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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Performance Science

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1703571

Psychological Resilience and Music Performance Anxiety: Exploring Mediators and Sex Differences in Chinese Choir Members

Provisionally accepted
Hao  DuHao Du1Yanchang  LiuYanchang Liu2Jian  SunJian Sun3*
  • 1Xichang University, Xichang, China
  • 2Guangxi Minzu University, Nanning, China
  • 3Xihua University, Chengdu, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a prevalent psychological challenge that can impair musicians’ well-being and performance quality. While psychological resilience has been proposed as a protective factor, the mechanisms underlying its association with MPA remain unclear, particularly among choir members. This study examined the direct and indirect relationships between psychological resilience and MPA via performance control sense and pre-performance rumination, and further explored whether these pathways differed by sex. A total of 801 Chinese choir members completed validated measures of psychological resilience, performance control sense, pre-performance rumination, and MPA. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to test mediation effects, and multi-group SEM was used to assess sex differences. Results showed that resilience was negatively associated with MPA both directly and indirectly. Performance control sense emerged as the dominant mediator, accounting for 53.8% of the total effect, while pre-performance rumination accounted for 7.7%. Multi-group analyses indicated significant sex differences: resilience was more strongly linked to reduced rumination in females, the protective effect of control beliefs was stronger among females, and the maladaptive impact of rumination was stronger among males. These findings highlight psychological resilience as a key protective factor in MPA, primarily by enhancing control beliefs and reducing rumination. The study contributes to theoretical understanding of sex-specific mechanisms and suggests practical implications for resilience-based, sex-sensitive interventions in music education and choir practice.

Keywords: psychological resilience, music performance anxiety, Chinese choirs, sex differences, Performance control sense, Pre-performance rumination

Received: 11 Sep 2025; Accepted: 07 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Du, Liu and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Jian Sun, 0120210048@mail.xhu.edu.cn

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