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The Acute Effects of Greek Dances on Old People’s Self-Esteem
Authors: Eirini Argiriadou, Fotios Mavrovouniotis, Chrysi Mavrovounioti, Pantelis Konstantinakos, Argirios Mavrovouniotis, Constantinos Mountakis
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The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of a single bout of Greek dances on the self-esteem of old people. A hundred and twelve subjects, (89 women and 23 men), 65-88 years old, were separated to an experimental group (n=55) which participated in Greek traditional dances and a control group (n=57) which was discussing and watching television, both for one hour. The State Self-Esteem Scale (Heatherton, Polivy, 1991) was used to measure performance self-esteem, social self-esteem and appearance self-esteem. The scale was completed about 5 min before and after the Greek traditional dances’ performance and the discussing and watching television session. For data analysis, descriptive analysis, the non-parametric test Wilcoxon of the SPSS ver. 17.0for windows was used. After dancing, significant increases in performance self-esteem (z=-5.92, p<0.001), social self-esteem (z=-3.16, p<0.01), as well as appearance self-esteem (z=-3.90, p<0.001) were observed. Likewise, no significant difference in control group was observed. Consequently, from the present results it can be said that Greek dances, as a form of physical activity, is an effective factor for the improvement of elderly people’s self-esteem.