On The Relationship Between Taijiquan, Physical Dance And Senior Citizens’ Self-concept And Life Satisfaction

Self-concept has always been one of the hot issues in psychological research field,but it is the latest main topic in Sports Psychology that physical exercise can bring people psychological gains.At present,the influence of physical exercise on self-concept has gradually attracted the attention of the researchers and the public.In recent years,the aging population in China has been on a rise and more and more people want to improve their health level through exercise.Physical dance with Western background and Taijiquan with Eastern background are the top priorities of Chinese aging population.Then,what are the influences of the two forms of exercise exerting to senior citizens’ self-concept and life satisfaction?In light of precious research literature,self-concept is a manifold and multidimensional structure.With self-concept and the life satisfaction as parameters,this study will shed light on the psychological effects of physical dance and Taijiquan on senior citizens.The 277 subjects(male:136;female:141,with an average age of 65.00) chosen for this study were those who are in the habit of choosing forms and places of exercise according to their own interest.Among them,there were 98 Taijiquan enthusiasts(male:48;female:50.00,with an average age of 64.95),87 physical dance enthusiasts(male:43;female:44,with an average age of 63.44) and 92 irregular exercisers(male:45;female: 47,with an average age of 66.53),which were divided into the control groups of Taijiqaun and physical dance and the contrasting group respectively for study.The results showed that the feasible promotion of Taijiquan and physical dance to the self-concept and the life satisfaction of the senior citizens was not detected,but that there were some effects to different degrees on the different dimensions of self concept(physiological self, to be exact). As aresult,this paper renders some suggestions for senior citizens that they should involve themselves in various exercises with no clinging to one or two forms for attaining more all-round psychological effects, and that they should push themselves into wider communication,create more favorable and friendly relations in families and neighborhoods,for the purpose of delaying the deterioration of the sense of self value to improve their life satisfaction.