Dance course participation is associated with reductions in anxiety sensitivity physical concerns in college students

Anxiety sensitivity (AS), the fear of anxiety-related sensations, is a key vulnerability factor for anxiety. Dance courses, which incorporate aerobic exercise, may provide interoceptive exposure to anxiety-related sensations, which may correspond with reductions in AS. The current quasi-experimental study investigated the association between participation in university dance courses relative to non-dance courses, and changes in AS over time.

Undergraduate students were recruited from dance courses, including traditional dance and mindfulness-infused dance, and non-dance courses. Consented students (N = 271) completed a testing battery online at the beginning of the academic semester (T1) and 7 weeks later (T2). This battery included the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3), demographic and engagement information, and other metrics outside the current scope.

Multilevel models revealed greater reductions in AS physical concerns in students enrolled in dance courses, relative to those in non-dance courses, even after accounting for out-of-class exercise engagement and intensity (b= -1.13, SE = 0.36, t(227.81) = -3.15, p = .002, 95% CI [-1.84, -0.42]). Our findings suggest that university dance courses may warrant further investigation as a promising, pragmatic, and scalable curricular approach associated with reductions in AS physical concerns. The authors wish to thank Ekaterina Denkova, Kiara Timpano, Scott Rogers, Carol Kaminsky, and the students and instructors of the University of Miami Dance Program for their support in the execution of this project.

This work was supported by the Mind and Life Institute, under the Francisco J. Varela Grant, and the University of Miami Laboratory of Integrative Knowledge (U-LINK) through the Predoctoral Fellowship. Department of Psychology, University of Miami, 5665 Ponce de Leon Blvd Coral Gables, Florida, 33124, FL, USA Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, USA Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University, 1500 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, 97331, OR, USA The authors declare no competing interests.

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