Does Combat-Sport Exposure Predict Aggression? The Roles of Training Experience, Competition Exposure, and Psychological Regulation

Combat sports expose athletes to sanctioned interpersonal confrontation while demanding restraint, tactical control, and emotional composure. This crosssectional study examined whether training experience and recent competition exposure were associated with dispositional aggression after psychological regulation was considered in 320 Sri Lankan combat-sport athletes (230 men, 90 women; age M = 24.80 years, SD = 4.31). Aggression was assessed with the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, emotion dysregulation with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form, and self-control with the Brief Self-Control Scale. Hierarchical regression entered age and sex first, training years and competitions in the previous 12 months second, and emotion dysregulation and self-control third. Training years (r = -.04, p = .512) and competition count (r = .01, p = .812) showed no evidence of bivariate association with total aggression; adding both exposure indicators increased R² by less than .001. The final model explained 48.3% of aggression variance. Greater emotion dysregulation was independently associated with higher aggression (β = .57, p < .001), whereas greater self-control was associated with lower aggression (β = -.20, p < .001). Training years remained near zero, and the confidence interval for competition count included zero. Exploratory analyses identified a positive association between competition frequency and Physical Aggression (β = .17, p = .002), but not Anger or Hostility. Sensitivity analyses reproduced the central pattern. Because the design was cross-sectional and psychological measures were self-reported, causal inference is not warranted. Within the observed exposure ranges, the data do not support a simple linear exposure-dose account of global aggression.