Participation in Martial Arts and it Effect on Self
Esteem
Elizabeth G. Brewer
Metropolitan
State College of Denver
Abstract
This research project was conducted to study the relationship
between participating in martial arts and increase in self esteem. Taekwondo
was used as the martial art for this research study, because of its increase in
popularity in the college community as well as its growing recognition as an
Olympic sport. Participants from both Level I and Level II Taekwondo were volunteered to fill out
the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory. Non-martial art students were also used as a
baseline. The results of the study show
there is a positive correlation between participation of martial arts and self
esteem. The research also indicated a
positive correlation for women and increase in self esteem. The increase of participation in martial arts
also has the benefit in increased overall personal health for
participants. Further research should
study different age groups as well as different areas of the country to see if
this is a reoccurring trend throughout the nation.
Introduction
Self-esteem has been studied for many
years over many different demographics.
Age, gender, nationality, and social economic status can influence
someone’s self image and therefore affect their self-esteem. Methods of increasing self-esteem often
involve both physical and mental changes in a person’s life. A healthy self-esteem is critical for healthy
living. Martial Arts involve both the
body and the mind and are a form of exercise that can increase a person’s
awareness and self-esteem. According to
the United States Martial Arts Association martial
arts has been “proclaimed by many to be a great activity for both children
adults for building self-confidence and self-discipline” (Lee, 2000)
In
a study by Whaley (2005), the role of current and future-oriented
self-perceptions where observed from ten weeks of participants exercising. Centered on remaining healthy and
independent, the participants’ self esteem was measured during the
experiment. The results supported
Markus, Cross, and Wurf’s (1990) model of effective
performance. In another study by Brecklin (2005) self defense classes where studied to
strengthen women’s capacity to defend them.
The ability to defend oneself gives a sense of
confidence and well-being. Women who
take self-defense classes were more assertive and were able to respond faster
to an attack. Knowing they can protect
themselves gave these women high self-esteem.
Bois (2005) studied the influence of parents’ physical activity
involvement and perceptions of their children’s physical competence upon
children’s perceptions of confidence and children’s time spent in physical
activity. Parents being a good role
model for exercise can influence children’s enthusiasm for exercising. Results showed both parents had an influence
on the child’s competence but by different processes.
If,
as prior research indicates, exercise helps promote positive self-esteem, then
this study was to pursue whether or not performing in martial arts help promote
self esteem as well. The null hypothesis
was there is no increase of self-esteem with the participation in martial
arts. The scientific hypothesis is there
was an increase of self-esteem with the participation in martial arts. This
study was to conducted, because martial arts are
rapidly growing in popularity. The increase of self-esteem through exercise
also has the benefit of fighting obesity, which has become an epidemic in the
United States.
Methods
Participants
Participants
in the study consisted of seventy students of Metropolitan State College of
Denver. Nineteen where from the
Introduction to Psychology Research Pool, twenty-seven from the Level 1
Taekwondo class, and twenty-four from the Level 2 Taekwondo class. Of the whole participants, thirty-one were
female and thirty-nine where male. The
members of the research pool have no background in martial arts. The Level 1
Taekwondo students are in their first semester in Taekwondo and range from
white belt to yellow belt in Taekwondo rank.
The Level 2 class consists of students who have taken at least one
semester of Taekwondo and range from yellow belt to black belt in rank. In the Level 2 class, how much Taekwondo
experience varies from two semester all the way to ten
years.
|
Gender |
Mean |
N |
Std.
Deviation |
|
Male |
24.1026 |
39 |
7.85659 |
|
Female |
22.2258 |
31 |
3.81846 |
|
Total |
23.2714 |
70 |
6.41990 |
|
TKD |
Mean |
N |
Std.
Deviation |
|
Level I |
22.4815 |
27 |
3.34400 |
|
Level II |
24.8333 |
24 |
6.06248 |
|
None |
22.4211 |
19 |
9.48283 |
|
Total |
23.2714 |
70 |
6.41990 |
Materials
Participants in the study where
administered the Coopersmith Self Esteem
Questionnaire. The participants also
filled out a short form with demographic information such as age, gender, race,
major in school, years in Taekwondo, and current rank. Since the development of the Coopersmith Self Esteem Questionnaire was administered to
tens of thousands of children and adults participating in research studies or
in special education or clinical programs to enhance self-esteem. All socioeconomic ranges and many ethnic and
cultural groups were represented. As
well as the forms to fill out, the participants were all given similar black
ball point pens to take the survey with, so the color ink they used did not
give away their identity.
Design
The
dependent variable in the study was the scores on the Coopersmith
Self Esteem Questionnaire. The three
levels of the independent variable were non-martial art students (research
pool), new martial art students (Level 1 class), and experienced martial art
students (level 2). Taekwondo was the
martial art being studied, because of its currently popularity and familiarity
around the world as well as a growing sport in colleges.
Procedures
Participants
met in a designated classroom for the study, the non-martial artists
participants were separated into to groups.
The first group filled out the forms at 3:00pm on Wednesday and the
other group on Thursday at the same time, this was
done in order to accommodate all the students into one room, which had limited
seating of fifteen. The martial art
participants were asked to fill out the survey at the end of one of their
regular classes. The Level I class meet
at 10:00am at the Physical Education Building at Metropolitan State College of
Denver and the Level II class meet in the same room at 11:30am. The classes were held Monday through
Thursday. All the participants in the
study were administered pens and a packet of three pieces of paper. The packet consisted of the consent form,
demographics sheet, and the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory Participants
were first asked to sign a consent form stating they understand they are
volunteering to participate in the study and can withdrawal at any point in the
study. After they signed the consent form, the participants went on to the form
with the demographic information.
Lastly, the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory
was filled out. Whenever the
participants were finished filling out the forms, they were free to leave.
Design and Statistics
The design for this research project
was a correlation study, because the independent variable of whether or not the
participants participated in martial arts was not manipulated. The dependent variable was divided into three
parts: non martial students, beginning
martial artists in their first semester, and experienced martial artists. The definition of participation was attending
the class twice a week at their designated class times. SPSS was used with a Pearson Bivariate Correlation to analyze the data.
Results
The hypothesis for this study is that
participation in martial arts has a positive relationship with the increase of
self esteem. The Pearson Bivariate Correlation showed that there was a correlation
between self esteem and participation in martial arts of 0.620.
|
|
|
TKD |
SE |
|
TKD |
Pearson Correlation |
1 |
.060 |
|
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
|
.620 |
|
|
N |
70 |
70 |
|
SE |
Pearson Correlation |
.060 |
1 |
|
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.620 |
|
|
|
N |
70 |
70 |
The mean self esteem score for
non-martial artists was 77.26. The mean
self esteem score for Level I martial artists was 73.333 and for Level II was
66.708. The total average mean for self
esteem was 72.129. A score closer to 100
shows a higher level of self esteem.
|
TKD |
|
age |
SE |
|
Level I |
Mean |
22.4815 |
73.3333 |
|
|
N |
27 |
27 |
|
|
Std. Deviation |
3.34400 |
17.88854 |
|
Level II |
Mean |
24.8333 |
66.7083 |
|
|
N |
24 |
24 |
|
|
Std. Deviation |
6.06248 |
22.27980 |
|
None |
Mean |
22.4211 |
77.2632 |
|
|
N |
19 |
19 |
|
|
Std. Deviation |
9.48283 |
16.38713 |
|
Total |
Mean |
23.2714 |
72.1286 |
|
|
N |
70 |
70 |
|
|
Std. Deviation |
6.41990 |
19.34277 |
Another significant correlation was between gender and self
and self esteem, which was .294. This
score was significant at the 0.05 alpha level.
|
|
|
TKD |
SE |
age |
Gender |
|
TKD |
Pearson Correlation |
1 |
.060 |
.014 |
.270(*) |
|
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
|
.620 |
.906 |
.024 |
|
|
N |
70 |
70 |
70 |
70 |
|
SE |
Pearson Correlation |
.060 |
1 |
-.181 |
.294(*) |
|
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.620 |
|
.134 |
.014 |
|
|
N |
70 |
70 |
70 |
70 |
|
age |
Pearson Correlation |
.014 |
-.181 |
1 |
-.146 |
|
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.906 |
.134 |
|
.227 |
|
|
N |
70 |
70 |
70 |
70 |
|
Gender |
Pearson Correlation |
.270(*) |
.294(*) |
-.146 |
1 |
|
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.024 |
.014 |
.227 |
|
|
|
N |
70 |
70 |
70 |
70 |
* Correlation is
significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
The mean self esteem score for females in this
study was 78.451, and the mean self esteem score for males was 67.103.
|
Gender |
|
age |
SE |
|
Male |
Mean |
24.1026 |
67.1026 |
|
|
N |
39 |
39 |
|
|
Std. Deviation |
7.85659 |
20.77549 |