Aggressiveness in Judokas and Team Athletes: Predictive Value of Personality Traits, Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Combat sports and martial arts are often associated with aggressiveness among the general public, although data on judo and/or martial arts and aggressiveness seem to be unclear. This research aims to compare athletes who have trained judo for a prolonged time (minimum 5 years) and athletes from various team sports, primarily regarding the manifestation of aggression, but also regarding personality traits, emotional intelligence, and self-efficacy. Also, the potential predictive value of personality traits, emotional intelligence, and self-efficacy for aggression within subsamples of judokas and team athletes was tested. The research findings showed that professional judo athletes are characterized by a low degree of aggression, especially low indirect and physical manifestations of aggression. In addition, the personality traits Honesty-Humility and Openness to experience are well expressed, contrary to Emotionality and Extraversion, which are less pronounced. They are also characterized by moderate general self-efficacy. On the other hand, members of team sports produced the opposite results, as they are characterized by increased aggression, pronounced traits of Emotionality and Extraversion, somewhat less pronounced traits of Honesty-Humility, Openness to new experience, and less pronounced general self-efficacy. The percentage of explained variability of aggression is slightly higher in the subsample of team sports and constitutes 49.9% of the variability, while in the subsample of judokas it constitutes 47.8% of the variability of the criteria. Practical implications, limitations, and future research directions were discussed.

What Types of Exercise Are Best for Emotional Intelligence and Logical Thinking?

“…This is consistent with data from other studies that also reported direct associations between EI and exercise [ 3 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. It is not surprising that people who exercise have better EI because they strive to be the best and often want to lead, and EI is an important trait for leadership [ 34 ].…”

“…One recent systematic review showed that EI is a determining factor in the improvement in sports competencies [ 31 ]. Stanković et al concluded that elite athletes are characterized by positive, high scores in self-efficacy and emotionality [ 32 ]. Ubago-Jiménez found that the relationship between PA and EI is stronger in male than in female students [ 33 ].…”

“…Few studies have examined whether EI is related to type of exercise. Stanković et al showed that professional judo athletes are characterized by a low degree of emotionality, but the emotionality of members of team sports is higher [ 32 ]. In our study, EI was highest among participants in dual sports (martial arts, wrestling, boxing) and lowest among those who perform powerlifting.…”

Anthropometrics, Performance, and Psychological Outcomes in Mixed Martial Arts Athletes

“…In addition, superficial analyses of our data (not shown) discarded the association between BPQ anger and HGS. Although martial arts and combat sports are often associated with aggressiveness by the general public, there is evidence of less verbal and physical manifested aggressiveness in combat sports (i.e., Judo) practitioners in comparison with team sports [ 45 ]. Thus, based on the outcomes found here and the investigations of other researchers, it can be stated that aggressive behavior can be altered, modified, relieved, or retarded through exercise training routines.…”

Ira y Personalidad como dos factores relacionados en el deporte: una revisión sistemática

“…En el ámbito deportivo, la ira tiene un papel principal tanto positivo como negativo no solo en el rendimiento, sino también en la propia elección de la actividad deportiva que se quiere realizar (Nicholls, 1989;Stankovic et al, 2022).…”