Performance anxiety in adolescent musicians

Ninety secondary school music students (49 females, 41 males aged 12-18 years) from four Adelaide metropolitan schools with selective music programmes completed the Music Performance Anxiety Inventory for Adolescents (MPAI-A), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised Short Form, and Adolescent Coping Scale Short Form. Females reported significantly more music performance anxiety (MPA) than males. Trait anxiety and neuroticism were significantly positively correlated with MPA and extraversion was significantly negatively correlated with MPA. Unproductive coping strategies were significantly positively correlated with MPA, but no significant association was found between MPA and productive coping strategies. Hierarchical regression analysis found that, after controlling for intercorrelations among variables, trait anxiety was the strongest significant predictor of MPA. Correlations between MPA with neuroticism and with extraversion were significantly accounted for by trait anxiety. The MPAI-A may hold promise as a screening tool for the early identification of potential MPA.