IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i9p1989-d169417.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Martial Arts as a Form of Undertaking Physical Activity in Leisure Time Analysis of Factors Determining Participation of Poles

Author

Listed:
  • Elżbieta Biernat

    (Department of Tourism, Collegium of World Economy, Warsaw School of Economics, 02-554 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Justyna Krzepota

    (Department of Physical Culture and Health Promotion, University of Szczecin, 71-065 Szczecin, Poland)

  • Dorota Sadowska

    (Department of Physiology, Institute of Sport—National Research Institute in Warsaw, 01-982 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

Background: The aim of this paper was to analyze selected sociodemographic and economic factors that determine practicing martial arts (MA) in Poland. Our hypothesis states that MA constitute a niche sport, which is a result of conditions shaping the decision to undertake them: perception through the lens of the media/entertainment business (rather than primary values), insufficient space for practicing, as well as high costs. Methods: The study was based on a survey conducted on a representative sample of Poles (n = 12,183). Results for 470 participants declaring some level of proficiency in MA were presented (including 124 declaring active participation). In order to verify statistically significant differences, a Chi-Square test, single-agent logistic regression analysis, and adds ratio were applied. Results: 3.0% of respondents declared basic skills in MA, while advanced skills were declared by 0.9% participants. Only 1% were active practitioners. The leading motivation was “pleasure” (62.1%), followed by “keeping fit and maintaining healthy body shape” (21.8%) and “health” (7.3%). The probability of participation in MA decreased with age (40 years of age being the turning point). As for young people, there is a 15 times lower chance of married individuals undertaking MA, while possessing advanced skills doubles the probability. School provides a place to practice MA during school years, but there is a problem with continuation at a later age (18.8% declaring classes organized at school vs. 5.4% organized at work). Conclusions: Reversing the trend of decreasing popularity of MA requires promotion on each level of education and creating opportunities to continue participation after graduation. There is a need to increase the availability of cheap sport facilities in the vicinity of the place of residence or work. In case of adults, it is important to build platforms facilitating contact with MA centers.

Suggested Citation

  • Elżbieta Biernat & Justyna Krzepota & Dorota Sadowska, 2018. "Martial Arts as a Form of Undertaking Physical Activity in Leisure Time Analysis of Factors Determining Participation of Poles," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-12, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:9:p:1989-:d:169417
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/9/1989/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/9/1989/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Puciato, 2019. "Sociodemographic Associations of Physical Activity in People of Working Age," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-12, June.
    2. Katarzyna Kotarska & Leonard Nowak & Mirosława Szark-Eckardt & Maria Nowak, 2019. "Selected Healthy Behaviors and Quality of Life in People Who Practice Combat Sports and Martial Arts," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-12, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:9:p:1989-:d:169417. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.