The objective of this study is to examine the effects of participation in Kendo activity as sport for all on the peer relation and school life satisfaction of elementary school students. Thus, this study conducted a survey targeting total 300 elementary school students participating in the Kendo training activity for the purpose of sport for all, with the use of convenience sampling method, for two months from July 1st to September 30th 2019. Excluding 17 questionnaires with insincere responses or omitted contents from the collected 300 questionnaires, total 283 questionnaires were used for the final analysis. Using the frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and regression analysis, this study drew the conclusions as follows.
First, the perception of participation(participation in activity, interest in activity, necessity of activity) in Kendo activity in accordance with the demographic characteristics(sex, grade, period of participation, hours of participation, number of participation) showed partial differences.
Second, the perception of peer relation(matter of having peers, reliability, continuity of relation, adaptation between peers) in accordance with the demographic characteristics(sex, grade, period of participation, hours of participation, number of participation) showed partial differences.
Third, the perception of school life satisfaction(teacher satisfaction, peer satisfaction, class/general satisfaction) in accordance with the demographic characteristics(sex, grade, period of participation, hours of participation, number of participation) showed partial differences.
Fourth, the participation in Kendo activity as sport for all had partial effects on the peer relation. Concretely, the participation in activity had effects on the peer relation.
Fifth, the participation in Kendo activity as sport for all had effects on the school life satisfaction. Concretely, all the participation in activity, interest in activity, and necessity of activity had effects on the school life satisfaction.
Thus, it would be necessary to apply the suitable programs by fully understanding the characteristics of elementary school students and adolescents regarding the perception of peer relation and school life satisfaction in accordance with different participation such as participation in activity, interest in activity, and necessity of activity. If the Kendo activity is actively used for the education of physical activity and school physical education for elementary school students by highlighting the characteristics of Kendo, it would be possible to promote the physical growth, to cultivate the socio-psychological factors, to enhance the formation of peer relation at school, and also to improve the class/general satisfaction. Therefore, the active application of Kendo to educational programs about diverse factors through physical activity could be used as effective education.