The Effects of Long-Term Participation in a Martial Arts Program on Self-Esteem and Bullying Victimization

• Main Author: Dahle, Pamela Jeanne
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2017
• Subjects: self-esteem; bullying; victimization; martial arts; Counseling Psychology
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6897; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7897&context=etd

Public concern over the occurrence of bullying in schools has increased considerably within the last decade. Although there are many programs in place that attempt to address the problem of bullying in schools, they have achieved only varying levels of success, with many failing to alleviate the problem. In addition, although some researchers have conducted studies on either the relationship between self-esteem and bullying victimization or the relationship between self-esteem and participation in martial arts, few have conducted studies seeking to understand the correlation between participation in martial arts, bullying victimization, and levels of self-esteem. The current study measured levels of self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale; Rosenberg, 1965) and the frequency of bullying victimization (Multidimensional Peer-Victimization Scale; Mynard & Joseph, 2000) among twelve- to sixteen-year-old adolescents. The current study compared differences in self-esteem and bullying victimization between three groups of adolescents: one group consisted of students with less than two months of martial arts experience (minimal experience group; BG); one group consisted of students with 2–35 months of martial arts experience (moderate experience group; MG); and one group consisted of students with more than 36 months of martial arts experience (advanced experience group; AG). Participants (N=XX) were recruited from one county located in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. Analyses of the data included MANOVA, comparing the three groups' data on measures of self-esteem and bullying victimization. Correlational analyses and Chi-Square analyses were also conducted to show relationships between variables. No significant differences were found between the reported self-esteem scores and reported bullying victimization scores of the AG and the BG or MG. There was a significant negative correlation between self-esteem and bullying victimization. And a significant relationship was found, using the Chi-Square analysis, between length of participation in martial arts and reported self-esteem.