A study of the differential responses of male and female children to musical performance anxiety /

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of male and female children to musical performance anxiety. Twenty-six sixth-grade piano students (11 male, 15 female) performing in a piano recital served as subjects. Boys' and girls' heart rates, behaviour, performance quality, and anxiety levels were examined for possible differences between the genders. It was found that girls had substantially higher heart rates than boys immediately prior to performing, but that this difference was minimal while performing. Significantly more anxious behaviours were noted for both genders prior to performing than during performing, but boys had significantly more anxious behaviours than girls in both cases. Very little difference was noted in boys' anxiety scores (State-trait Anxiety Inventory for Children) between low, medium and high performance quality levels, however girls with moderate performance quality had much higher anxiety than did those with low and high quality performances. As well, girls were found to give significantly higher quality performances than boys. Correlation and regression analyses suggest that the genders respond differently to musical performance anxiety. These analyses were run on the data in three ways: All Children, Boys Only, and Girls Only. It was found that several relationships that emerged in the All Children analysis were driven by a strong relationship in a single gender, but were nearly absent, or in fact opposite, in the other.

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