Shane Shuster
1/7/2026
Research Articles
Volume 2, Issue 1
https://doi.org/10.67419/jyi.v2i1.8
Abstract
Wrestling, boxing, and jiu-jitsu keep drawing more young athletes, and researchers keep disagreeing about what the sports do to them. This narrative review reads across sports medicine, developmental and educational psychology, pediatrics, and public health, together with institutional position statements, to weigh the evidence on both sides. Participation builds self-regulation, humility, and perseverance, and those traits appear to protect against bullying and to predict stronger relationships and better academic and professional outcomes well into adulthood. The costs cluster around weight. Weight-class structures push athletes toward rapid weight cutting, and the documented consequences include dehydration, impaired growth and bone development, more injuries, weaker executive functioning, and disturbed body image. Given evidence this mixed, the article calls for standardized oversight of weight certification and comprehensive risk education for athletes and parents, and it asks that coaches be trained to recognize danger signs and step in.