Analysis of the Behavioural and Emotional Profile of Adolescent Judo Practitioners

Abstract

In recent decades, the number of social projects that use sports as a tool has been increasing dramatically, necessi- tating rigorous investigations into their immediate and long-term effects and the behavioural changes in children and adolescents who participate in these projects. This study aimed to assess the behavioural and emotional profile of adolescent judo practitioners. The participants of the Judo Social Project in São José do Rio Preto answered the Brazilian version of the “Youth Self-Report” (YSR/2001). In the analysis of scores, the borderline range was grouped with the clinical range to minimize the occurrence of false negatives, specifically, the number of adolescents with scores outside the clinical range on the YSR/11-18 scale (t scores ≥60 for the clinical range) who required psycholog- ical or psychiatric care. The scores on the anxiety and depression scale were significantly higher for female partici- pants (p=0.0431). On the total scale of emotional and behavioural problems, 34.4% (N=106) of the study population had mean scores considered in the clinical range. Of these, the scores were found to be in the clinical range in 24.8% (N=31) of the female participants and 41% (N=75) of the male participants. The comparison between the sexes indi- cated that internalization symptoms (anxiety and depression) were more frequent in female participants, whereas externalization problems (rule-breaking and behavioural problems) were more frequent in male participants.