Stress and performance gained increasing scholarly attention in the context of performing arts, and a significant relationship was found between stress and artistic and academic achievements (Wilson, 2002). Occupational demands – organizational, interpersonal, and intrapersonal, are extremely high among performing artists and impact their well-being and achievements (Willis et al., 2019), while interpersonal demands – complex relationships with peers, colleagues, audiences, and management, are related to maladaptive perfectionism and performance anxiety (ibid.). Stress can negatively impact, not only well-being but cognitive and motor skills (Beilock & Carr, 2001), highly relevant with performing artists, often experience stage fright, which can negatively affect the physical and emotional components of performance (Steptoe et al., 1995).

Performing arts is a physically and mentally demanding discipline, with stressors ranging from competition pressure to heavy rehearsals to the fear of injury (Bartel & Thomson, 2021; Kenny, 2011; Vervainioti & Alexopoulos, 2015). Performing artists portray a wide range of potentially overwhelming emotions, that might also contribute to heightened stress (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Moreover, due to the public nature of performance settings, performing artists are vulnerable to external criticism, and a perceived lack of effort recognition can be related to lower satisfaction (Smith, 1989).

For performing arts students, the demands of rehearsals, performances, and academic deadlines can create a complex environment where stressors add up negatively affecting academic performance (Kenny, 2011) and mental health (Clegg & Clements, 2022; Kausar & Ahmad, 2021). The pressure to excel in both artistic and academic domains contributes to heightened stress levels, potentially impacting subjective well-being and cognitive processes essential for academic success.

However, stress and well-being are not the sole impactors on academic and artistic achievements, and studies pointed to other factors like self-efficacy, grit, and help-seeking orientation (Harpaz et al., 2023), often explored separately and among non-artistic population. The present study extends Harpaz et al.'s model in two respects: (1) theoretically, by adding the concept of perceived stress to the model and, (2) by expanding the generalizability via sampling Hungarian non and performing arts students, exploring both possible cross-cultural differences (original study sampled North American students), and the effect of academic discipline. The current model aims to predict grit and subjective academic success by perceived stress, coping resources, and self‐cultivation characteristics (e.g. self-efficacy, subjective well-being, help-seeking orientation, personal growth, and savoring art).

The main research questions are:

1. Are there any differences between non and preforming art students in predicting subjective academic success by stress, coping resources, and self‐cultivation characteristics?
2. What is the added effect of stress on the model predicting grit and academic success?
3. Are there any cultural differences in the relationships between the model variables among the Hungarian student population (current study) and the previous study’s North American sample (Harpaz et al., 2023)?

Participents and procedure The study is carried out in Hungary, and is consisted of a sample of Hungarian performing arts and non-artist students. A complex instrument battery is employed to comprehensively explore psychological well-being, preceived stress levels, self-efficacy, help-seeking orientations, personal growth, subjective well-being, savouting art, academic grit, and subjective academic achievement across diverse groups of dance (n = 151), music (n = 35), and non-artist students (n = 173) as a control group. The instruments Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) – A 10-item, 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire (Cohen et al., 1983), the PSS is a frequently used instrument among performing artists (e.g., Kausar & Ahmad, 2021). New General Self-Efficacy Scale – A 5-point Likert-scale (Chen et al., 2001) comprises eight items. Help-Seeking Orientation Scale (HSO) – A 14-item, 7-point Likert-scale questionnaire (Komissarouk et al., 2017) asking participants to describe the type of help they prefer while dealing with difficulties. Respondents receive three grades, providing their tendencies to seek dependent/autonomy-oriented help or avoid any help. Personal Growth – A 3-item, 5-point Likert- sub-scale from Ryff and Keyes’ (1995) Psychological Well-being. The Satisfaction with Life Scale – A 5-item, 7-point Likert-scale measure of subjective well-being, well-known as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener et al., 1985). Savoring Art – Lee et al.’s (2021) savoring art questionnaire determines a person’s appreciation of art and the need for it. A 7-point Likert-scale, it is based on six items related to art from the openness to experience scale (based on DeYoung et al., 2007). Academic Grit Scale – A 30-item, 5-point Likert-scale version of the Academic Grit Scale (Clark & Melacki, 2019), includes three subscales (10-item each): Determination, Resilience, and Focus. Subjective Academic Achievement – Self-reported grades were measured with two items asking students to describe their general academic performance, based on De Castella & Byrne, (2015) and Gao et al. (2022).

The first hypothesis was confirmed when positive statistically significant correlations were found between both open-mindedness and savoring art and all sub-categories of MCH (Tables 1&2 for non and amateur musicians’ correlations respectively). This suggests that being open-minded and appreciating art are related to music consumption in both private and social forms, including discussing music. At this point, it’s unclear whether the psychological characteristics affect the conduct or vice versa, whether listening with others, discussing music, and attending concerts may affect a person’s tendency toward art and open-mindedness, and further research is needed. Hypothesis two was also confirmed when positive correlations were found between both open-mindedness and savoring art and MMP, while no correlations or negative ones were found with a preference for Algorithmic Passive (Tables 1&2). These suggest that while open-mindedness and art appreciation relate to active search and a network of mentorship, the opposite might be reflected in the preference for algorithmically generated suggestions as a form of mentorship. The differences between amateur and non-musicians were also confirmed (hypothesis 3), and partially confirmed (hypothesis 4), when the musicians’ means were significantly higher on all variables, except in the preference for algorithmic mentorship (Table 3). These suggest that being a musician is related mainly to social relations regarding music listening, whether in the form of recommendations or consumption, and further support findings that connect musicianship and mentoring preferences (Vaizman, 2023). The lack of differences in preference for algorithmic suggestions might point to app use that reflects current times, but not musicianship. Further research is needed to determine the causality between the study variables, and whether other listening habits and tendencies are related to socialization and education towards art appreciation in the streaming era. Due lack of space Tables aren’t attached and will be presented at the conference.

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