Importance of Music for Pakistani Youth

Abstract

Several studies have addressed the importance and function of music for Western adolescents, but so far no research has considered whether these findings can be generalized to non-Western samples. Accordingly, data was collected from 1000 Pakistani postgraduate students which indicated that 98.1% enjoyed listening to music; average exposure was 1.45 hours per day; the most popular styles were Pakistani classical music, Western pop music, and ghazal; 8.9 % played a musical instrument with average 1.69 hours per day; listening to music was preferred to all indoor activities considered and to two outdoor activities; playing music was preferred to all but one of the indoor and one of the outdoor activities; preference for listening and playing music relative to other indoor and outdoor activities varied significantly between boys and girls and listening and playing music had different perceived benefits that could be grouped into six and seven factors respectively. These findings are compared with earlier Western research.