PERFORMANCE ANXIETY, PERFECTIONISM AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FONCTIONNING OF MUSIC STUDENTS
Music students are very likely to be affected by performance anxiety and perfectionism. This study examines the relationship between these variables and psychological as well as academic functioning. It was conducted among 94 French-speaking music students (music conservatory and other music programs). The mediating role of performance anxiety in the association between specific factors of perfectionism, namely perfectionistic striving and perfectionistic concerns, and proximal indicators of musical performance (flow, positive and negative emotion) or distal indicators (school burnout and school satisfaction) was tested with structural equational models. The results show that perfectionistic striving is directly and indirectly associated with psychological and academic functioning through performance anxiety and that there exists a very strong relationship between perfectionistic concerns and performance anxiety. They also show that performance anxiety is a complete mediator of the relationship between perfectionistic concerns and functioning. Although the results suggest that perfectionistic strivings may have a positive impact on functioning, students tend to display a certain level of both factors of perfectionism and thus still risk experiencing the disadvantage through performance anxiety.