The Internalization of a Performance-Oriented Self-Concept Among Adolescents Through Their Favorite Music Artists

Abstract

Music is a highly popular yet understudied element of adolescents’ media and cultural consumption that functions as an influential agent of socialization. Past work has shown the presence of performance-oriented values in popular music products, which conceive of individuals as worthy based on the ambitions, hard work, and competencies used to overcome difficulties. Drawing on social cognitive theory as well as on the concepts of (wishful) identification and biographic resonance, the present three-wave survey among Belgian adolescents (N = 405, Mage = 15.1, SDage = 1.5, identify as girls = 64%) tested the effects of performance-oriented messages that young people consume in the music products of their favorite artists on their performance-oriented self-concept, and it also theorized boundary conditions. Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models with multigroup moderation designs did not confirm the hypotheses that exposure to performance-oriented messages influence the development of performanceoriented self-concept and that wishful identification and similarity characteristics with favorite artists moderate this relationship. We conclude by reflecting about the potential causes of these null findings and provide theoretical and methodological suggestions to further illuminate the role of popular music in adolescents’ formation of beliefs and identity.