Secular Music and Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing: A Case of Youths, St. John The Evangelist Catholic Parish Karen, Nairobi-Kenya

Secular Music and Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing: A Case of Youths, St. John The Evangelist Catholic Parish Karen, Nairobi-Kenya

Luka Markus Bisu, M.A.
Psycho-Spiritual Institute of the Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.7620

Received: 24 April 2023; Revised: 25 May 2023; Accepted: 30 May 2023; Published: 27 June 2023

ABSTRACT

Secular music is common in every society and those who listen to it mostly are youths. Lyrical contents of many secular music today seem to have caused damage than good among youths. In our society today there is a widespread concern about the use of illicit drugs, increase violence which has become a public health problem with lifelong impact on the physical, social, psychological, and even spiritual life of many in the society. The rate of criminality seems to be on the increase, illicit sex is rampant in the society which often results in unwanted pregnancies, unprepared marriage, hence violent relationship. The research aimed at looking at secular music and psycho-spiritual wellbeing: A case of youths, St. John’s the Evangelist Catholic parish Karen, Nairobi-Kenya. The embedded mixed method design was deployed by the researcher. Responding to Likert-type survey creature for the research, 105 participants provided vital information (quantitative and qualitative) that were used for the research. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) helped in analyzing the data collected from the participants. The findings of this research may help the youths at different levels in the Church and beyond to evaluate themselves to see the negative influence of secular music on their psycho-spiritual well-being and how to manage them. The findings of the research showed that listening to secular music had both positive and negative effects on the lives of the youths of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Karen-Nairobi, Kenya. Psychologically, the findings showed that secular music help the youths as it relaxes the mind, while spiritually, listening to secular music does not help the youths improve in their spiritual wellbeing as it affects their time.

Keywords: secular, music, wellbeing, psychology, spirituality, youths

Operational Definitions of Terms

For the sake of this study, the following terms and their meanings were used:

Youths: young people who have reached the age of reasoning (18) and are within the age bracket of 18-35

Psycho-spiritual: it means integration of psychology and spirituality to facilitate human growth.

Secular music: any music that is not religious in nature.

Wellbeing: the state of being comfortable, healthy and happy

Rock secular music: According to Tim Grierson (2018) rock music can generally be described as hard-edged music performed with electric guitars, bass and drums and usually accompanied by lyrics sung by a vocalist. This study used the general understanding of rock secular music as described by Grierson. Rock music whether in Germany, America, Kenya or Canada is the same.

Rap secular music: It is also known as hip-hop secular music. like Rock music, rap secular music is the same worldwide.

INTRODUCTION

According to Malloch and Trevarthen (2018), music is at the center of what is means to be human – it is the sounds of human bodies and minds moving in creative, story-making ways. This means to say that music is as old as the human person and has perforated every aspect of human life. We are constantly surrounded by it in myriad forms. It pours forth in never-ending streams from radios, television sets, loud-speaker sys­tems, and phonographs. Every re­ligious meeting, every program, and every motion picture makes use of music in some way. According to Mehr et al (2019), secular music is one of the most universal ways of expression and communication for humankind and is present in the everyday lives of people of all ages and from all cultures around the world. Music is in fact universal in the sense that it exists in almost every society. Many metal, Rock secular music have erotic contents. In Kenya for instance, the gravest concern at the moment is the particular glorification and glamorization of sex, the open abuse of alcohol, drugs and substance which many rock and rap secular music promote.

Rap secular music is characterized by constant mention of drugs, violence, sex, and money. That combined with both the new wave of rapping about being addicted to pills, rapping about killing and beating people, and the fact that anyone can record a song nowadays, has created a generation of drug addicted violent youths. It seems Rappers have created a generation of pill addicted, money chasing and violent youths. Many rappers nowadays promote, glorify, or tell new stories about new drugs. First there was a use of Marijuana, which is still popularized in rap music today. This has left an imprint on the music world, and subsequently influence many youths to partake in the world of drugs.

The public outcry as a result of listening to secular music is value disorientation among the youths; the youths seem not to pattern their life on the acceptable norms and ideals of society in terms of obeying laws and orders.

Objectives Of the Study

This research aimed:

1. To explore the outcomes of rock secular music on the psychological wellbeing of the youth of St. John the Evangelist Karen, Nairobi.
2. To examine the influence of rap secular music on the spiritual life of youths of St. John the Evangelist Karen, Nairobi.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Rock secular music and psychological wellbeing of youths

Mengo (2011) carried on research on radio, a medium for fostering positive values among youth negatively influenced by rock music: A Case Study at Park 2 Estate in Langata Area. The research was carried out in Kenya. The participants for the research were young people aged between 17 years old to 25 years old. Simple random sampling was used to select 100 participants for the study. Two among the objectives of the research were: to investigate why today Rock music has become popular among the Kenyan youth, and to find out why most of the Kenyan youth are influenced negatively by this genre of music.

The findings of the research showed that most of the youth in park two prefer listening to Rock music due to the fact that the Rock appeals to their lifestyle. Another reason is that since some of the youths are literate, they find it easier to follow the program content and the ideologies they put forward. Some of the negative effects that have arisen from listening to Rock is that some of the youth use Rock to find solutions to personal problems and dress
code which support.

Another research was conducted by Zeena et al. (2018) on The Effect of Rap/Hip-Hop Music on Young Adult Smoking: An Experimental Study, Substance Use & Misuse. The research was conducted among 74 daily-smoking young adults ranging in age from 17 to 25 years old. The finding of the research showed that listening to rap/hip-hop, even rap hip/hop with frequent referrals to substance use (primarily alcohol and drug use, and general smoking referrals), does not seem to encourage cigarette smoking among Dutch daily-smoking young adults, at least short term.

Hogan, et al (2009), conducted research on the impact of music lyrics and music videos on children and youths. The findings suggest that secular music has both negative and positive impact on youths. The researchers realized that music plays an important role in the socialization of children and adolescents. They further maintain that teenager’s preference to Lyrics of some secular music genres, such as rock, heavy metal, rap, and new emerging genres such as reggae tone, have been found to revolve around topics such as sexual promiscuity, death, homicide, suicide, and substance abuse this in turn affect the behavior of many youths negatively.

State of the mind of youth determines how secular music impact them. The same music can have different effect on the youths. Mcferran, (2016) conducted research on contextualizing the relationship between music, emotions and the wellbeing of young people: a critical interpretation synthesis. The research was carried out in Australia. Mcferran observed that use of music varies across a wellbeing continuum, particularly noting that the same music can have a different effect depending on the state of wellbeing of the individual.

Thomson et al (2014) had this to say after their research that music-related mood regulation predicted level of psychopathology. They went further to say that high use of mood regulation strategy discharge predicted high level of depression, anxiety, and stress and they conclude that music-related mood regulation may perform a maladaptive function in certain individuals that promote psychopathology.

Rap secular music and spiritual wellbeing of youths

Dror (2008) conducted research on the role of Rap/Hip Hop music in the meaning and maintenance of identity in South African youth. The sample consisted of 8 students that volunteered to participate in the study. The students were between the ages of 18 and 24 and comprised of individuals who self-identified as Rap or HipHop listeners. The aim of the study was to explored the role of Rap/Hip Hop music, as one of the most popular global and local genres of music, in the meaning and maintenance of identity in a cohort of Southern African youth. The researcher found out that in some ways then Hip Hop in South Africa, appears to provide youth with the means to remix past and present, old and new, global and local, self and other.

Ndungu (2017) conducted research on the impact of the beat music program on sexual behaviour among adolescents in Kikuyu sub-county, Kenya. One of the specific objectives of the research was to investigate the factors that influence adolescents’ sexual behavior among adolescents in Kikuyu sub-county. The findings revealed that sexual content on music program, entertainment messages on television which strongly correlates with negative and adolescent behaviour result in adolescent’s pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. This affects good relationship among youths.

Morality of youths have been affected by listening to secular music with bad lyrical contents. This encourage bad bahaviour. Research was carried out by Mulwa (2016) on the effects of lewd, vulgar, violent and obscene local and international music on children, youth and the society in general in Kenya. The research was conducted in Kenya. The findings of the research showed that heavy presence of profanities and vulgarities in secular songs (music) which are extremely popular especially among children and the youth, have seen to the general decline of moral values among the youth with particular reference to increased cases of indiscipline and declining education standards. Hence, the music available to the youth do not inspire them to become better persons in society. This negative impact on the youths according to Mulwa affects their spiritual life as many have lost sense of the sacred: many do not see meaning in going to Church.

METHODOLOGY

Sampling procedure and sample size

Simple random sampling (Probability sampling) was used by the researcher in this study to generate data needed for the research questions. By choosing sampling procedure, the researcher generated number randomly for each element using excel after having the list of all the youths, then took the first number (n) samples that the researcher requires. The rationale behind choosing simple random sampling is that, it was easier for the researcher to form representative groups from an overall population. It also offered an equal chance of selecting everyone within the population group. The researcher selected 110 youths using simple random sampling out of the target population of 152 to participate in filling the questionnaire. Only 95 participants validly filled the questionnaires as 15 were invalid as a result of not filling all the items on the questionnaires and one was missing.

Embedded mixed method design was used for this study where by one data played primary role while another played secondary roll. The quantitative data in this study played primary role while the qualitative data played secondary role. This is to say that the secondary data supports the primary data.

DEMOGRAPHIC OF THE INTERVIEWED

Table 1. The interviewed list and codes

Table 1 indicates the codes assigned to each participant. The researcher collected qualitative data from five youth leaders. The researcher used purposive sampling procedure to select the participants for the interview. Male out numbered female. This however did not affect the results significantly.

Coding the participants for focus group

Table 2. Focus group list and codes of participants

Table 2 shows the list of the participants for the focus group. It indicates that all the selected youths participated. Male outnumbered female. They are all learned enough to give vital information to be used for this research.

DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The researcher did not use standardized instrument, instead he developed the instrument for the research based on the variables which included; relationships, satisfaction, prayer, self-knowledge, happiness, and Church attendance.

However, the researcher used Likert-type (1= strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=not sure, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) scales to measure the participants’ levels of agreement to the interview.  The questionnaire was pre-tested on 22 participants. Those who participated at that pre-test were not part of the participants for the main research. The participants were between the age of 18 and 38. The reliability of the instrument was tested using SPSS Version 26. From the statistical tests, the alpha coefficient for the 22 items is .791, suggesting that the items have relatively high internal consistency. A reliability coefficient of .70 or higher was considered acceptable in most social science research situations.

The researcher considered data collection instruments such as questionnaire and interview guides. The data were collected scientifically. Research is said to be scientific if it is systematically planned before performing it. The primary purpose of questionnaire is to help extract data from the participants.

RESULTS OF ROCK SECULAR MUSIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING

Table 3. Rock secular music and psychological wellbeing

In Table 3 SD=Strongly Disagree describes the lowest degree of the influence of secular music on psychological wellbeing. SA=Strongly Agree describes the highest degree of the influence. In addition, D=Disagree means low influence and A=Agree means above average degree while NS=Not Sure stands in between agree and disagree.

Results

Responding to the statement which sought to know if listening to rock secular music makes youths happy and give them the satisfaction they want, the mean percentage scores in support of the statement rated 55.9% while the mean percentage scores which does not support the statement was 25.7%. This shows that listening to rock secular music makes the youths happy and gives them satisfaction by relaxing the mind.  

Discussion of the quantitative finding and interviews

Emotional health and overall functioning youths are things of concern. The first objective of this study is to explore the outcomes of listening to rock secular music on the psychological wellbeing of youths. The findings indicated that majority of youths find listening to rock secular music helpful as it makes them happy and relaxes the mind. This finding is in congruence with Odhiambo (2021) who found out that secular music helps solving some life situations likes stress, to release tension, and to encourage them to move with life. This result also corresponds with Gustavson et al. (2021) who observed that listening to secular music is associated with better mental health outcomes. They went further to say that music engagement is positively associated with quality of life, wellbeing, social connectedness and emotional competence.

Based on the quantitative data collected and analyzed, the results show that majority of the youths listen to secular music.  Their reason for listening to rock secular music is because of its therapeutic effects on their mental health. This brings out the entertaining aspect of listening to rock secular music, as it relaxes the mind, it makes youths happy and it reduces feeling of loneliness. When the mind is well entertained and is relaxed, study has shown that the person becomes happier. It means then relaxed mind has protective effect against anxiety and depression. Research has also shown that loneliness can augment depression and anxiety. It raises levels of stress, impede sleep and in turn harm the body.

The participants were asked to explain why they listen to rock secular music more among other secular music. Their opinions differ. Participant A has this to say:

I listen to Rhythm and Blues (R&B), but I mostly listen to rock music, among other secular music because they are cool music, they are not too loud, they are not vigorous just calm. they give satisfaction to the heart when listened to. They are soothing. They are not confused. They make me forget my sorrows and heal memory (Interviewed February 17, 2023).

For participant A, the volume, the tempo (which is the speed), and the contents matter a lot when it comes to listening to secular music. For the participant, the therapeutic nature of the rhythm and Blues (R&B) music, especially rock music makes them unique. It is unique because they have therapeutic effects on the listener in the sense that they music brings psychological healing to the troubled mind. This finding tallies with what Susan (2017) said; the Rock music has a popular following because it helps some people cope with problems and identify with their peers.

Participant B has this to say regarding the genre and reason for listening to such secular music.

I listen to rock, raggae, and pop secular music., but I listen to rock music most at time. This is because they have some kind of messages that they portray. You can listen to every word by word and the artists do not use harsh words and the messages are not offensive. They entertain me and regulate moods. This makes me happy (Interviewed February 17, 2023).

What matters for participant B in listening secular music is the content (lyric) of the music not the beats or the physical appearance of the artist. As long as the content is not offensive and the message is clear, it is edible for participant B. The opinion of participant suggest that the content of the music is what matters. Music is good as long as it talks about peace, addresses social injustices such as corruption, bad governance, and oppression of the poor. This suggests that some youths listen to secular not because others also listen to them, but because of what they get from the music.

Participant C shares similar view with participant B, however the participant has different view in terms of genre. The participant has this to say:

I listen to rock and blues. This is because they are slow music, at least you can hear the words. You can get the meaning when you listen to them. They relax the mind. It is not about the beats but the lyrical content which calls for deep reflection (interviewed February 17, 2023).

Based on the view of participant C, music is important if it is educative and easy to understand the content. The idea of participant C about blue secular music is in congruence with Berk (2023 January, 24) who says that the blues lyrics typically feature harsh topics, melancholy, and sadness. That is why “feeling the Blues” means feeling sad and gloomy. The music is about love and life. For the rock secular music, it means that it eases stress, and relieve anxiety. The implication here is that when the mind is relaxed, it helps the body to save energy.

For participant D, listening to rock secular music is therapeutic as it relaxes a troubled mind. The participant puts it thus:

I listen to secular music like rock music partly. I listen to secular music just to pass time but mainly because it brings relaxation to the mind (Interviewed February 17, 2023).

For participant D, rock secular music entertains, and relaxes the mind. aside its therapeutic nature, rock secular music bring amusement and joy, holds attention and interest of youths. They give pleasure and delight.

Participant E also shares the same view with others about the reasons for listening to rock secular music.  The participant had this to say:

On a general note, I listen to almost all kinds of secular music. However, I mainly listen to rap (hip hop) and rock secular music. The reason I listen to those genres mostly is that there is stereotype about the artists of hip hop and songs that they [artists] portray hanker or rod but for me I look for the lyrics. Sometimes the hip hop artists speak sense but if one is not keen one will stereotype them as bad people but for me, I look into the sense they speak (interviewed February 17, 2023).

Though participant E seems to be listening to all kinds of secular music. However, his reason for listening to rock music among others is the message artists pass and misunderstanding people have about artists. This view suggests that the importance of a music does not depend on the artist. The also view suggests that the impact of secular music depends on individuals as everyone has what they look for in secular music.

RESULTS OF RAP SECULAR MUSIC AND SPIRITUAL WELLBEING

Table 4. Descriptive statistic of rap Secular Music and Spiritual wellbeing of the youths

Results

In Table 4, responding to the question which sought to know if listening to rap secular music helps improve the spirituality of the youths. “Listening to rap secular music helps improve my prayer life”. The mean percentage that agrees with the statement scores 8.7%. While the mean percentage that disagree with the statement scores 63.4%. This finding show that listening to rap secular music does not support the spirituality of the youths.

Discussion of the quantitative finding and focus group discussion  

Participation in rap secular music has affected the participants’ daily activities largely. The data collected from the interviews confirmed that youth spent important portions of their leisure time listening to rap secular music or other related activities which resulted to not having enough time for prayer. Majority of the youths identified with rap secular music as one of the major secular music they listen to. The participants also spoke about the ways they engage with listening to rap music. The lyrics seemed to play important role of facilitating a means of expression that made the listeners to get a sense of personality that the artists were attempting to project.

In a group discussion with five participants, the researcher asked the participants to explain how listening to rap secular music affect their spiritual life, participant 1 has this to say:

Despite the fact that I enjoy listening to secular music, it has some negative impact on my prayer life. This is because secular music takes much of my free time which I could use to meditate or read the Bible. Listening to secular music reduces my time to connect to God who is my creator (group discussion March 5, 2023).

This response by participant 1 reveals that secular music has negative effects on the spiritual life directly or indirectly. The participant knows the importance of prayer. However, it seems there is misplacement of priority. Why the participant decided to listen to rap secular music at the time they suppose to pray opens another area for further research.

Participant 2 had the same view with participant 1. Participant 2 added that the availability of secular music makes it difficult to pray always. The participant put it thus:

At times I tend to forget to pray because rap secular music are everywhere around us, wherever we live. In every part of this world no matter what, secular music is found everywhere. So, you may not have the comfortable environment to pray so you have to always move up and down. It affects my prayer life where by I don’t have enough time to pray (group discussion March 5, 2023).

For participants 1 and 2, listening to secular music despite its therapeutic impact, listening to rap secular music could constitute a hindrance to prayer life. Their availability makes it difficult to concentrate on prayer. This view suggests that one can concentrate on prayer where there is less noise or sound. This view brings out the distracting nature of rap secular music.

Participant 3 has a contrary view about the effect of rap secular music on spiritual life. The participant does not see rap secular music as something that distracts prayer life. The participant has this to say:

Rap secular music does not affect my prayer life. I have time for everything. I have time to study, time to play games, and time to chat with friends. So, I have time to pray. When it is time for prayer, I suspend anything I am doing for the prayer. I don’t joke with my prayer time. In short, nothing takes the place of my prayer time. (Group discussion March 5 2023).

Based on the view of participant 3, it seems paying attention to the rap secular music to the detriment of the one’s prayer life is a matter of priority. The view of participant 3 suggests that negative impact of rap secular music depends on individuals. This view seems to align with what Megan (2021) said. Megan says music affects your mood, which in turn affects your behavior. This does not mean that we will always act out on what is being said in music, but we have to acknowledge that not only does secular music provide us information that shapes our worldview, but it will also bring a mood, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Participants 4 shares the same view with 1, that secular music impacts on spiritual life negatively. However, the participant added that rap secular music not only affect private prayers but also public prayers. The participant puts it thus:

Rap secular music seriously affects prayer life in the sense that music consumes time more than prayer. When bored, prayer becomes a burden because it does not energize like secular music. when you are tired, you don’t feel like doing anything again than to listen to secular music. On several occasions I failed to go to Church as a result of listening to secular music (group discussion March 5, 2023).

The view of participant 4 seems to bring out the entertaining, therapeutic aspects of listening to rap secular music. It also suggests that prayer does not entertain one, it does not heal instantly. This view opens up another point of research on why prayer does not bring instant healing. This may be difficult to understand because one has no power to answer his/her prayer by themselves.

Participant 5 seems to agree with participant 4. The participant said:

Listening to secular music has made a negative impact on my prayer life in the sense that my prayer life seems to be replaced with listening to rap secular music because prayer is not entertaining (group discussion March 5, 2023).

Based on the view of participant 5, it seems prayer life is relegated to the background as listening to rap secular music has taken the center stage. In other word, listening to rap secular music has taken precedence over prayer because the entertaining aspect of rap secular music has overshadowed the solemn spirit of prayer.

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

Based on the quantitative data collected and analyzed, the results show that rock secular music has come to stay in the life of the youths as majority of the youths listen to secular music.  From the psychological point of view, the findings show that secular music is used for entertainment, as it relaxes the mind, it makes youths happy and it reduces feeling of loneliness. When the mind is well entertained and is relaxed, study has shown that the person becomes happier. It means then relaxed mind has protective effect against anxiety and depression. Research has also shown that loneliness can augment depression and anxiety. It raises levels of stress, impede sleep and in turn harm the body.

This brings out the therapeutic nature of rock secular music among the youths. The researcher goes to add that though rock secular music may not solve every psychological and emotional challenges, however, the fact that the same research confirmed that listening to secular music entertains and relaxes the mind, it goes to say that it has positive indirect impact on tensed and disturbed mind.

From the spiritual point of view, based on the data collected and analyzed, the findings showed that listening to secular music does not improve prayer life. Hence, it does not improve relationship with God, neither does not also improve relationship with the opposite sex. This means listening to rap secular music does not add positively to the spiritual wellbeing of the youths. Hence, listening to secular music is detrimental to the spiritual life of youths.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

This study has some limitations. The first limitation is the instrument used for the study. It was not standardized; this is the first time the instrument was used. The findings of this study could be used to improve the instrument for further research to guarantee its reliability. The findings of the research can not be generalized to any group of youths. The researcher used foreign articles on issue that concerns Africa, Kenya to be precise presuming that rock and rap (hip hop) secular music are same worldwide.

CONCLUSION

               The study revealed that secular music has come to stay among the youths as majority of the youths listen to secular music. Therefore, the study concludes that the negative impact of secular music on the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of youths comes mostly from the lyrical contents of music. Based on the information gathered, the study also concludes that secular music is therapeutic as well as detrimental to the psychology of the youths. It is therapeutic because it entertains and it relaxes the mind. It is detrimental because it leads the youths to bad relationship and spiritual growth.

               The study also concludes that secular music has negative impact on the spiritual life of the youth in the sense that it reduces their prayer time and makes them pray less. Lastly the study revealed that secular music improves the life of youths in terms of making them discover their talents like dance, singing, and also serve as source of livelihood.

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