I am going to be brief here - could write a book on this. (for knitting and a question about the bible, please see below - lots of posts from me today and I'd hate my question on the OT to go unanswered!!)
This post follows on from a recent discussion on Supergroup7's excellent martial arts blog.
It is a brief summary of the findings of a single, small scale study of women shotokan karateka. I do not know which psychomtetric assessments or other methods were used. Significant findings were:
1) the shotokan karate women (SKM) were significantly more extravert than females who did not do karate, and more extravert than male karateka
2) SKW were more impulsive than the average male, and than the average male karate-ka
3) SKW were as "tough minded" as male karateka, and more so than non-karate women (where tough-minded means aggressive, hostile, generally troublesome, cruel, insensitive, have difficulty making friends) - but they were still low scoring in this trait
4) SKW scored much lower in "mental well-being" than non-karate women (where mental wellbeing is measured using indicators such as insomnia, fatigue, depression, loss of confidence, suicidal thoughts and so on) :-(
I have to say I'm confused about point 4 - I'm not sure how we are meant to interpret "scored much lower in"? I may have to speak to the original author about that, which may be possible....
Source: Layton, C and Randall, M (1998) "A Shotokan Book of Facts, Vol 3"
More is written in Vol 1 about research into the effects of karate upon the personality. I am interested in finding out more about the personailty traits of those who become interested in the martial arts... The above research was carried out using a small sample of women. It appears that there may be scope for more research here.
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4 comments:
It's always interesting with such studies to ponder cause and effect. That is, do women develop poorer "mental wellbeing" because they do karate, or do they take up karate because they already have this problem?
pax et bonum
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I think that the "karate doers" were in fact scoring "higher" in mental well-being than the non-karate-doers (not because I'm arrogant enough to think that they necessarily should, but because I think that the writers would have followed this statement up with more explanation if they had not (or excluded this from their book altogether).
However, this still begs your question. I am not sure which methods were used in the research but many of the psychometrics with which I am familiar are said (and "proven" to a large extent) to reveal personality traits that do not shift significantly during one's lifetime.... a contentious point perhaps. I have mixed views on that...
Fiona? (Fiona has done a lot of work on one very well known psychometric called "Myers Briggs" - I'm sure she'll add to this)
"SKW scored much lower in "mental well-being" than non-karate women ( insomnia, fatigue, depression, loss of confidence, suicidal thoughts and so on) :-("
Wow! I understood the first 4 points.. it made sense that women who are extravert, impulsive, and tough-minded would be able to train in karate with more success than those who are shy, cautious, and timid. Therefore you would find that the environment's expectations would create an unbalance there.
But why would karate women score lower in mental well-being??? I'd be interested to know what rank level the women were at when asked these questions. I could see the lower kyu levels having alot of feelings of depression, confusion, lack of self confidence due to the fact that they are learning the requirements for their art, and struggling with the higher expectations of each rank. There was more than once, as a lower kyu rank, that I felt like "Goofy does karate", and that I couldn't even BREATH right. I had to swim past these negative thoughts to realize that everyone has to climb up the same path, and crawl over the same obstacles to get higher. I reminded myself over and over again that my Sensei wasn't always as awesome as he is now. He struggled with his knife hand strike, and front snap kick, and was victorious. If he can do it.. then by Jimminy! so can I!
What a fascinating topic... more.. more!
I used to be shy cautious and timid........ until I discovered Karate that is....... and then because, I guess, I could release the inner me, the real me, I gradually changed - the confidence it gave me, just to be me, was incredible - I'd say it only benefitted my mental well being. I do miss it though - shift patterns and knee problems combined to make it imposible to commit to training, and rather than do something half heartedly I decided it would be better to not do it at all :-(
I also made some wondeful friends :-)
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