University students who practised partner dancing at least three times weekly showed greater gains in social confidence over six months than those practising once or twice. The pattern was observed in a study that also tracked anxiety symptoms and a physiological indicator of stress regulation.
What researchers studied
Researchers followed students participating in Jive or Cha-Cha with Rock ‘n’ Roll music in southern China. Of 152 participants assessed at baseline, 136 completed a three-month follow-up and 131 completed a six-month assessment. A core group of 120 completed all three waves.
The researchers compared students who initially danced at least three times a week with those attending one or two sessions. They measured general and social self-efficacy, anxiety symptoms using the GAD-7 questionnaire and resting heart-rate variability, or HRV.
Thirty-two interviews and more than 50 hours of observations provided additional context about participants’ experiences. The study followed existing dance habits rather than randomly assigning people to practise more.
What they found
Average social self-efficacy scores rose by 4.6 points in the high-frequency group, compared with 1.3 points in the lower-frequency group. Resting HRV increased by approximately 4.9 milliseconds in the high-frequency group versus 0.7 milliseconds in the other group.
The authors reported significant differences in change over time for social self-efficacy, general self-efficacy and HRV after accounting for several background variables. Both groups showed lower anxiety symptom scores over the follow-up period, with the most pronounced changes early in the study.
Interviews highlighted rhythmic enjoyment, growing mastery of dance steps and the trust involved in coordinating movement with a partner.
What it means
The results suggest that regular, social physical activities might offer more than exercise alone. Repeated practice can bring opportunities to learn skills, connect with others and build confidence in a shared setting.
For universities, the study offers a reason to investigate inclusive dance programmes as a complement to existing wellbeing activities. It does not establish dance as a clinical treatment or show that every student would benefit from a three-session weekly target.
Important limitation
Participants had already chosen to dance, so self-selection and unmeasured differences may partly explain the results. There was no non-dancer control group, and the authors did not adjust for every multiple comparison. Randomised research is needed to test whether increased dancing itself causes the improvements.
Source Information
Study: Dancing to wellbeing: a three-wave longitudinal mixed-methods study of Rock “n” Roll Dancesport and psychosocial outcomes in Chinese university students
Authors: Yuanmei He and Jialin Wu
Journal / Source: Frontiers in Public Health
Published: 2 October 2026
