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. 2025 Jul 15:16:1632095.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1632095. eCollection 2025.

Judo exercises increase emotional expression, self-control, and psychological resilience

Mihraç Köroǧlu  1 , Coşkun Yılmaz  2 , Çetin Tan  3 , Baha Engin Çelikel  3 , Cemalettin Budak  4 , Korhan Kavuran  5 , Yunus Emre Susuz  6 , Yaşar Barut  7 , Tülay Ceylan  8 , Fikret Soyer  9 , Süreyya Yonca Sezer  10 , Fatma Neşe Şahin  11
Affiliations

Judo exercises increase emotional expression, self-control, and psychological resilience

Mihraç Köroǧlu et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: The extant research on judo sports has principally concentrated on the physiological effects of training. Conversely, there has been limited attention paid to studies on psychological resilience, self-control, and emotional expression levels. The present study examined the effects of Judo exercises on psychological resilience, self-control, and emotional expression levels in healthy male subjects.

Methods: The present study comprised 50 healthy, sedentary male subjects. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups: one group participated in judo training (JT) and the other group served as the control group (CON). The sample sizes for the JT and CON groups were both 25. The JT group underwent judo training, while the CON group maintained their usual lifestyle. The Brief Psychological Resilience Scale, the Multidimensional Brief Self-Control Scale, and the Berkeley Emotion Expression Scale were administered prior to and following the 6-week training period.

Results: The study demonstrated that a 6-week judo training regimen exerted a significant effect on the psychological resilience score (e.s. = 1.047, p < 0.001), while no such effect was observed in the Control group (e.s. = 0.0091, p = 0.751). In the context of self-control levels, an effect was observed on the Initiation sub-dimension (e.s. = 1, 739, p < 0.001), yet no effect was found on the Inhibition dimension (e.s. = 0.052, p = 0.892). In the control group, a significant decrease was identified in the Initiation sub-dimension (e.s. = 0, 785, p = 0.001) and Inhibition sub-dimension (e.s. = 1, 861, p < 0.001). The findings indicate that impulse power (e.s. = 0.395) and concealment (e.s. = 0.428) exerted a negligible influence on the emotional expression sub-dimensions. Conversely, psychological resilience (e.s. = 0.886) demonstrated a substantial impact.

Conclusions: The judo exercises demonstrated a favorable impact on psychological resilience, self-control, and emotional expression levels in healthy male subjects. The findings of this study may offer significant insights into the impact of judo exercises on psychological resilience, self-control, and emotion expression levels. These findings could serve as a guide for the development of future interventions and program design in the domain of sport psychology.

Keywords: combat sports; judo; mental health; psychological resilience; self-control; sport psychology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental design.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of psychological resilience and self-control levels pre- post-training. Psychological resilience (a), initiation (b), and inhibition (c).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of expression of emotions levels pre- post-training. Expression of emotions (d), impulse power (e), concealment (f), and expression of emotions total (g).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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