The relation of music performance anxiety (MPA) to optimism, self-efficacy, and sensitivity to reward and punishment: Testing Barlow’s theory of personal vulnerability on a sample of Spanish music students

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a phenomenon often encountered among professionals and students who make public appearances. This article presents the results of a study carried out on a sample of music students in superior music conservatories in Spain (N = 434). Our goal was to analyze MPA on t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology of music 2017-07, Vol.45 (4), p.570-583
Main Authors: Orejudo, Santos, Zarza-Alzugaray, Francisco Javier, Casanova, Oscar, Rodríguez-Ledo, César, Mazas, Beatriz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxieties
Conservatories
Music Students
Personality
Psychological Conditions
Stage Fright
Statistical Analysis
Theory
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a phenomenon often encountered among professionals and students who make public appearances. This article presents the results of a study carried out on a sample of music students in superior music conservatories in Spain (N = 434). Our goal was to analyze MPA on the basis of Barlow’s (2000) anxiety theory, supplementing it with further personality constructs such as dispositional optimism, general auto-efficacy, and sensitivity to reward and punishment. Our structural equation modeling (SEM) results reveal that several of those constructs exert their effect via the helplessness factor – the central construct in Barlow’s theory – and that they likewise exert a further series of direct effects on MPA. All in all, the variables taken into consideration account for 45.6% of variance in MPA in males and of 52.1% thereof in females. This study thus upholds Barlow’s theory of anxiety, while broadening it with further explanatory mechanisms.
ISSN:0305-7356
1741-3087
DOI:10.1177/0305735616674791