Personality, perfectionism and flow among professional ballet dancers

Iako je fizički izgled plesača baleta vrlo bitan, a prilikom upisa u baletne škole djecu se selekcionira s obzirom na njihove fizičke karakteristike i predispozicije, postavlja se pitanje imaju li i neke psihološke karakteristike ulogu u odabiru baleta kao profesionalne karijere. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je provjeriti razlike između plesača baleta i kontrolne skupine u osobinama ličnosti, pozitivnom i negativnom perfekcionizmu i doživljavanju flowa. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 42 plesača baleta iz Hrvatskog narodnog kazališta u Zagrebu, Splitu i Rijeci, te 40 ispitanika kontrolne skupine koji su plesačima bili slični po spolu, dobi i stupnju obrazovanja. Metodom papir-olovka svi ispitanici su ispunili: HEXACO-60 upitnik ličnosti koji mjeri šest dimenzija ličnosti (poštenje-poniznost, emocionalnost, ekstraverziju, ugodnost, savjesnost i otvorenost ka iskustvu); Ljestvicu pozitivnog i negativnog perfekcionizma, Upitnik sklonosti doživljavanja flowa; te pitanja o sociodemografskim podacima ispitanika. Dobiveni rezultati ukazuju na statistički značajne razlike između plesača baleta i kontrolne skupine u ekstraverziji, savjesnosti i negativnom perfekcionizmu, u smjeru viših rezultata na savjesnosti i negativnom perfekcionizmu, te nižih rezultata na ekstraverziji kod plesača. Nije dobivena statistički značajna razlika u osobinama ličnosti poštenje-poniznost, emocionalnost, ugodnost i otvorenost ka iskustvu, kao ni na pozitivnom perfekcionizmu i doživljavanju flowa. U raspravi su navedena moguća objašnjena ovakvih rezultata, kao i prijedlozi za buduća istraživanja.Despite the importance of physical appearance for ballet dancers, and the selection of children in terms of their physical characteristics and predispositions when enrolling in ballet schools, the question arises as to whether some psychological characteristics play a role in choosing ballet as a professional career. The aim of this study was to explore differences in personality traits, positive and negative perfectionism and proneness to flow between ballet dancers and control group. A total of 42 ballet dancers from Croatian national theatre in Zagreb, Split and Rijeka participated in the survey, along with 40 participants who were similar to the dancers by sex, age and level of education. All participants took a survey through the paper and pencil test method which included completing: HEXACO-60 personality inventory that measuers six personality traits (honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openess to experience); Positive and negative perfectionism scale; Flow Proneness Questionnaire; and general information about participants. Results show that there are statistically significant differences between ballet dancers and control group in extraversion, conscientiousness and negative perfectionism, where dancers have higher results on conscientiousness and negative perfectionism, and lower results on extraversion. There are no statistically significant differences neither in personality traits honesty-humility, emotionality, agreeableness and openess to experience, nor in positive perfectionism and flow proneness. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed along with suggestions for future research