The level of the aggression in karate athletes with different handedness and belt grades

Abstract

Karate athletes with different lateral talents possess different functions in terms of skills and personality characteristics in a way that handedness can be considered an advantage. Given that there is a paucity of research in the domain of personality characteristics, handedness and belt grades, the current research aims to investigate the relationship between handedness and belt grades with aggression among karate athletes. 120 male karate athletes participated. To measure handedness, we used Annette’s handedness questionnaire and to measure aggression, we used Bredemeier’s aggression questionnaire. The questionnaires were distributed among participants one day before the tournament. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to measure the effects of belt grades and handedness on the level of aggression. The results of the study indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in the average level of aggression between left-handed and right-handed karate athletes. There was also no statistically significant difference in the average level of aggression between karate athletes with different belt grades.

Keywords

• functional laterality
• handedness
• reactive aggression
• instrumental aggression
• martial arts