The College of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with Elevating the Barre and Tiffany’s Dance Academy, has introduced the launch of a pioneering analysis examine, “Temper Modifications in Dance Lessons for Kids and Adolescents.” This longitudinal examine goals to quantify the emotional advantages of standard dance observe in assuaging anxiousness and melancholy amongst adolescent females.
Led by Tiffany Henderson, proprietor of Tiffany’s Dance Academy and lead investigator at UPenn, the examine will monitor dancers’ temper states over a number of years utilizing the PANAS-C (Optimistic and Adverse Have an effect on Schedule – Youngster Type) and a custom-designed mood-tracking app.
“In an period the place adolescent psychological well being is more and more in danger, we consider dance presents a novel mixture of bodily exercise, creative expression and social interplay that may very well be a robust antidote,” says Henderson. “This examine goals to supply concrete proof of dance’s potential as a psychological well being intervention.”
The analysis is impressed by the work of famend psychologist Jonathan Haidt, writer of “The Anxious Technology” and “The Coddling of the American Thoughts,” which spotlight the challenges dealing with right this moment’s youth, notably the influence of lowered face-to-face interactions.
Key facets of the examine embody:
– Common administration of the PANAS-C survey
– Actual-time temper monitoring earlier than and after dance courses utilizing a {custom} app
– Lengthy-term follow-up to evaluate the cumulative results of dance on psychological well-being
Dance studio house owners and dancers alike stand to profit from the examine’s findings, which might reshape approaches to bop training and youth psychological well being interventions.
“We’re not simply educating dance; we’re probably providing a lifeline to adolescents scuffling with psychological well being points,” Henderson provides. “This examine might validate what many within the dance group have lengthy suspected – that dance has the facility to rework lives.”
The examine is presently enrolling individuals from Tiffany’s Dance Academy, with plans to broaden to different studios sooner or later. Outcomes are anticipated to be printed in main psychology and dance training journals over the approaching years.
For extra info, go to www.raisingthebarredance.org/upenn-mood-study.
Contact: Tiffany Henderson, Lead Investigator, UPenn “Temper Modifications in Dance Lessons for Kids and Adolescents: A Longitudinal Research” temper@raisingthebarredance.org
