Aggressiveness level in baseball players and Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes

Background and Study Aim: The relationship between combat sports and aggression has begun to be focused by some researchers. While Wann & Branscombe consider combat sports (e.g. boxing) as typical examples of aggressive sports, other authors assume that training of combat sports could lead to a reduction of aggressiveness among the trainees. We hypothezise that the level of aggressiveness of Brazilian jiu-jitsu atkhletes is lower than among baseball players. Material and Methods: Self-report research tool Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) was involved in discovering the difference in aggressivenes level among players of non-combative (baseball) and combt sport (Brazilian jiu-jitsu). The research sample involves 60 male sportsman from the Czech Republic divided into two subgroups (n = 30 baseball players in the age 26.80 ±4.75 and n = 30 Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes in the age 26.47 ±4.92). Descriptive statistics, T-test and size effect evaluated by Cohen´s d were used for the analysis. Results: There are no statistically significant differences in aggressiveness level between samples A (baseball) and B (Brazilian jiu-jitsu) on the level of statistical significance 0.05%. According to Cohen´s d interpretation, we can consider the significant difference between A and B samples in the verbal aggression factor (d = −0.38). Conclusions: According to BPAQ methodology, there is no statistically significant difference in aggressiveness level of baseball and Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes in all four partial factors (physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, hostility). An increase of participants number could enhance the validity and reliability of research. We highly recommended continuing research for revealing the relationships between combat systems training and aggressiveness