The effects of step dance on physical self-perception

Journal Article Summary The article is about a research done on “ The effects of step dance on physical self-perception of female andmale university students” (Asci, 2002). The research focuses on the effect of a step dance program that spans 10 weeks on physical self-perception and body image satisfaction. It is commonly agreed that physical activity or exercise has psychological and physiological benefits to human beings. The physiological benefits of exercise result from changes in body composition, aerobic capacity, cardiovascular functioning, and many more as highlighted in the article. Psychological benefits of exercise include an individual acquiring an internal locus of control, an increase in confidence, self-control, perception and sexual satisfaction while it decreases anxiety, hostility, tension and depression. Researchers have studied the relationship between self-concept and exercise with the view of determining if exercise improves self-concept in the recent past; this field of research is still growing and more research needs to be done to prove the connection. Thus, the research detailed in the article focuses on the psychological effect of exercise on male and female students.
The research study used 22 participants of which 14 were male and 8 were female. The participants were university students who voluntarily offered to participate in the study. The study used two instruments for data collection: the Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSSP) and Berscheid, Walster and Bohrnstedt Body Image Questionnaire (BIQ). The PSSP assesses self-perception within the physical domain, and it contained four subdomain scales consisting of six items that were to be contrasted with two descriptions, e. g., people with unattractive or attractive bodies. The BIQ instrument is a questionnaire that was used to assess the participant’s satisfaction with body parts (Asci, 2002).
The procedure of the research involved random assigning of the 22 participants to experimental and control groups that were equated by gender. The experimental group consisted of 11 participants, and the control group had the remaining number of participants. The experimental group participated in 10-week long step dance sessions that lasted 50 minutes in three days of the week. Their session was broken down to 10 minutes of warm-up, 25 minutes of step dance, 10 minutes of floor exercises and 5 minutes of cool-down, of which the heart rate of each participant was checked after each session. The control group did not participate in any physical activity for the period of the study. PSSP and BIQ were administered to all the participants one day before and after the study (Asci, 2002).
The results of the study showed no significant effect of sport competence on self-perception when sex was used as a covariant. The PSSP results showed no significant effect on all the subscales in relation to physical perception. The analysis method used was ANCOVA and it did not reveal any significant effect of time in relation to the body image satisfaction. The results of the research make it impossible to verify if step dancing has an influence on self-perception and body image satisfaction (Asci, 2002). The results did not provide any significant difference between the subscales of both control and experimental groups.
The results from the research failed to prove the hypothesis, and so the connection between self-perception was not proved. Past researches have proved that there is a relationship between the two; therefore, this means that the study failed to prove the hypothesis because of differences in methodology, sample group, types of exercise, and the duration of the study. In future, studies should be held for a longer period, and the type of exercises should be diversified, as well as an increase in the sample group.
References
Asci, F. (2002). The effects of step dance on physical self-perception of female and male university students. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 431-442.