The Psychosocial Effects of Taekwondo Training: A Meta-Analysis

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and international sport, and its psychosocial benefits for its trainees have been studied extensively. This review aims to systematically assess and meta-analyze the effects of Taekwondo training on sociality, character, etiquette, and school life adjustment. We searched the RISS, NDSL, and KISS electronic databases between January 1985 and December 2019. We also included gray literature, such as theses, in addition to peer-reviewed articles. R software (version 3.6.2, R Core Team, Vienna, Austria) was used to synthesize the effect sizes and perform moderation analyses. Twenty-eight studies (24 cross-sectional and four intervention studies) were included in the final meta-analysis. Significant positive effects of Taekwondo training were found on sociality (MD = 0.266, 95% CI: 0.191 to 0.341), character (MD = 0.446, 95% CI: 0.331–0.560), etiquette (MD = 0.562, 95% CI: 0.500–0.624), and school life adjustment (MD = 0.308, 95% CI: 0.195–0.421). Overall, the findings of this meta-analysis support that Taekwondo can have a positive impact on the psychosocial factors of trainees. Due to several limitations discussed, well-designed RCTs and multiple levels of Taekwondo intervention studies should be conducted in future research to validate the current findings.