Relationship between pre-competition anxiety levels of folk dancers and methods of coping with stress

In this research, it was aimed to reveal the relationship between the pre-competition state anxiety levels and stress coping methods with various variables. After given necessary explanations about study, 314 volunteers and healthy folk dancers, 157 females and 157 males, were involved in the research. The survey method, which is one of the quantitative methods of the research, was applied and the relational screening method was used. The research data were collected by a personal information form consisting of 12 questions, a state anxiety inventory consisting of 20 expressions and a stress coping scale consisting of 43 expressions. Statistical analyses were performed by SPSS 16.0 package program. Independent samples t test and one-way ANOVA were used for comparison of two independent groups and more than two groups, respectively. The effects of economic situation, duration of the playing of the folk dances and experience of competition on pre-competition state anxiety levels of the folk dancers were statistically significant. In general, pre-competition state anxiety scores were low for folk dancers who have high economic situation, experience in competition and who are interested in this branch for a long time. There are significant differences between the groups in terms of various variables on the basis of sub-dimensions at the point of how the folk dancers cope with stress. There were statistically significant correlations between the pre-competition state anxiety scores of folk dancers and the methods of coping with stress, except for escaping abstraction (emotional-actional) sub-dimensions. Keywords: State Anxiety, Coping with Stress, Folk Dancers