?
11. Do you think dancehall music promotes drug abuse among teenagers?
12. How does dancehall music promotes gang violence among teenagers?
13. Do you think dancehall music degrades women in society?
14. What are recommendations you would suggest to help reduce the negative influence
of dancehall music on teenagers?
15. How does dancehall music impact your behaviour on school compound?