Martial Arts and Well-being

<p><em>Martial Arts and Well-Being</em> explores how martial arts as a source of learning can contribute in important ways to health and well-being, as well as provide other broader social benefits. Using psychological and sociological theory related to behaviour, ritual, perception and reality construction, the book seeks to illustrate, with empirical data, how individuals make sense of and perceive the value of martial arts in their lives. </p><p></p><p>This book draws on data from over 500 people, across all age ranges, and powerfully demonstrates that participating in martial arts can have a profound influence on the construction of behaviour patterns that are directly linked to lifestyle and health. Making individual connections regarding the benefits of practice, improvements to health and well-being – regardless of whether these improvements are ‘true’ in a medical sense – this book offers an important and original window into the importance of beliefs to health and well-being as well as the value of thinking about education as a process of life-long learning.</p><p></p><p>This book<i> </i>will be of great interest to a range of audiences, including researchers, academics and postgraduate students interested in sports and exercise psychology, martial art studies and health and well-being. It should also be of interest to sociologists, social workers and martial arts practitioners.</p><p></p><p>The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781315448084, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.</p> <p>List of figures and tables </p><p>Acknowledgements </p><p>1 Introduction </p><p>Part 1 </p><p></p><p>Scope of the research and structure of the book </p><p></p><p>Part 2 </p><p></p><p>Methods </p><p></p><p>Research design </p><p></p><p>Data collection </p><p></p><p>Sample </p><p>Survey </p><p></p><p>Interviews </p><p></p><p>Data analysis </p><p>Survey </p><p></p><p>Interviews </p><p>2 Theories of learning behaviour and reality construction – their value in understanding health</p><p></p><p>and well-being </p><p>Introduction </p><p></p><p>Exploring individual attitudes and behaviour </p><p></p><p>Behaviourism </p><p></p><p>Social cognitive theory </p><p></p><p>Four main sources of self-efficacy </p><p></p><p>Self-efficacy and human health and well-being </p><p></p><p>Society and behaviour </p><p></p><p>Culture and group behaviour </p><p></p><p>Martial arts, health and well-being </p><p></p><p>Eastern philosophy and its relevance to martial arts </p><p></p><p>Chapter summary </p><p>3 Teachers of martial arts </p><p>Introduction </p><p></p><p>Sample </p><p>Motivations for taking up a martial art </p><p></p><p>Physical </p><p></p><p>Health </p><p></p><p>Well-being </p><p></p><p>General </p><p>Health and health awareness </p><p></p><p>Well-being </p><p></p><p>Additional benefits </p><p></p><p>Culture </p><p></p><p>Community </p><p></p><p>Inclusion </p><p>Challenges to teaching martial arts </p><p></p><p>Value of teaching </p><p></p><p>Access to martial arts </p><p></p><p>Chapter summary </p><p>4 Health and physical well-being and the teaching and learning of martial arts </p><p>Introduction </p><p></p><p>Sample </p><p>Motivations for taking up a martial art </p><p></p><p>Health </p><p></p><p>General physical well-being </p><p>Support for health: awareness and benefits </p><p></p><p>Health awareness </p><p></p><p>Health benefits </p><p></p><p>Teaching and learning </p><p></p><p>Learning and the martial arts teacher </p><p></p><p>Qualities in the teacher </p><p></p><p>Challenges to learning </p><p></p><p>Being a martial artist </p><p>Chapter summary </p><p>5 Well-being </p><p>Introduction </p><p></p><p>Sample </p><p>Martial arts and well-being </p><p></p><p>Well-being and confidence </p><p></p><p>Intellectual </p><p></p><p>Learning </p><p></p><p>Culture and ethics </p><p></p><p>Social </p><p></p><p>Management of stress and the link to health and well-being </p><p>Chapter summary </p><p>6 Connecting communities and promoting health </p><p>Introduction </p><p></p><p>Motivations to learn </p><p></p><p>Perceived benefits of martial arts </p><p></p><p>Health benefits </p><p></p><p>Health awareness </p><p>Well-being </p><p></p><p>The social context of learning </p><p></p><p>The role of the teacher </p><p></p><p>Identity in martial arts </p><p></p><p>Connecting communities and promoting health </p><p></p><p>Chapter summary </p><p>7 Conclusion </p><p>Significance of the research </p><p></p><p>Recommendations for policy and practice </p><p></p><p>References </p><p>Index </p>