Developmental outcomes and meanings in martial arts practice among youth: a review

Abstract

The literature gives some indication that martial arts (MA) practice can influence youth development positively. However, previous reviews have shown that the outcomes of MA practice are still ambiguous. Furthermore, the ‘black box’ of MA practice is not yet fully understood and described. This review contributes to unpacking this black box for youth, by providing an overview of, and describing, the recent research on MA practice for youth development. The literature data were collected mainly through systematic computer searches of journal articles and dissertations, together with a manual search. After the exclusion of articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria, 17 articles were selected for this review. The results show that many positive developmental outcomes of MA have been found in recent years. The most common research topics are prosocial and antisocial behaviour, aggression, and resilience. There seems to be a growing consensus on the potential of MA for positive youth development. Furthermore, this review shows very clearly that the main effect of MA practice is attributed to the coach and his/her teaching style.

Keywords:

• Martial arts
• youth
• sports
• youth development
• social behaviour

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).