Health-Oriented Attitudes in Amateur Sumo Wrestlers

Background Amateur sumo is one of rather few sports which can provide overweight and obese individuals with an opportunity to exercise their bodies, mold attitudes and learn a value system. The goal of this research was to identify healthoriented attitudes in sumo wrestlers depending on their age category. Material/Methods: Researched subjects were wrestlers of the following four sumo categories: cadets (n=25), juniors (n=18), pre-seniors (n=11) and seniors (n = 18), who were put through a diagnostic survey, requested to fill in a questionnaire, and evaluated against the PRO-ZET attitude scale. For purposes of statistical inference an analysis of variance was used and results of the F test, the NIR test and Tukey’s RIR test for unequal n’s were given. Results: The above research techniques and statistical methods allowed successful identification of health-oriented attitudes in sumo wrestlers. The highest average rates of the General Attitude Indicator and of the formal components indicate that it is juniors that had their health-oriented attitudes developed to the fullest. This was confirmed by the fact that in juniors the content-related elements, such as health education and physical activity, were also better developed. In health control and treatment juniors’ and pre-seniors’ attitudes were comparable. Conclusions: Our research into the health-oriented attitudes in sumo wrestlers showed that the cognitive element of the attitude takes precedence over the behavioral one, hence an urgent need to properly mold health-oriented habits in young people in order to prepare them to perform a variety of social roles in different areas of adult life.

[1]  J. McGinnis,et al.  The public health burden of a sedentary lifestyle. , 1992, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.