ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026
Becoming a fighter: phenomenological dimensions of personal development in beginner martial arts and combat sports practitioners.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Martial arts and combat sports (MA&CS) place practitioners in bodily and relational situations close to violence while being organized through the reciprocal structure of corporal fight. Understanding personal development in these practices requires attention to how practitioners experience, sustain, and respond to combative engagement. Disruptive situations are moments in which this structure is strained, exposing the limits of practitioners' resources without necessarily producing development. The aim of this study is to identify and comprehend how adult beginner MA&CS practitioners experience processes of personal development in relation to disruptive situations encountered during practice. Method: The study follows an empirical-phenomenological approach within a cross-national framework. Seventeen retrospective semi-structured interviews with beginner practitioners were selected from a database of 157 interviews conducted in Brazil and Spain. Analysis involved psychological, eidetic, and intersubjective reductions, supported by suspensive listening and intentional crossing. Results: The findings were organized into three interdependent dimensions. The Psychic dimension concerns the tension inherent to confronting an opponent, including fear, frustration, uncertainty, and difficulties remaining engaged. The Moral/Spiritual dimension concerns sensitivity to the partner-opponent's integrity and the regulation of force, intensity, and conduct required to preserve the reciprocal encounter. The Corporal/Technical dimension concerns the incorporation of embodied possibilities for attacking, defending, adjusting distance, and responding under pressure. Because corporal fight is lived through bodily engagement, this dimension provides the concrete medium through which psychic tension and Moral/Spiritual positioning are enacted. Discussion: When development is described, it appears as a progressive reorganization of these dimensions and an expanded capacity to enter, respond to, and sustain corporal fight. Participants also report avoidance, emotional disorganization, excessive force, injury, and withdrawal, indicating that disruptive experiences are not inherently developmental. Competition intensifies these demands, while developmental possibilities depend on practitioners' resources and on pedagogical and relational conditions, including instructor guidance, peer conduct, partner selection, and regulation of training intensity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.