Assessment of Anger Regulation Strategies Used By Male Taekwondo Players

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "art". Thus, taekwondo may be loosely translated as "the art of the foot and fist" or "the art of kicking and punching”. Originally Taekwondo was taught for warfare, self-defense, and physical fitness. Taekwondo reached the Olympic stage as a demonstration sport in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It became an official Olympic sport in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. It is a contact sport and because of this reason mental status is very much involves in this game. Mood is proposed to be a more effective predictor of performance in sports of a short duration, when the sport involves open skills, and when performance is assessed through a self-reference criterion (Beedie, et al., 2000). In predicting athletic performance and for a better understanding of the athlete’s experience, there is, instead, a need to examine a variety of emotional states evident in the sport environment (Gould and Udry, 1994; Hanin and Syrja¨, 1995, 1996; Jones, 1995). Of the many emotions, anger is frequently experienced and expressed as aggressive behaviour in the athletic domain, particularly in combative and contact sports such as boxing, karate and taekwondo (Ruiz and Hanin, 2004a, b; Terry and Slade, 1995). There has been a great deal of research investigating mood in sport (LeUnes, 2000; LeUnes and Burger, 1998). The results of mood-performance research would suggest a need for researchers to direct their efforts to understanding how athletes control mood. One method of mood-management is self-regulation. It is suggested that individuals tend to actively monitor their mood and develop self-regulating strategies to reduce negative mood and increase positive mood (Thayer et al., 1994). Emotion regulation refers to individuals’ attempts to influence their emotions (Gross, 2002). Much of the research has focused on mood repair, where the aim is to negative mood using a number of different strategies. This is achieved by focusing on the can be used to reduce tension (Sousou, 1997). Anger management is becoming an increasingly significant area of study in sport. This dimension of mood is an unpleasant emotion. It arises when individuals feel they are kept by another’s improper action from attaining a goal, yet feel capable of altering the situation (Frijda, 1986). To promote the defense of one’s resources, anger increases aggression (Frijda, 1986), which propels the person to confront others. So, it’s promotes confrontational behaviors (Parrott, 2001). Although anger often leads to harmful consequences; it is sometimes useful (Averill, 1983; Tiedens, 2001). The instrumental implications of anger depend on the context in which it is experienced (Bonanno, 2001). Pieter et al. (2000) reported that in male Filipino varsity taekwondo athletes, depression and fatigue were most influential in distinguishing between winners and losers. In the women, 80% were correctly classified as winners and 73.9% as losers. In a follow-up study, Pieter et al. (2006) found that in 15-year old Filipino boys, 55.6% were correctly classified as winners and 64.9% as losers. Taekwondo experience and anger were most influential in distinguishing between winners and losers. In connection to all above findings present study was to investigate the strategies that male taekwondo players use to regulate anger. Knowledge of the strategies that athletes use to regulate mood can help sport psychologists develop interventions designed to improve performance through controlling anger.

One hundred male All India Inter-University Taekwondo players from Taekwondo who participated in All India Inter-University Taekwondo Championship held at Pune, Jaipur, Udaipur and Patiala during the year 2010-11, Taekwondo players of Patiala, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Pune, Ajmar and Jaipur who voluntarily to participate of the study were the subjects. The age of taekwondo players ranged from 18 to 25 years, with the mean age of 21.38 years. Description of Questionnaire The Self-Regulating Strategies of Mood Questionnaire was the 29-strategies identified by Thayer et al. (1994). These items include: ‘Analyze the situation' (ES), 'Avoid the cause' (AC), 'Call, talk to, or be with someone' (CTTBO), 'Change location' (CLO), 'Control thoughts' (CT), 'Drink alcohol', 'Drink coffee or other caffeinated beverage’ (DCOFF), ‘Smoke cigarettes’, ‘Engage religious/spiritual activity’ (RA), 'Engage in a hobby' (EH), 'Engage in pleasant activities' (EPA), 'Engage in self-gratification' (SGRATI), 'Engage in stress management', 'Exercise', 'Go shopping', 'Listen to music' (LM), 'Put feelings in perspective' (TPF),'Rest/ 'take a nap, sleep’ (RTNAP), ‘Tend to chores’ (TC),'Take a shower, bath, or splash water on face' (TS), ‘Have sex’, 'Try to be alone' (TTBA),'Use humor' (UH), 'Use relaxation techniques' (URT), and 'Watch TV’ (WTV). The subjects are required to indicate the extent to which these strategies were directed to changing anger. Participants were asked: "Indicate what strategies you adopt if you are angry and you try to change that feeling" (anger);

In order to ensure full co-operation from the subject, we had a meeting with them. Participants were asked to read the strategies, nominate strategies they use to regulate anger, and to rate the effectiveness of the methods. An open-ended question was also included to allow participant to add any strategies not included on the list, but used by the players. Sport and level of competition were noted separately since this information might have reduced confidentiality. Perceived effectiveness of strategies was recorded on a 9-point Likert scale by;

The data was analyzed by computing frequencies and percentage by finding out the percentage of the subjects who used each self-regulatory strategy for regulate anger. Mean rating of effectiveness was used to identify strategies. In order to find out the significance differences among regulating strategies for anger, as perceived by Taekwondo players an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for anger. Where ever, ANOVA was found significant, Scheffe’s Test of post-hoc Comparison was used to find out which strategy was more effective than others to regulate anger. For analyzing data and preparing tables and figures Microsoft Excel- 2007 were used.

The result of present investigation after analysis of taekwondo player’s data revealed that the taekwondo players considered many strategies for regulating anger. The male participants reported using 11 strategies to regulate anger out of 29 strategies. Data in table-1, as much as 11 strategies were considered effective by 50% or more of the sample. The strategies included were ‘listen to music’ (85.93%);

activity (83.71%);‘use relaxation technique’ (83.76%) ; control thoughts’(63.83%);‘take shower, bath or splash water on the face’(69.12%); ‘try to be alone’(85.39%) ;‘rest /take a nap’(71.17%) and ‘try to put feeling into perspective’ (52.78%) (Table No. 1 and Figure No. 1).

It is obvious from Table No. -2 that ‘exercise’, “listening to music”, “use relaxation technique”, were most effective strategy, “engage in religious activity”, “rest take a nap”, “take shower”, “change location, try to be alone”, rated as effective strategies, “control though”, “watch TV”, “try to put prospective feeling”, “analyze the situation”, “use stress management technique”, “drink coffee” considered as some time effective strategies perceived by male combative

It was evident from table-3 that male Taekwondo players differ significantly in the use of anger regulating strategies to regulating anger. The obtained F-ratio of 1.83 anger was higher than the respective required F-ratios to be significant at .05 levels In addition our results revealed that there were significant differences between mean scores of listen to music and try to be alone (2.00); between listen to music and control thought (2.38); between listen to music and try to put feeling in to perspective (1.54); between take shower, at .05 level. As the mean differences between these strategies were more than the confidence interval of 1.96 required to be significant at .05 levels. The rest of the mean differences between different strategies were insignificant at .05 levels. As the mean differences between different strategies were less than the confidence interval of 1.96 required at .05 levels. The taekwondo players gave equal important to listen to music, and exercise to reduce fatigue followed by take shower.

The purpose of the study was to investigate strategies used to self –regulate anger by university level male taekwondo players. The results indicated that “exercise” and “listening to music” were rated as most valuable effective strategy to regulate anger. “Take a shower, bath or splash water on the face” was considered most effective to regulate anger.“Drink alcohol”, “smoking” and “use of drugs” were rated least effective strategies to regulate anger by university level male combative athletes regulate anger followed by use of relaxation technique, exercise, rest/take a nap, try to be alone. The result of the present study is consistent with the theoretical proposition on the effect of music on the psychological state. According to Karageolist and Terry (1995), music can have a stimulating or a sedative effect on mood. They further reported that the influence of music on psychological state depends on individual factors such as age, musical preferences, and it is also influenced by cultural factors, socio- economic status and class. Further music may also serve as a kind of self-therapy, and may help people to identify feelings, work through conflicts, and regain control over the psychic process (Behae, 1997; De, Nora, 1999, Gabarielsson, 2003; Laiho, 2002; Larson, 1995; Lehtonen, 1986; 1993, Ruud, 1997; Slobada, 1992; Small, 1998). Music was also considered to help tension relief and cathartic release to negative emotions (Sloboda, 1992; Ruud, 1997; Lacourse et al., 2001; Sloboda and O’Neill, 2001; Schwartz and Fouts, 2003). Wells and Hakanen (1991) found that the most used mood regulatory uses of music was “ get me pumped up”, “strengthen my mood”, and lift my spirits”, which were all related to mood improvement. Thayer’s, 1994; Stevens and Lane’s, (2001) findings indicated that “listening to music” was most effective strategy to regulate various mood states. The study of Hewston et al., (2005a, 2005b) explained that music may be an effective tool to generate pre- competition mood state associated with successful performance. “Exercise” was perceived most valuable effective strategy to regulate anger. The results suggested that exercise often enhances positive mood, in addition to regulating negative mood and help him/her to release aggression. Exercise appears to be an effective strategy to regulate bad mood, anger and depression. Research findings generally supported the notion that exercise is associated with improved mood (Berger and Molt, 2000). Thayer et al., (1993) indicated that moderate exercise has proved to be one of the most effective mood- regulating behaviors, probably because its primary mood effect is reduced tension. Past research has found links between success in an exercise programme and improved self-efficacy (McAuley, 1993; Poag and McAuley, 1992). The present study, however, found that participants who engaged in regular exercise did not differ in perceived self-efficacy from individuals on the waiting list. Further, “engage in religious activity” emerged as one of the most effective strategies to regulate anger in male combative athletes. It seems that religious activities help taekwondo players to concentrate his self or seek help from God, indicating their devotion and faith in religious activities. Parker and Brown, 1982; Gallup (1989) identified; “religious activities” as most effective behavior to self- regulate moods. “Take a shower, bath or splash water on the face” were considered an important strategy to regulate

effective strategy to regulate various mood states except confusion. They further stated that ‘take a shower/ bath or splashing water on the face’ have different effects on mood states. Findings of present study, indicated that “control thoughts” was important strategies to regulate anger. “Control thoughts” gives a direction to proposed action; reduce error, clears whole picture about the situation. Controlling thoughts improve one’s decision making ability and enables to give best performance in uncontrolled situation. The results of the study were consistence with the findings of Thayer et.al., (1994) who found that most effective self- regulative strategy was to control thoughts through self-talk. Steven and Lane, (2001) indicated that athletes reported thought controlling as the most common mood regulating strategy. Terry et.al., (1995) argued that “a control thought was less popular strategy but rated as most effective strategy to regulate various mood states. Further, change location was also perceived as an effective strategy by taekwondo players to regulate anger. Steven and Lane, (2001) proposed that changing location may influence mood in at least two ways. “Watching TV” also rated fourth ranked by male athletes. It has been perceived as an effective strategy in anger. It is an entertaining and mood relaxing element. “Watching TV” is associated with improved positive mood, and considered as a positive mood management strategy because it appears to involve less active engagement than other strategies. Furthermore, watching TV seems to be a passive way of reacting to anger. This behavior probably is only an indirect way of controlling the anger. The results of the present study land to support the findings that “watching TV” was rated some time effective strategy for changing a bad mood (Thayer et al., 1994). The results of present study revealed that drinking alcohol, smoking, and use of drugs were least effective strategies to regulate anger in male taekwondo players. The results concluded that the male taekwondo players believed that they are able to control anger, and generally have a bank of strategies that are used to alter anger that might not be conducive to the optimum performance. Some strategies are proposed to be more popular and more effective than others. Coaches and players might use this information to analyze their own pre-competition preparation routines. It is important to remember, that effectiveness of identified strategies may differ in different situation for combative athletes.

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