Martial Arts and Combat Sports and the Bullying: a systematic review

This systematic review aims to synthesize and analyse studies that relate the practice of Martial Arts and Combat Sports (AM&DC) with violence, in particular the phenomenon of school bullying. From February to August, 48 publications were collected from seven international scientific databases on the subject under analysis, but only 18 met all the criteria to be included in this study. This review shows that the practice of AM&DC promotes generically favorable changes in the biopsychosocial lexicon of children and adolescents who practice them. They are great ways of biopsychosocial, ethical and aesthetic development of children and adolescents, and their practitioners report higher levels of prosocial behavior among peers. This condition is all the more beneficial the higher the practitioner's degree (length of practice), mode of participation in the AM&DC (practitioner or competitor), the professional qualification of coaches, characteristics of places of practice, the typology of martial arts or even the style (traditional or modem).