Attitudes and Dispositions toward Doping in Adolescent Elite Athletes / 대한스포츠의학회지

ABSTRACT

For effective prevention of doping, individual and situational factors that make an elite athlete more susceptible to doping than others should be investigated. The aim of this study was to quantitatively measure doping related attitudes and dispositions of adolescent competitive athletes at elite level. Data were collected by questionnaires among athletes (n=123) who were participating in the 2nd Asian Youth Games. Outcome measures included doping knowledge, behavior and attitude (performance enhancement attitude scale, PEAS). One athlete admitted the past use of doping and 2 athletes reported that they knew others who had doped. Athletes were mainly provided with anti-doping information from anti-doping agency (16.3%), coaches (11.4%) or medical staffs (10.6%). The average PEAS score was 38.39+/-11.36. High school (elder) athletes showed higher PEAS score (39.63+/-11.35) than middle school (younger) athletes (34.53+/-10.67) and team sport athletes showed lower PEAS score (35.11+/-9.80) than athletes in endurance (45.08+/-15.49) or motor skill sports (43.25+/-9.08). This study suggests that many factors play an important role in athlete's decisions regarding the use of doping. Further research should incorporate these factors to understand the complexity of doping and to identify points for effective anti-doping program.