Effect of traditional dances on selected psychological variables among high school students in Ethiopia

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 22 - 27, 31.03.2019

Mulay Gebretensay , Soumitra Mondal , Dhamodharan Mathivanan Mahmud Abdulkader Gebretsadik Gebru Kedir Mohamedhusien

https://doi.org/10.31459/turkjkin.522682

Abstract

The
purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate the effect of practicing
Tigray Regional State Traditional Dances on selected psychological variables, i.e. anxiety and self-esteem, in a
sample of one 100 adolescent boys and girls (age 15 – 17 years) who
volunteered. The subjects were divided into two groups i.e., the experimental
group (n=80) and the control group (n=20). Furthermore, the experimental group
was divided into four subgroups (n= 4X20). Each experimental subgroup was
practicing for 16 weeks one of the four Traditional Dances of Awris, Hura, Kuda
and Shediva. On the contrary, the participants in the control group were
counseled to follow their usual daily routine activity. Additionally, all
participants were tested on selected criterion measures on anxiety and
self-esteem prior to and after the investigation period which lasted for
16-weeks. All data were statistically examined using ANOVA for each one of the
studied variables separately. Whenever ‘F’ ratio of adjusted post-test was
found to be significant the Scheffe’s test was used to determine the paired
mean differences. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. Following the
16-weeks traditional dance practicing, significant positive changes were
observed on anxiety and self-esteem variables in the four experimental groups
compared with the control group. It can be, therefore, concluded, that Tigray traditional dance
practicing can notably improve the
psychological wellbeing of high school students.

Keywords

Traditional dance, anxiety, self-esteemed, wellbeing

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