the relationship between perfectionism and creativity in competitive dancers: the moderating role of autonomy-supportive teachers
abstract
creativity is becoming an increasingly important aspect of being a successful dancer.
dancers are now being asked to be a part of the development and choreography of their routines
and performance (butterworth, 2004; clements & redding, 2020; nordin-bates & abrahamsen,
2016). perfectionism is also another common personality disposition present in dancers. the
present study aimed to examine the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and
creativity among dancers and to test whether perceived teacher autonomy support moderated that
relationship. a sample of 215 competitive dancers (mage = 17.17, sd = 1.92) completed
measures capturing variables of creativity (creative self-concept, attitudes and values towards
creativity), 4 subtypes of perfectionism (pure personal standards perfectionism, pure evaluative
concerns perfectionism, mixed perfectionism, non-perfectionism) and perceived autonomy
support provided by their dance teacher in a cross-sectional research design. the findings of two
iterative multiple regression analyses found a positive main effect for personal standards
perfectionism and a negative main effect for evaluative concerns perfectionism in relation to
creative self-concept and a negative main effect for evaluative concerns perfectionism in relation
to attitudes and values towards creativity. these main effects supported all 4 hypotheses of the 2
× 2 model of perfectionism for creative self-concept and supported 3 hypotheses of the 2 × 2
model for attitudes and values towards creativity (h1c, h2, and h4). in addition, neither of the
relationships were moderated by perceived teacher autonomy support. the discussion speculates
as to why relationships were significant for pure evaluative concerns perfectionism across both
relationships and pure personal standards perfectionism was only significant regarding creative
self-concept.