Our lives and our songs    Do you ever listen to the songs that your parents like? Chances are that you don't. You probably think the music that they like is old and dull and that the songs on your playlist are much cooler.     But here is what scientists found recently : People's music tastes change as they age, according to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. So it is likely that your own musical preferences will follow a similar path to your parents', whether you like it or not.    We used to think that culture and personality are the only factors   that affect one's music choice. But researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, gathered data from more than 250,000 people over the past 10 years. They noticed that as people age, their social circumstances   change, and so does their music taste.     There are three musical periods that people pass through as they mature -- "intense ", "contemporary" and " sophisticated  ".    The first period comes in the teenage years , during which people like intense music such as punk and rock because teenagers tend to be aggressive and want to establish their identities as independent individuals.     But as people move into early adulthood, their lifestyle changes --they socialize  more and want to build close relationships with others. As a result, they become more fond of contemporary music ,such as pop and R&B, which is usually uplifting and danceable and played at parties where people hang out together and chat.     When middle age comes, things have settled down for most people. This period will be dominated  by more "sophisticated" music, such as jazz and classical, as well as more catchy music like country, folk and blues.     " For many , this life stage is frequently exhausted  by work and family, and there is a requirement for relaxing , emotive  music,"Jason Rentfrow, a research member , told The Telegraph.    But you must be thinking : "Aren't there old people who are still into rock music ?"    Of course there are. But Rentfrow explained that their reasons for listening to rock music may have changed. " We use music for different reasons," he said , and thus at that age people may listen to remind themselves of their youths. According to researchers at the University of Cambridge,   _  .
People's music preferences have deep connections with their social lives Children don't like the songs that their parents like because they are too hard to understand . Children are influenced by their parents in terms of the types of music they listen to . People from different cultural backgrounds have different tastes in music