Aggression, self-control, life satisfaction, and resilience as predictors of mental health in Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes

The medical question

Which psychological characteristics are linked with poorer mental health in combat sports athletes?

The Fight Medicine Research Institute uses this evidence to frame questions about how aggression, self-control and life satisfaction relate to mental health in combat sports athletes. The study’s population, Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes in the United States, and its self-report screening questionnaire determine which questions it can inform.

Summary

Among Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes, higher aggression and lower life satisfaction were associated with worse scores on a mental health screening questionnaire in both men and women.

What the work reports

• Between 19 April and 10 June 2024, 420 Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes in the United States (331 men and 89 women) completed an anonymous online survey. It included the Mental Health Disorders Screening Instrument for Athletes and questionnaires on resilience, grit, self-efficacy, self-control, aggression and life satisfaction.
• In men, the six measures together accounted for about 51.7% of the variance in the mental health screening score; aggression (9.1%), self-control (7.3%), life satisfaction (5.0%) and resilience (1.2%) were each significantly associated with it. In women the figure was about 45.3%, with aggression (6.0%) and life satisfaction (3.0%) significantly associated.
• The authors conclude that men with higher self-control, life satisfaction and resilience and lower aggression, and women with higher life satisfaction and lower aggression, were more likely to report better mental health.

Limits to keep in mind

• Cross-sectional. The authors state that the design prevents causal conclusions.
• All measures were self-reported, and the authors note that this may lead to social desirability bias. Mental health was measured with a screening questionnaire, not a clinical assessment.
• Participants were recruited through social media and all trained in the United States. The authors note that this may limit how far the findings apply in other countries.
• 231 of the 420 athletes had not competed in the previous year, and the study does not analyse mental health by competitive status.

Publication status and notices

Published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, a peer-reviewed journal. Original research article in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living.

Form of this work: Version of record. The version of record is the final article as issued by its publisher.

No correction or retraction notice was found in Crossref or Europe PMC when this record was checked.

Fight Medicine Research Institute contribution

Fight Medicine Research Institute selected and catalogued this study, prepared an original research summary, verified its bibliographic details, and maintains the associated citation record.

PDF files

Article details

Relationship

External research catalogued by the Fight Medicine Research Institute. The original authors, journal and DOI are unchanged.

Published online

6 November 2025

Repository date

6 November 2025 (Europe PMC first-publication date)

Date used here

6 November 2025 (Crossref publisher deposit, online publication date)

Rights

CC BY 4.0. Open access under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0), as recorded by Europe PMC and the licence link in the source record. The summary on this page is Fight Medicine Research Institute’s own wording. No text or figure from the article is reproduced here. Licence terms.

Source check

12 November 2026, against PubMed Central full text, Crossref and Europe PMC. Checked under the direction of Casey C. Sears, Founder. An LLM was utilized as a research tool with direct human oversight.

Appraisal

The check covered bibliographic details, links, licence and notices. It is not a formal critical appraisal of the full paper.

Clinical review

None. This record is a research summary, not clinical education.

Funding and conflicts

The article states no funding and no competing interests.

Catalog

FH-051, added 12 November 2026

Cite the original work

These files cite the work by its own authors, journal and DOI. Fight Medicine Research Institute appears only in a note, as curator of this catalog page.

Leandro de Lorenco-Lima, Stacey A Gaines, Elisabeth M Waterbury. Aggression, self-control, life satisfaction, and resilience as predictors of mental health in Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. 2025;7:1692536. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2025.1692536

Copy citationRISBibTeXCSL JSONEndNote

Related on this website

• Research priority: Mental health and PTSD
• Fighter Health: Mental health, depression, anxiety and psychological stress