A hallmark of just about every martial arts movie is the extent to which the movie’s lead character manifests resilience against the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” that they experience. Probably it’s this ability to keep getting up and keep on keeping on that we appreciate as much as any martial arts prowess. But do martial arts actually help with resilience in early life?
Kung Fu Panda Potential in High School?
Doudou Yang and Xiaoyan Wang, based in Guangdong, China, were keen to understand the psychological benefits that might arise from martial arts training in children and young adults. They conducted 2 comprehensive research studies published in “The influence and mechanism of Taichi Chuan on improving mental health in adolescents: The chained mediating effect of meaning in life and psychological resilience” in the journal Acta Psychologica.
In total, 722 adolescents (10-19 years old) from a secondary school (junior and senior high) in Guangzhou, China, participated in a cross-sectional study. The researchers used advanced statistical methods to analyze reported results related to martial arts (Tai Chi Chuan) practice, life meaning, overall mental health, and resilience. The first main result was a clear beneficial effect of martial arts practice on mental health. Subsequently, they acknowledged that “mental health can be bolstered through two protective mechanisms: meaning in life and psychological resilience” and sought to assess this in their participants.
Meaning of Life Mediates Martial Movement
When they analyzed their large data set and focused on “incorporating age and grade as control variables,” they found that “meaning in life and psychological resilience” were interacting mediators. Using the framework of embodied cognition theory, Yang and Wang suggested that martial arts training provides “integration of internal psychological processes with external bodily dynamics [which] leads to a state of harmony and unity.”
Doudou Yang and Xiaoyan Wang are keen to point out that “Taichi Chuan, an embodiment of Chinese martial arts, hinges upon the philosophy of gentleness subduing force and tranquility managing motion, which potentially catalyzes personal growth among adolescents. Adolescents often encounter multiple developmental challenges manifesting as symptoms including depressive moods, reduced communicative expression, and diffused attention.”
The Importance of Integrated Action Across the Lifespan
This study has importance in both understanding the contextual value of martial arts as holistic physical education and in helping to frame such value in a Western context. Martial arts are still commonly perceived as practices of combat and self-defense in the West, whereas in the East, the perception extends widely to mind-body exercise and overall life value. In addition to direct practical physical applications of martial arts, the eastern approach “prioritizes the synchronization of bodily movement and breath, highlights the significance of the body’s internal self-regulation, and with it a wealth of philosophical culture and educational implications.”
Yang and Wang suggest that “enhancing adolescents’ meaning in life by Taichi Chuan, which serves as an external protective factor, they can have the ability to reject mental self-depletion and foster self-growth with a positive and confident attitude. Then, psychological distress is reduced and a healthy psychological state is nurtured.”
Regardless of the specific practice, there is a huge and growing body of knowledge suggesting and demonstrating that holistic mind-body practices like martial arts can have large beneficial effects on resilience and mental health across the lifespan. The caricatured meme in martial arts movies does contain a kernel of reality worth chasing and embracing.
(c) E. Paul Zehr (2025)
