Participation’s Motives in Dancing Activities. Gender and Age as Differentiation Factors

Abstract

Dancing, in every form, is defined as a physical activity that according to researchers is suitable for both sexes, for every age, for people with different education level and different professional careers. The aim of this research was to investigate what motivates the people who take part in dancing activities and especially in performance dancing. A secondary aim was to investigate group differences across gender and age. The sample of the investigation was 220 dancers of groups of performance dancing, where Greek folk dance is taught, and of private dance schools where ballet, Latin, contemporary dance and other kinds are taught. The Greek version (Foridou, Tsitskari, Bebetsos, Vernadakis, 2012) of Behaviour Regulation in Sport Questionnaire (Lonsdale, Hodge, Rose, 2008) was used for the data collection. Cronbach’s alphas were calculated to check the internal consistencies of the subscales of the measurements. Comparisons in dancers’ motives were examined across gender and age. An independent -samples t-test was used to investigate the group differences across gender and One-way analysis of variance was used to examine the group differences across age. The analysis of the results indicates that: a) the factors “Intrinsic Motivation – General”, “Intrinsic Motivation to Experience Stimulation” and “Intrinsic Motivation to Know” are more important for the sample, b) sex is not a factor that differentiates the motives of participation, and c) younger dancers are more inclined to dance than older dancers. In conclusion, we can assume that dancing is a suitable activity for everyone, and gives the pleasure and satisfaction to the participants without aiming to specific benefits. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s1p535