In the 1980s, before parents were busy wringing their hands and losing sleep over sexting, the Internet, and teenage digital behavior in general, there were plenty of other sinister adolescent influences for the media to get all alarmist about. Like heavy metal.

New parents of the 21st century, heed this: Just because your child grows up listening to controversial music with niche inscrutable-to-adults messaging and maybe-a-little-satanic imagery

doesn't mean

they're setting themselves up for a life filled with angst, failure, social dejection, spooky color contacts, and matted unkempt overdyed hair.

A new academic study by researchers at Humboldt University, UC Riverside, UT, and Ohio State showed that metalhead kids from the '80s are now thriving, happy adults. In fact, they're happier now than their non-teen-metalhead peers.

First things first: Yes, apparently scientists do get grants and have the bandwidth to study heavy metal fans. This is a real thing.

Makes sense, though. Teenage behavior is core to personality development—and news in the '80s was full of terrifying predictions about what would happen to society at large if the scourge of heavy metal (or anything other than easy listening, really, goooo, Michael Bolton!) ever really got a foothold in the Top 40.

"Research in the 1980s suggested that young 'metalheads' were at risk for poor developmental outcomes," the study says. "No other study has assessed this group as adults."

What they found was surprising—not only are former metalheads doing just fine now, they're thriving and, in many cases, much better off psychologically than their non-metalhead peers.

"Results revealed that metal enthusiasts did often experience traumatic and risky 'sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll' lives," results show. "However, the 'metalhead' identity also served as a protective factor against negative outcomes. They were significantly happier in their youth and better adjusted currently than either middle-aged or current college-age youth comparison groups. Thus, participation in fringe style cultures may enhance identity development in troubled youth."

Were you a metalhead in your past? Or were you ever a fan of music your parents hated? Tell us about it!