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Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology

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Abstract - The hierarchy of values vs. self-esteem of persons practising martial arts and combat sports

Background, Problem and Aim. According to experts, one’s shared values and self-esteem exert a significant influence on the development of personality, disposition, commitment to the pursuit of one’s objectives, the perception of the world, and interpersonal relations [Tomkiewicz, Poplawska 1997; Ostrowska 1998; Krok 2010; Komorowska-Pudlo 2014; Kostorz, Gniezinska 2016]. Although pragmatists in many fields give these issues due priority, the amount of research undertaken in the field of martial arts is relatively small and clearly inadequate compared with other disciplines. This led the authors to perform their own analyses.
Methods. The research was conducted in Jastrzebie-Zdroj and Wodzisław Slaski among 80 respondents divided into two groups: 1) practitioners (N=38) and 2) control group (N=42). A diagnostic survey was employed using the ‘Scheler’s Value Scale’ (SVS) developed by Brzozowski and Self-Esteem Scale developed by Rosenberg in the Polish adaptation by Laguna, Lachowicz-Tabaczek and Dzwonkowska.
Results. It was found that the women demonstrated statistically significantly higher level of values subscale of aesthetic (p = 0.02) and truth (p = 0.048). Non practicing peers demonstrated statistically significantly higher level of hedonistic values (p = 0.01), whereas practising respondents-to ‘fitness and physical strength’ (p = 0.008), moral values (p = 0,002), sacred (p = 0.02), ‘religious sanctities’ (p = 0.002) and self-esteem (p = 0.01). It was observed that men who trained martial arts were characterized by a higher level of self-esteem (p = 0.03) and attributed to the bigger importance ‘fitness and physical strength’ (p = 0.01), moral values (p = 0.02) and religious sanctities (p = 0.003). It was found that women from training group were characterized by a higher level of self-esteem (p = 0.04) than respondents in the control group. The results showed that the most explanatory model variables is ‘fitness and physical strength’, moral values and religious sanctities, and self-esteem at a significantly moderate statistical level.
Conclusions. Bearing in mind that the hierarchy of values and self-esteem depends on a lot of factors, the authors recommend to conduct further research. An interesting issue would be to carry out the correlation analysis between the hierarchy of values adopted by practitioners of martial arts and self-esteem, and perception of their coach and his competence, interpersonal relationships, sense of quality of life, level and type of motivation, emotional intelligence, empathy and mental resilience. Besides, the findings show that it is advisable to include in further research an analysis of a relatively higher number of respondents living in several voivodeships. This would allow carrying out more structured analyses, exploring the problem, owing to which the lessons learnt could be more complete and more valuable.