Young people who listen to pop music are less likely to be involved in politics than those who listen to all other types of music, according to a study by the Church's research institute.

The finding was part of the Youth Engagement Study, which surveyed people aged 16-25 on their involvement in politics and community work in Malta. 

Overall, it found that people in this age group are more likely to be engaged in community organisations rather than in political groups or parties.

However it found that there were several factors, including their taste in music, that could predict whether are not they would participate in politics.  

Of those surveyed, 38% chose pop music as their favourite music genre while the remainder chose classical, electronic, hip hop, rap, RnB, rock, metal or 'other'. 

For analytical purposes, the views of those who chose pop music, were pitted against the rest.

Pop and politics

"Having pop music as one’s favourite music genre negatively predicts political engagement," the study said.

"Those who favour Pop Music as their favourite music genre have a lower Nominative Political Engagement score, when compared with the rest, who favour other music genres".

The report's authors suggested that young people's at times exclusive reliance on social media might mean they are "consulting a media landscape that does not promote in-depth reflection on issues of importance."

It suggested there was a need to promote critical thinking skills in the age group. 

The report's authors linked this to the finding on music that "may reflect a relationship between gravitating toward the generic in musical terms (i.e., favouring pop music) and gravitating toward political disengagement.

"Alternatively, however, this finding could well be attributed to the changing nature of pop music over the years, such that it is presently the contents of the music itself (e.g., current pop lyrics, etc.) that promote relative disengagement."

As well as music, the study found that the older a person is within this age group, the less politically engaged they are likely to be.

However, those whose religious beliefs influence their political choices or who read up on different ideologies, or are engaged in their community, are more likely to be involved in politics, it suggested.

The study of 428 young people was carried out in April-May.

Six-point scale

Respondents were asked a series of questions to gauge how engaged they are in political and community events, from voting in elections to posting opinions on social media.

Responses were ranked on a six-point scale, with 1 representing very low engagement and 6 representing very high engagement. 

Researchers then took an average of each person’s various responses to extract an overall score for each respondent, allowing them to compare young people's interest in political engagement to that in more community-focused initiatives.

According to the findings, the average young person is likely to feel responsible for their community, be informed about community issues and volunteer in it, financially support charitable organisations and help the poor and the hungry.

Respondents were asked to rank from 1 to 6 their engagement in community work.

On the other hand, even though they feel compelled to vote in elections and sign online petitions, young people are less likely to be interested in day-to-day participation, discussion and decision-making within political groups and parties.

They are unlikely to join and support a political party that represents their interests, reach out to politicians or authorities, organise or participate in public protests and demonstrations, express their opinion publicly and communicate with journalists on political problems.

Young people ranked from 1 to 6 how likely they were to engage in political activities.

The survey was conducted by Discern - The Institute of Research on the Signs of the Times - and was supported by the Malta Catholic Youth Network, and the Justice and Peace Commission.

It also found that the most important issue for young people is health, followed by the environment and then work.

71% of young people stated that they consider the environment as being 'extremely important' and 19% said they considered it as 'very important.'

The environment scored significantly higher than work, and the contrast is stark, considering that one of the most pressing concerns for young people has always been how to create a career and provide a decent living for themselves and their young families.

This study seems to suggest, however, that youths are growing warier of environmental destruction.

The study also revealed that young women are more likely than young men  to consider faith as important, vote for more than one party, consider migration as an important issue, engage in community activities and see work in the community in a more positive light.

Those with a tertiary level of education were also more likely to consider faith as important and vote for more than one party, but were also more likely to "inform themselves about different political ideologies" and "consider the environment, the improvement of institutions and migration as important issues in the local context at present."

According to the results, "36% consider social media as their main source for current affairs, 22% stated they updated themselves on the news both from social media and from websites such as news portals, and 10% refer directly to news websites."