Aggression in the Polish elitecombat sports’ athletes

Abstract

Sport’s aggression is widely discussed, but combat arts are traditionally considered as sports promoting emotional control. The aims of this research were to determine the diff erences in competitive and general aggression between martial arts’ athletes and controls and the relationships between aggression and athletes’ age, sports experience, level of sportsachievement and the type of combat sports (predictable attacking and unpredictable attacking). Obtained results revealed signifi cant higher levels only in the total aggression in athletes, with physical aggression (PA)in particular. The combat sports training was an independent predictor of a higher level of PA and the more titled athletes, the less aggressive they were. A high level of competitive aggression was determined by the unpredictable attacking combat sport.