A Study on the Personality Development of Elementary School Students through HAPKIDO Training

Courtesy is considered especially important in hapkido training. The characteristic of hapkido is that trainees sit upright on their knees and exchange greetings before they start to undergo training, and another character-istic is that they stand up gently and do circular motions when they compete with each other. They feel the energy of their bodies when they train it. The training effects of hapkido is associated with its technical system. There are some differences in that regard among various hapkido organizations, but the technical system of hapkido consists of breathing, break fall and technique in general, which is differentiated from those of other martial arts. Hankido is a martial art that is good for school children s physical activities. This is viewed as an attractive physical activity that can step up their emotional, social and intellectual development, provide physical education and help them to build up character to grow into good members of society. Accordingly, this study was imple-mented on the assumption that hapkido training would be of use for personality education for elementary school students. The subjects in this study were 300 male and female elementary school students who were selected by random sampling from among the male and female trainees in 13 hapkido gyms located in the cities of Daejeon and Incheon. After a survey was conducted by this researcher, the answer sheets from 263 respondents were analyzed except for 37 ones that were incomplete or included unfaithful responses. This scale consisted of five areas and 16 items, which were four on etiquette, four on caring, four on emotion, two on personality and two on life habits. In this study, what influence hapkido training exerted on the personality development of the elementary school students was analyzed. And the following conclusions were reached: First, whether hapkido training affected the personality development of the school children in a different way according to gender was analyzed. As a result, there were significant differences in caring among the subfactors. The boys were more caring than the girls. Second, whether hapkido training affected the personality development of the school children in a different way according to grade was analyzed. The third and fourth graders and the fifth and sixth graders were ahead of the first and second graders in terms of etiquette, personality and life habits, and the fifth and sixth graders excelled the first and second graders in emotion. Third, whether hapkido training affected the personality development of the school children in a different way according to training frequency was analyzed, and the group that trained three times or more a week were ahead of the group that trained three times or less in every variable that was etiquette, caring, emotion, personality and life habits. Fourth, whether there were any differences among the school children who trained hapkido in personality development according to training experience was analyzed. As a result, the group that trained for one to four years were ahead of the group that trained for one year or less in terms of etiquette, emotion, personality and life habits, and the group that trained for two to four years were more caring than the group that trained for a year or less.