Investigation of the Effects of Dance Education Applied to 5-Year-Old Children on Their Social-Emotional Adjustment

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the effects of a dance education program applied to 5-year-old pre-school children on their socio-emotional adjustment (appropriate behavior to social living requirements, appropriate response to social situations, interactions with peers, and positive approach to a social environment). A quasi-experimental research design was used in the study. The study group was composed of 40 children (20 in the control group, 20 in the experimental group) attending pre-school in İstanbul. "Marmara Social-Emotional Adjustment Scale," developed by Güven & Işık (2006) for 5-year-old children, was used as the data collection tool. The dance education was given to the experimental group by an expert dance instructor for approximately 40 minutes, once a week for 24 weeks. Due to the lower level of difficulty, it is planned to teach Artvin region folk dance (12 weeks), one of the traditional dances, in the first term, and Salsa training in the second term. Mann-Whitney's U-test and Wilcoxon's signed-rank test were used to analyze the data. This study revealed a significant statistical difference between the experimental and control groups' post-test scores of socio-emotional adjustment (except for the positive approach to the social environment) in favor of the experimental group. There were statistically significant differences in overall social-emotional adjustment skills and appropriate behavior to social living requirements and appropriate response to social situations subdimensions in favor of boys. No significant difference was observed between groups in interaction with peers and positive approach to the social environment sub-dimensions according to gender. Moreover, dance education activities performed in the experimental group had a consistent and positive impact on their socio-emotional adjustment skills.