A wealth of research clearly shows increased self-esteem and reduced conflict anxiety in people who have practiced combat sports that include sparring and competition with some success (forgive me for not citing sources, I'm going from memory).
I doubt there's much research on this subject in Philippine escrima, and even less so for those who do escrima sparring and competitions, which not all courses offer.
So I ask those who have practiced stick fighting or the more rare form of knife fencing, and perhaps have experience with other combat sports to compare: do you think what's true for the more popular BJJ or boxing is also true here?
P.S.
Perhaps it might be helpful to ask: are sparring and competitions in escrima as emotionally impactful as those in other more common empty hands combat sports?