Mental health effects of dance to undergraduate students: A preliminary survey-comparative analysis

Abstract

This present study described the effect of dance and its various genres on students’ mental health from a sample of 83 undergraduate students specializing in Performing Arts at selected local college in the Philippines. The researcher-made questionnaire “Mental Effect of Dance Questionnaire” was utilized via online survey to gather data from the respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used to describe the effect of dance and its various genres to students’ mental health. Furthermore, Independent Samples T-Test, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis H were performed to determine the significant difference between groups concerning the cognitive effect of dance and its genre with respect to gender and year level. Based on this preliminary survey, it was found that dance and its various genres positively affects students’ mental health. On the one hand, no significant difference was observed between groups, specifically gender and year level, in terms of the mental effect of dance. In this regard, it can be inferred that students’ perceived dance to have a great benefit on their mental health. Implications of the study, recommendations, and future research endeavors to support or repudiate the claims of this study are hereby presented.