Objectives

There is evidence suggesting that in martial arts competitions athletes characterized by higher anxiety and harm avoidance may be more likely to lose a fight. This psychological profile has been hypothesized to explain in part the observation that cortisol is higher in losers before and in response to a competition. An important research target that needs further exploration is the identification of phenotypic traits that can be helpful in predicting athletes’ performance. Here we present a brief description of the theoretical bases that drives our research in the evolutionary psychobiology of sports and illustrate preliminary data on the relationship between the 5HTTLPR genotype, salivary cortisol, temperament and competition.

Methods

Sixty-five healthy male non-professional athletes provided saliva samples 10 min before and after a kumite session and filled out the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire.

Results

Salivary cortisol levels 10 min before the competition were higher in losers and in athletes with the S allele. Temperament was associated with competition outcome and cortisol: losers were characterized by higher scores of harm avoidance and harm avoidance was positively correlated with cortisol levels.

Conclusions

The results confirm previous findings linking temperamental traits, pre-and post- competition physiological stress response with competition outcome in kumite fight. Moreover, they indicate an association between the 5HTTLPR polymorphism and pre-competition salivary cortisol, thus providing a preliminary but non-conclusive evidence on the role played by the 5HTTLPR genotype as a vulnerability factor in sport competition.

中文翻译：

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空手道战斗中的皮质醇、气质和血清素：进化心理生物学视角

目标

有证据表明，在武术比赛中，具有较高焦虑和避免伤害的运动员可能更有可能输掉比赛。假设这种心理特征可以部分解释在比赛前和比赛后失败者皮质醇较高的观察结果。需要进一步探索的一个重要研究目标是识别有助于预测运动员表现的表型特征。在这里，我们简要描述了推动我们对运动进化心理生物学研究的理论基础，并说明了 5HTTLPR 基因型、唾液皮质醇、气质和竞争之间关系的初步数据。

方法

65 名健康男性非职业运动员在组手训练前后 10 分钟提供唾液样本并填写三维人格问卷。

结果

比赛前 10 分钟的唾液皮质醇水平在失败者和具有 S 等位基因的运动员中更高。气质与比赛结果和皮质醇相关：失败者的特点是避免伤害得分较高，而避免伤害与皮质醇水平呈正相关。

结论

结果证实了先前将气质特征、赛前和赛后生理应激反应与组手比赛中的比赛结果联系起来的发现。此外，它们表明 5HTTLPR 多态性与赛前唾液皮质醇之间存在关联，从而为 5HTTLPR 基因型作为体育比赛中的脆弱因素所发挥的作用提供了初步但非决定性的证据。