Correlation of Aggressiveness and Anxiety in Fighteeng Sports

Abstract

I ntroduction: in fighting sports there are many opened issues related with levels of aggression and anxiety. Material and methods: Our study is performed with healthy young athletes: kick boxers, karate fighters, and boxers. Examined group consisted of 55 members (45 male) with average age of 20.2±3.8 years. In analysis of level of aggression Questionnaire A-87 is used. Its purpose is assessment of aggressive behaviour in provoked situations, or measurement of impulsive aggression. Questionnaire A-87 consists of 15 items of different situations with five possible responses. Results and Discussion: The possible responses or reactions are the five most frequent forms of aggressive responses: a) verbal manifest aggression (VM); b) physical manifest aggression (PHM); c) indirect aggression (IND); d) verbal latent aggression (VL), and e) physical latent aggression (PHL). In the analysis of anxiety is used Beck Anxiety Inventory, BAI. Average training period was 7.8±3.6 years. Even 37 athletes during sporting carriers were injured, and most of examiners (precisely 13) experienced 3 injuries. Average value of BAI was 12.7±8.7. Average value of total aggression was 152.2±40.9; highest levels were observed in VM (33.9) and VL (30.1). Significant positive correlations of all components of aggression with level of anxiety is observed (p<0.05), most prominent IND (r=0.4263; p=0.0012), and VL (r=0.4163; p=0.0016), and also total aggression (r=0.4822; p=0.0002). Slightly significant positive correlation of total aggression with age of examiners is also observed (r=0.2668, p=0.0489). Positive correlation VM (r=0.4928; p=0.0001), PHL (r=0.2761; p=0.0413), and total aggression (r=0.347; p=0.0094) is observed with number of injuries of examined athletes. Also, positive correlation (r=0.2927, p=0.0301) is observed with level of anxiety and number of injuries. Higher level of aggression and anxiety might change attitude of some sports authorities (especially coaches), and additional psychological training of fight sports might be necessary. Conclusion: Assessment of basically levels of aggression and anxiety of athletes might be valuable not only in sport activities, but in overall aspects of life.

Anxiety and Emotional Intelligence: Comparisons Between Combat Sports, Gender and Levels Using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale and the Inventory of Situations and Anxiety Response

“…On the other hand, females demonstrated higher scores in emotional attention than male athletes, but both groups were classified as having low emotional attention, while high-level athletes showed better (classified as adequate) clarity and emotional repair than low-level athletes. Self-knowledge about the emotions, feelings, and moods together with the skill domain can help an athlete improve their performance (Cerin and Barnett, 2011;Tiric-Campara et al, 2012). Emotional intelligence of applied psychology suggested the existence of three major conceptual models: (i) a transverse section of interrelated emotional and social competencies, abilities, and facilitator that influence intelligent behavior, called emotional clarity; (ii) a wide range of competencies and abilities that increase work performance, called emotional attention; and (iii) the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and regulate one's emotions, as well as the emotions of others, called emotional repair (Espinoza-Venegas et al, 2015).…”

“…One of the major difficulties confronting the researcher of combat sports in anxiety studies is the assessment of situational anxiety response or state anxiety. This assessment has been showed using behavioral (Tiric-Campara et al, 2012), physiological (Capranica et al, 2017), and/or with self-report techniques (Cerin and Barnett, 2011;Coswig et al, 2018). A variety of self-report procedures in combat sports has been used with a practical degree of success.…”

“…This is particularly crucial if the training is under conditions of high demand and, in itself is not very motivating, but nevertheless active (Jin, 1992;Matsumoto et al, 2000). The contributions of preceding studies have shown anxiety as an eminent problem in different combat sports (Terry and Slade, 1995;Williams and Elliott, 1999;Tiric-Campara et al, 2012;Interdonato et al, 2013). However, the actual psychological distance between points or scores on these scales is typically unknown, while the Interval Scale of Anxiety Response Scale (ISAR) can provide a sensitive instrument for measuring situational anxiety (Heaton et al, 2007).…”

Natural Selection Equally Supports the Human Tendencies in Subordination and Domination: A Genome-Wide Study With in silico Confirmation and in vivo Validation in Mice

“…This observation supports subsequent verification (using clinical protocols) of the candidate SNP markers predicted by this work. In this way, genotyping for the elite combat athletes in addition to the widely used textual psychological questionnaires for them (Tiric-Campara et al, 2012) could enrich personalized sports medicine.…”

“…This observation points at the action of destabilizing (disruptive) natural selection rather than directional or stabilizing natural selection (Belyaev, 1979). Notably, comprehensive multifactorial regression analysis of healthy young athletes (i.e., boxers, kick boxers, and karate fighters) revealed a significant positive correlation between their aggression and anxiety rates, which helps to achieve top combat levels owing to the prevention of injuries under extreme conditions in the arena (Tiric-Campara et al, 2012). Finally, there is the century-old unsettled scientific dispute where one side – e.g., Freud (1921, 1930) and Lorenz (1964, 2002) – explains both human aggressiveness and social hierarchy as a consequence of their genetic predisposition, while the other side – e.g., Fromm (1941, 1973), Berkowitz (1962, 1993), and Skinner (Rogers and Skinner, 1956; Skinner, 1981) – explains this by the continuous non-genetic social education which continues from childhood to the oldest age (Markel, 2016).…”