Articles of 2006
Norwegian Boys Who Box
Norwegian study proves boxing promotes violence.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Weighty matters of this sort, when applied to the sweet science, often turn up some screwy answers. Psychology Today, for example, recently ran an editorial by Lauren Aaronson titled Boys Who Box. (Do combative sports breed combative kids? Or is it the other way around?).
Aaronson did her homework and unearthed a Norwegian study from the University of Bergen focusing on the connection between violent behavior and violent sports. For two years university researchers followed, questioned, filmed and studied 500 preteen boys who engaged in boxing, weightlifting, karate, wrestling, judo, etc.
The results of the study reveal that the majority of these boys, once they embraced the martial arts, began exhibiting sure signs of anti-social behavior: skipping school, shoplifting, talking back, spitting, picking fights.
One of the researchers, Inger Endresen, said that compared with preteen boys who were couch potatoes or with those who just played soccer, the boys who boxed, kicked, tripped and threw opponents of equal height and weight were five times more likely to be socially maladjusted than normal kids.
Bullying experts observed boys both before and after they took up power sports, Aaronson writes, so it became clear that aggressiveness followed sports, instead of the other way around.
That Norwegian study is a slap in the face of common wisdom. In the States, the so-called power sports give focus, purpose, meaning, dignity to lives that are often economically and socially malnourished. That depth of privation just isn’t happening in Norway. Maybe it’s true as the study suggests that letting preteens fight turns them into Norwegian baby Bugsy Siegels, but here in the US, at least according to the results of the last study we conducted, it appears boxing still helps more boys than it hurts.
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Avila Perspective, Chap. 330: Matchroom in New York plus the Latest on Canelo-Crawford
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Vito Mielnicki Jr Whitewashes Kamil Gardzielik Before the Home Folks in Newark
-
Featured Articles10 hours ago
Results and Recaps from New York Where Taylor Edged Serrano Once Again
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Catching Up with Clay Moyle Who Talks About His Massive Collection of Boxing Books
-
Featured Articles5 days ago
From a Sympathetic Figure to a Pariah: The Travails of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
More Medals for Hawaii’s Patricio Family at the USA Boxing Summer Festival
-
Featured Articles7 days ago
Catterall vs Eubank Ends Prematurely; Catterall Wins a Technical Decision
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Richardson Hitchins Batters and Stops George Kambosos at Madison Square Garden