A research on the aggression levels, temperament, and narcissistic personality traits of taekwondo and karate athletes in Turkey

This research aims to study whether or not the narcissistic personality traits and the temperament types of the individuals, who perform contact and no-contact disciplines in karate and taekwondo branches in Turkey, have impact on their level of aggression; and also aims to reveal their relationship with each other. Research samples were created from 159 women and 182 men karate (kumite, kata) and taekwondo (poomse, kyorugi) athletes, who are either 18 years old or above and competed in national and/or international tournaments. Personal Information Forms, Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Nine Types Temperament Scale and Aggression Inventory were applied to the participants via face to face interview technique. It was observed that karate and taekwondo branches were concentrated on certain temperament types (6 and 8). It was also observed that compared to taekwondo athletes karate athletes have higher narcissistic values. There is a differentiation in sub-dimensions of the narcissistic personality traits for the athletes, who perform kata and poomse disciplines. Moreover, it was also observed that taekwondo branch has showed more passive aggression behaviour than karate branch. As a result of correlation analyses, it was observed that the increasement of destructive aggressive behavior decreases the effects of the sub-dimensions of the narcissistic personality traits, supremacy, authority, exhibitionism, exploitation, demanding and self-sufficiency. To sum up, it can be deduced that taekwondo athletes, who perform kyorugi discipline have a tendency to experience high passive aggression; and karate athletes have higher narcissistic traits than the others. Keywords: Contact sport; Non-contact sport; Martial arts.