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International Journal of Music Education Aug 2022Solo performance is a common experience for children learning to play an instrument, yet the research literature on these experiences is limited, with a focus on older...
Solo performance is a common experience for children learning to play an instrument, yet the research literature on these experiences is limited, with a focus on older children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine younger children's feelings about performance over the course of a year of study. Forty-one children were interviewed about their piano lessons and performance experiences at the end of two consecutive semesters of study. They also responded to a pictorial scale on their feelings about performance at each interview and again at two piano recitals. Results indicate that children are remarkably consistent in their feelings about performing in piano recitals, with few significant changes over time and context. Correlation analyses indicate changes in the relationships between feelings about performance and certain study variables over time-in particular age, liking of lessons, liking of performing, practice time, and perception of being good at piano. In the fall term, gender and age are significant predictors of feelings about performance, with younger children and boys feeling most positive. In the spring, the findings shift and the only significant predictor is children's liking of piano lessons. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.
PubMed: 35996637
DOI: 10.1177/02557614211066342 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2021The relationship between grit and success has been investigated extensively in various contexts. However, the association between grit and language performance,...
The relationship between grit and success has been investigated extensively in various contexts. However, the association between grit and language performance, especially in a Chinese high school context, remains underexplored. This study investigates grit, the positive emotion of enjoyment, the negative emotion of anxiety, foreign language performance, and how enjoyment and anxiety mediate the relationship between grit and foreign language performance. A questionnaire was administered to 697 Chinese high school students, followed by a language test after 2 weeks. The results showed that more than half of the students had a moderate-high level of grit and foreign language enjoyment and that nearly half of them experienced a low-moderate level of foreign language anxiety. It was also found that grit, foreign language enjoyment, and foreign language performance were positively correlated with each other, and all three variables were negatively correlated with anxiety. Both foreign language enjoyment and foreign language anxiety mediated the relationship between grit and foreign language performance to a significant degree, and the mediating effect of foreign language anxiety was stronger than that of foreign language enjoyment.
PubMed: 34248761
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666892 -
International Journal of Behavioral... Apr 2021Test anxiety may be better thought of as a biopsychosocial process affecting academic performance during the days leading up to an exam, rather than a static appraisal... (Observational Study)
Observational Study
BACKGROUND
Test anxiety may be better thought of as a biopsychosocial process affecting academic performance during the days leading up to an exam, rather than a static appraisal of attitudes related to test taking. This was a passive observational study following students 2 days before a midterm exam and was designed to test the Sleep Anxiety Performance Process (SAPP) model in the context of a psychology statistics exam.
METHODS
Undergraduates (N = 167) enrolled in a statistics class, January-November 2015. Participants completed an electronic battery of measures and Sleep Mood Study Diaries (SMS) during the mornings, 2 days before a statistics exam. Instructors confirmed exam scores.
RESULTS
A path model showed a reciprocal bi-directional relationship between Sleep Quality and restfulness (Q&R) and test anxiety 2 days before a scheduled exam, with test anxiety measured in the morning, before the exam predicting exam performance. Prior exam performance, being a non-native English speaker (ESL), and class performance motivation also predicted exam performance.
CONCLUSIONS
These data support the SAPP model's premise that that sleep and anxiety feed one another, as a reciprocal process, that collectively impairs academic performance, with direct effects on academic performance, but with implications for overall student health.
Topics: Anxiety; Humans; Sleep; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Students; Test Anxiety
PubMed: 33730347
DOI: 10.1007/s12529-021-09973-1 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2021Mastery imagery (i.e., images of being in control and coping in difficult situations) is used to regulate anxiety. The ability to image this content is associated with...
Mastery imagery (i.e., images of being in control and coping in difficult situations) is used to regulate anxiety. The ability to image this content is associated with trait confidence and anxiety, but research examining mastery imagery ability's association with confidence and anxiety in response to a stressful event is scant. The present study examined whether trait mastery imagery ability mediated the relationship between confidence and anxiety, and the subsequent associations on performance in response to an acute psychological stress. Participants ( = 130; 55% male; = 19.94 years; = 1.07 years) completed assessments of mastery imagery ability and engaged in a standardized acute psychological stress task. Immediately prior to the task, confidence, cognitive and somatic anxiety intensity, and interpretation of anxiety symptoms regarding the task were assessed. Path analyses supported a model whereby mastery imagery ability mediated the relationship between confidence and cognitive and somatic anxiety interpretation. Greater mastery imagery ability and confidence were both directly associated with better performance on the stress task. Mastery imagery ability may help individuals experience more facilitative anxiety and perform better during stressful tasks. Improving mastery imagery ability by enhancing self-confidence may help individuals successfully cope with anxiety elicited during stressful situations.
PubMed: 33868067
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.568580 -
Psychiatry Research Jan 2022Individuals with Hoarding Disorder (HD) frequently complain of problems with attention and memory. These self-identified difficulties are often used as justification for...
Individuals with Hoarding Disorder (HD) frequently complain of problems with attention and memory. These self-identified difficulties are often used as justification for saving and acquiring behaviors. Research using neuropsychological measures to examine verbal and visual memory performance and sustained attention have reported contradictory findings. Here we aim to determine the relationship between self-reported problems with memory and attention, objective memory and attention performance, and self-reported depression and anxiety symptoms in HD. Data was available for 319 individuals who participated in a treatment study of HD. Multiple regression was used to assess the relationship between self-reported complaints and objective measures, with age, education, and measures of depression and anxiety included as covariates. We found no association between self-reported memory difficulties and objective verbal or visual memory performance. Self-reported problems with attention were associated with objective attentional performance, although this relationship was partially accounted for by anxiety symptom severity. There was a small association between visual memory performance at baseline and improvements in hoardingrelated functional abilities following treatment. Improvements in subjective memory complaints pre-to-post treatment were associated with improvements in hoarding symptom severity and hoarding-related functioning. These results demonstrate a dissociation between perceived and objective functioning in HD.
Topics: Anxiety; Cognition; Cognitive Dysfunction; Hoarding Disorder; Humans; Neuropsychological Tests
PubMed: 34920395
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114331 -
The Journal of Pastoral Care &... Mar 2023Describes the nature of performance anxiety that can appear in students doing their first clinical placement in Supervised Pastoral Education in the Canadian Association...
Describes the nature of performance anxiety that can appear in students doing their first clinical placement in Supervised Pastoral Education in the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care. Explores origins of performance anxiety drawing on research, the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders-5, theology of Paul Tillich and supervisory experiences of authors. Examines Canadian contextual factors like COVID-19, culture and multi-faith. Offers ways students might manage anxiety with help from supervisors and peers.
Topics: Humans; Pastoral Care; Canada; COVID-19; Spirituality; Performance Anxiety; Students
PubMed: 36120890
DOI: 10.1177/15423050221124025 -
JPMA. the Journal of the Pakistan... May 2020To study the prevalence of anxiety and its correlation with the academic performance among medical students..
OBJECTIVE
To study the prevalence of anxiety and its correlation with the academic performance among medical students..
METHODS
The analytical cross-sectional study was conducted over six months from March 2018 to August 2018, at the male and female campuses of the College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia, and comprised medical students of either gender. Data on anxiety was collected using a selfreporting questionnaire that included the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Academic performance was taken as a measurable record from the cumulative grade point average. Data was analysed using SPSS 24.
RESULTS
Of the 247 subjects, 170(68.8%) were males. Anxiety was found in 97(39.3%) of the students. The level of anxiety was significantly higher among females compared to males (p=0.001), among those in the final year (p=0.002), and in those with low academic grades (p=0.016).
CONCLUSIONS
Anxiety was found to be common among medical students and it was associated with female gender, low grades and advanced year of studies.
Topics: Academic Performance; Academic Success; Adult; Anxiety; Cross-Sectional Studies; Education, Medical, Undergraduate; Educational Measurement; Female; Humans; Male; Patient Health Questionnaire; Prevalence; Saudi Arabia; Sex Factors; Students, Medical; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 32400743
DOI: 10.5455/JPMA.19099 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2022Flow describes a state of intense experiential involvement in an activity that is defined in terms of nine dimensions. Despite increased interest in understanding the...
Flow describes a state of intense experiential involvement in an activity that is defined in terms of nine dimensions. Despite increased interest in understanding the flow experience of musicians in recent years, knowledge of how characteristics of the musician and of the music performance context affect the flow experience at the dimension level is lacking. In this study, we aimed to investigate how musicians' general music performance anxiety (MPA) level (i.e., the general tendency to experience anxiety during solo music performances) and the presence of an audience influence the nine flow dimensions. The participants were 121 university music students who performed solo a music piece once by themselves (private performance) and once in front of an audience (public performance). Their general MPA level was measured with an adapted version of the STAI and ranged from 27 (very low MPA) to 76 (very high MPA). The level of the nine flow dimensions was assessed with the Flow State Scale-2 after each performance. The levels of "concentration on task at hand," "sense of control," and "autotelic experience" decreased significantly with increasing general MPA level. The levels of "unambiguous feedback" and "loss of self-consciousness" decreased significantly with increasing general MPA level during the public performance only. The level of "sense of control" was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance across participants. The level of "unambiguous feedback" was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance for participants with a general MPA level higher than 47. The level of "loss of self-consciousness" was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance for participants with a general MPA level higher than 32. In contrast, the general MPA level and the audience did not significantly affect the levels of "challenge-skill balance," "clear goals," and "action-awareness merging." These results show that the effects of general MPA level and audience vary greatly across flow state dimensions. We conclude that musicians' flow state should be analyzed at the dimension level rather than as a global score. We discuss how our findings could inform the development and implementation of interventions.
PubMed: 36389478
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.959190 -
Ergonomics Mar 2023There are limited studies on monotonous task performance and its relationship with anxiety and stress traits. This study aimed to determine if local cooling exerts...
There are limited studies on monotonous task performance and its relationship with anxiety and stress traits. This study aimed to determine if local cooling exerts physiological effects and positively affects task performance. Ten male participants performed monotonous work for 24 min under control and local cooling conditions. We measured physiological arousal and anxiety using electroencephalography and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, respectively. The participants rated their drowsiness, the thermal sensation of the seat and whole-body thermal sensation. Despite the lack of significant differences in physiological arousal, the state anxiety score, which reflects the current stressful situation, was significantly lower in the local cooling condition. Therefore, cooling might help relieve stress during monotonous tasks, without impairing task performance. In addition, individuals with higher state anxiety scores tended to experience a faster increase in their arousal level. Thus, individual anxiety traits may modulate attentional resources during monotonous task performance. The study on topic related to monotonous task performance and its relationship with anxiety and stress traits is novel. Minimising negative emotions is key to monotonous task execution under stress. Individual anxiety might modulate resource allocation for monotonous task execution.
Topics: Humans; Male; Task Performance and Analysis; Anxiety; Wakefulness; Arousal; Attention
PubMed: 35722776
DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2022.2087908 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2022The influence of perfectionism and statistics anxiety on academic performance (AP) in statistics courses was investigated using a multidimensional perfectionism scale...
The influence of perfectionism and statistics anxiety on academic performance (AP) in statistics courses was investigated using a multidimensional perfectionism scale and a statistics anxiety rating scale. For perfectionism, the factor of personal standards (PS) had a significant direct positive effect on AP, while the factor of parental expectations (PE) was significantly negatively correlated with AP. Other factors (concern over mistakes, organization, and doubts about actions) did not significantly influence AP. For statistics anxiety, the two factors (test and class anxiety and computation self-concept) significantly impaired AP. These results indicated a need for innovation in classroom instruction and the reform of statistics course content and presentation to reduce statistics anxiety and improve PS. There is also a need to ensure that students better internalize PE and to revise instructional design techniques to enhance students' independent learning ability.
PubMed: 36312114
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1011278