The Effect of an Interdisciplinary Greek Traditional Dance, Music, and Sociology Program on Male and Female Students’ Anxiety

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an interdisciplinary program of Greek traditional dance with issues from music and sociology on high school students’ anxiety. 131 students (68 males & 63 females), between the ages from 12 to 13 yrs., participated. The experimental group (n=62) followed the new eight-week program (two lessons/week) while the control group (n=69) followed the typical physical education program. To evaluate students’ anxiety during lessons, the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, & Smith, 1990) was used with its 3 dimensions (somatic, cognitive anxieties, & self-confidence). Students completed it before the initiation of the intervention and after its completion. The following statistical analyses were performed: a) Factor Analysis, b) Cronbach's alpha test, and c) Anova with Repeated Measures. Results showed that a. “Somatic anxiety”, “cognitive anxiety” and “self confidence” accounted for 83% and 73%, respectively, of the total variance b) Cronbach's alpha was satisfactory (ranging from .66, .78 and .71 for the initial and from .87, .94 and .89 for the final measure), c) the experimental group decreased the levels of somatic and cognitive anxieties and enhanced their self-confidence. Also, male students increased their self-confidence more than female students. These findings support the view that an interdisciplinary program of traditional Greek dance and topics from music and sociology reduces the rates of somatic and cognitive anxieties while simultaneously increases students’ self-confidence's levels, and especially those of males.