The Relationships Among Music Performance Anxiety, Personality Traits, and Self-Regulated Learning in the Music Practice of Adolescent Performers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among personality traits, self-regulated learning, and music performance anxiety (MPA). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good model fit for the four measures, (a) the Music Performance Anxiety Inventory for Adolescents, (b) the Self-Regulated Learning in Music Questionnaire, (c) the Big Five Inventory, and a researcher-created measure named (d) Self-Regulated Learning in Music Performance Anxiety. McDonald's Omega reliability results indicated acceptable to excellent internal consistency among the four measurements, with coefficients ranging from .69 to .80. The path analysis model revealed that participants’ self-regulated learning in performance and their level of Neuroticism predicted performance anxiety. Conscientiousness and Agreeableness positively related to performance phase processes of self-regulated learning, while Neuroticism related negatively to performance phase processes. The relationship between Conscientiousness and MPA was mediated by performance phase processes of self-regulated learning. Additionally, among all types of participants’ background performance experiences, regression analyses revealed that only national-level competition experiences and participants’ earliest age on stage were significantly related to MPA. There were no significant differences in MPA according to grade, age, or gender. Furthermore, the frequency of participants’ performances positively predicted their interests in pursuing a music major in the future, while their reports of performance phase processes of self-regulated learning were negatively related to their interests in pursuing a music major in the future. Participants’ self-regulated learning reports for mitigating MPA, specifically, did not predict their levels of self-reported MPA.