Abstract
This study aimed to examine the extent to which music performance anxiety relates to retrospectively perceived parenting style and adult attachment behaviour. Participants were 82 music students (Mage = 23.5 years, SD = 3.4) with the majority being vocal (30.5%), string (24.4%) or piano (19.5%) students each with about 20 performance opportunities per year. Music performance anxiety was assessed using the German version of the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory. Parenting style was measured by retrospective self-report using the German version of the Measure of Parenting Style, adult attachment behaviour by the Relationship Questionnaire based on Bartholomew’s four-category model. Furthermore, general anxiety-related symptoms were assessed by the Severity Measure for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Canonical and partial canonical correlation analyses were used to measure the dependence between multi-dimensional constructs: Both parenting style and adult attachment behaviour were related to music performance anxiety as measured by a performance-related sub-scale of the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (r = 0.45, p = 0.01 and r = 0.37, p = 0.02, respectively). The partial canonical correlation analysis, however, showed no significant relations between music performance anxiety and parenting styles or adult attachment behaviour. A strong link of music performance anxiety and generalised anxiety was found in all analyses. This study expands on more theoretical research in this area and provides first empirical insight into this complex multi-dimensional relationship.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Psychology of Music |
Early online date | 9 Jan 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 9 Jan 2019 |
Bibliographical note
The authors wish to thank all participating students and administrative staff of the music universities for help distributing the link of the online questionnaires. Furthermore, the authors would like to express their very great appreciation to Professor Katja Beesdo-Baum for general support, to Birgit Maicher for programming the basic version of the questionnaires and to Professor Hans-Christian Jabusch for his prolific commitment during subject recruitment and discussions in the later stages of the project. Additionally, the first author would like to thank Doctor Jasna Martinovic for valuable support in the initial stages of the research project.Keywords
- music performance anxiety
- parenting style
- adult attachment behaviour
- generalised anxiety
- musicians