The study of perfectionism, self-acceptance and motivation in Norwegian vocational dance students

Abstract

Being a professional dancer, like an elite athlete, is characterized by extreme physicaland psychological demands, strict discipline, high commitment and with a pressure and pursuit to perform flawlessly. Due to the extreme achievement striving, physical- and psychological consequences associated with burnout may occur (Quested & Duda, 2011a) Previous research (e.g., Hill, Hall, Appleton and Kozub, 2008) has indicated that perfectionism may be an important personality factor when examine vulnerability to and development of burnout in elite athletes. Few studies to date have investigated perfectionism and burnout in vocational dancers, but there is a great transfer value from research done in sporting contexts to dance, which can be viewed as an esthetic sport. The first purpose of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of and influence of Self-Oriented(SOP)- and Socially-Prescribed(SPP) perfectionism, Unconditional Self-Acceptance and Self-determined motivation (SDT: Ryan & Deci, 2000) on the development of burnout in vocational dancers in Norway. A second purpose was to investigate whether the association between perfectionism and burnout was mediated by unconditional self-acceptance. One hundred and forty vocational dancers (M age=22, SD= 2.0) completed questionnaires measuring the variables of interest at one point of time. The results using bivariate correlations analyses indicated significant positive relations between both SOP and SPP and burnout, and significant negative relations between unconditional self-acceptance and self-determination and burnout. The results showed that intrinsic motivation had the strongest negative relation to burnout symptoms. By using hierarchical regression analyses the results indicated that unconditional self-acceptance served as a partial mediator in the relationship between SPP and burnout, and fully mediated the relation between SOP and burnout. Findings point out the relevance and importance of strengthen an unconditional self-acceptance in dancers, and promote a dance environment with emphasis on self-determined motivation, by satisfaction of basic psychological needs to avoid burnout in vocational dancers (Quested & Duda 2011a).