Music performance anxiety: A study of anxiety predictors in higher education music students in Portugal

Abstract

Music performance anxiety (MPA) affects young musicians, and especially those in higher music education, due to the evaluation and performance demands of this context and their professional and personal expectations, with implications for health and wellbeing. This study investigates the following predictors of anxiety: gender, age, performance experience, health problems, coping strategies and medication use, among Portuguese higher education music students. The Portuguese Music Performance Anxiety Scale (PoMPAS) was used to collect data ( N = 414). A Student’s t-test for independent samples was used to assess the extent to which MPA levels differ according to gender, and multiple linear regression was conducted to evaluate how age, performance experience, health problems, coping strategies and medication use influence the MPA levels of the sample. The results show that female participants display higher MPA scores than males. To varying degrees, all the factors above significantly impact participants’ MPA levels, as evaluated by the scale’s Behavioural/Emotional, Contextual/Physiological and Cognitive elements. The results of this study suggest that preventive orientation and health programmes could promote the wellbeing, and, consequently, decrease the MPA levels, of this group.