The relationship between dance and well-being: examining the underlying mechanism and outcomes

ABSTRACT

The present study had a two-fold purpose: first to examine the impact of dance on physical and psychological well-being, and second to explicate the underlying mechanism in the relationship between dance and well-being. The data for the study was collected from 240 respondents, pre-categorized as dancers and non-dancers, basis self-report. Standardized measures were used for psychological resilience, physical, and psychological well-being. The analysis of variance was conducted to assess the difference between dancer and non-dancers’ groups. The results indicate that the dancer group reported experiencing significantly higher physical and psychological well-being than the non-dancer group. Further mediation analysis revealed that psychological resilience mediates the relationship between dance and its impact on physical and psychological well-being. The study implies the advancement of research on dance as a leisure activity.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance
• health
• leisure
• well-being
• positive emotions
• broaden and build theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data used in this study are available upon request to the authors.