The relationship between social psychological climate and psychological well-being in late adolescent dancers

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Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Health
Department Exercise & Sport Science
Author Stark, Andrea
Title The relationship between social psychological climate and psychological well-being in late adolescent dancers
Date 2012-08
Description Studies of dancers have indicated they experience a variety of psychological issues including low body satisfaction, low self-esteem, and poor mood. Researchers have suggested that perceptions of the dance climate may impact psychological well-being and have concluded that promoting task-involving climates is beneficial to dancers' well-being. Other researchers have suggested that caring climates are integral to optimizing well-being. However, perceptions of a caring climate have not been examined in dance studios and little is known about the relationship between perceptions of a broader climate and aspects of psychological well-being. Additionally, no studies have examined whether types of dance studios (competitive or technical) influence dancers' experiences of the climate or their well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceptions of the social psychological climate (task-involving, ego-involving, and caring) and aspects of psychological well-being (positive and negative affect, body-esteem, and teacher and peer friendship quality) in both technical and competitive adolescent dancers. Eighty-three female dancers (M age = 16.28 +/- .93) completed questionnaires regarding perceptions of their studio's dance climate and self-reported well-being. Competition dancers perceived their dance climate to be more task-involving, more caring, and less ego-involving and reported higher levels of psychological well-being (positive affect, body-esteem, and friendship) than technical dancers. Dancers' overall perceptions of task-involving and caring climates were related to higher positive affect, greater body-esteem, and better quality relationships with teachers and peers (r range: .33 - .68). A second order factor analysis of the subscale scores revealed two factors. The first factor, exemplifying a thriving climate, accounted for 47.93% of the variance and involved aspects of a positive climate and positive well-being. The second factor, characterizing a threatening climate, accounted for an additional 14.70% of the variance and included an ego-involving climate and negative loadings on well-being. Results demonstrate perceptions of a positive social psychological climate are vital to promoting psychological well-being in adolescent dancers. These findings suggest dance teachers should be considerate of the impact the climate has for promoting well-being in their dance students. Educating dance teachers to create such a climate should be included in any dance pedagogy program.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Adolescent dancers; Body-esteem; Friendship; Positive and negative affect; Psychological well-being; Social psychological climate
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Master of Science
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © Andrea Stark 2012
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 342,246 bytes
Identifier etd3/id/1777
Source Original in Marriott Library Special Collections, GV8.5 2012 .S73
ARK ark:/87278/s68w3v3s
Setname ir_etd
ID 195466
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s68w3v3s