Performance anxiety, dysfunctional attitudes and gender in university music students

The aims of this study were twofold: 1) to investigate the relationships between anxiety and general dysfunctional attitudes, perfectionism, and the need for approval in the solo performance examination of Turkish university music students, and 2) to examine the effects of perfectionism, need for approval, and gender on anxiety. Fifty-four instrumental music students participated in this study. Research data were collected using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) and the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (Weissman & Beck, 1978). The results revealed that there are significant positive correlations between anxiety and total score of dysfunctional attitudes, and the need for approval (p < .05). The ANOVA results also showed that while there was no main effect of perfectionism, need for approval and gender had significant effects (p < .05) on anxiety. However, interaction effects of perfectionism, need for approval, and gender on anxiety were not significant. Results are discussed in the context of related literature.