Psychological Factors Related To Doping In Sport

Uzimanje dopinga jedan je od najaktualnih problema modernog sporta, unatoč sve češćim kontrolama i ozbiljnim disciplinskim postupcima prema doping pozitivnim sportašima. Tematika dopinga istraživački je intrigantna i relevantna a jedna od najčešće korištenih teorija u istraživanjima dopinga je Ajzenova Teorija planiranog ponašanja prema kojoj je odluka o pribjegavanju dopingu povezana s brojnim psihološkim faktorima. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je identificirati upravo psihološke faktore koji su povezani sa stavovima prema dopingu i uzimanjem dopinga na uzorku hrvatskih sportašica i sportaša te ukazati na njihovu važnost u intervencijama vezanim za doping. Istraživanje je provedeno na 988 aktivnih sportaša prosječne dobi 25.03 godine (SD = 7.15). Od toga je u uzorku bilo 631 (64%) muškaraca i 357 (36%) žena, većinom iz ekipnih (N = 722; 73%), a dijelom iz individualnih sportova (N = 266; 27%); njih 426 (43%) je nastupilo na europskom prvenstvu, 226 (23%) na svjetskom prvenstvu, dok 72 (7%) ima nastup na Olimpijskim igrama. Nadalje, 175 (18%) sudionika je osvojilo medalju na europskom prvenstvu, 80 (8%) na svjetskom prvenstvu, dok ih je 33 (3%) osvojilo medalju na Olimpijskim igrama. U istraživanju su korišteni sljedeći mjerni instrumenti: Stavovi prema dopingu (Lazuras, Barkoukis, Rodafinos i Tzorbatzoudis, 2010), Subjektivne norme (Lazuras i sur. 2010), Percipirani stupanj bihevioralne kontrole (Lazuras i sur., 2010), Deskriptivne norme (Lazuras i sur. 2010), Namjera uzimanja dopinga (Lazuras i sur., 2010), Upitnik ciljne orijentacije u sportu, CTEOSQ (Barić i Horga, 2006), Upitnik samopoštovanja (Lacković-Grgin, 1994), Upitnik sportske motivacije (Pelletier, Tuson, Fortier, Vallerand, Brière i Blais, 1995), Uzimanje dopinga (Barkoukis, Lazuras, Tsorbatzoudis i Rodafinos, 2011), Stavovi prema sredstvima za poboljšanje izvedbe - PEAS (Petróczi i Aidman, 2009), te skala za procjenu demografskih podataka, ranga kvalitete i samopercipirane kompetentnosti. Od ukupnog uzorka sportaša, njih 913 (92.4%) izjavilo je da nikada nije uzimalo zabranjene supstance, dok je 75 (7.6%) sudionika izjavilo da je uzimalo doping, od toga su njih 54 bili muškarci koji čine 8.6% ukupnog uzorka sportaša, a 21 su bile žene koje čine 5.9% sportašica ovog uzorka. U istraživanju je ispitano i opće mišljenje sportaša o dopingu slijedećim pitanjima: (1) “Biste li koristili doping kada biste imali garanciju da ćete pobijediti i da nećete biti uhvaćeni?”na koje je 246 (24.8%) sudionika odgovorilo potvrdno te (2) “Biste li koristili doping kada biste bili sigurni da će vam to donijeti medalju na svakom natjecanju u narednih 5 godina, a da ćete potom umrijeti?”na koje je 73 (7.4%) sudionika je odgovorilo potvrdno. Rezultati istraživanja psiholoških varijabli općenito pokazuju da sportaši nisu naklonjeni dopingu tj. da u prosjeku prema tome nemaju pozitivne stavove, da percipiraju nisku razinu pritiska za uzimanje dopinga, osjećaju visok stupanj osobne kontrole nad tom odlukom, ali i da vjeruju da otprilike četvrtina drugih sportaša koristi doping. Također, sportaši ovog uzorka pokazuju visoku razinu samopoštovanja, u prosjeku su više orijentirani na zadatak i usavršavanje vještina no izražena je i ciljna orijentacija na ishod i rezultat, a imaju izraženu i ekstrinzičnu i intrinzičnu motivaciju. Rezultati pokazuju da su samopoštovanje, ciljna orijentacija na zadatak i intrinzična motivacija negativno povezani sa stavovima prema dopingu i sredstvima za poboljšanje izvedbe te negativno s namjerom uzimanja dopinga, dok su ciljna orijentacija na ishod, ekstrinzična motivacija i amotivacija pozitivno povezane sa stavovima prema dopingu i sredstvima za poboljšanje izvedbe te pozitivno s namjerom uzimanja dopinga. Najsnažnijim prediktorom namjere uzimanja dopinga pokazali su se stavovi prema dopingu. Sportaši s pozitivnijim stavovima prema uzimanju dopinga i sredstvima za poboljšanje izvedbe te oni koji vjeruju da njihova okolina ima pozitivne stavove o dopingu pokazivali su i veću namjeru uzimanja dopinga. Također rezultati nam pokazuju da muškarci, sportaši individualnih sportova te sportaši nižeg ranga kvalitete imaju statistički značajno pozitivnije stavove prema dopingu i uzimanju sredstava za poboljšanje izvedbe te snažniju namjeru uzimanju dopinga u odnosu prema ženama, sportašima ekipnih sportova i sportašima višeg ranga kvalitete. Rezultati ovog istraživanja daju uvid u rasprostranjenost korištenja dopinga među hrvatskim sportašima i njihovih stavova o dopingu te doprinose razumijevanju psiholoških faktora koji stoje u pozadini takvog ponašanja, što je ključno za kreiranje prevencijskih i intervencijskih programa.Taking doping is one of the most current problems of modern sports, despite increasingly frequent controls and serious disciplinary procedures against doping-positive athletes. The topic of doping is intriguing and relevant for research, and one of the most commonly used theories in doping research is Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior, according to which the decision to resort to doping is linked to numerous psychological factors. The aim of this research was to identify precisely the psychological factors that are related to attitudes towards doping and the use of doping in a sample of Croatian female and male athletes, and to point out their importance in interventions related to doping. The research was conducted on 988 active athletes with an average age of 25.03 years (SD = 7.15). Of these, there were 631 (64%) men and 357 (36%) women in the sample, mostly from team sports (N = 722; 73%), and partly from individual sports (N = 266; 27%); 426 of them (43%) performed at the European Championship, 226 (23%) at the World Championship, while 72 (7%) performed at the Olympic Games. Furthermore, 175 (18%) participants won a medal at the European Championships, 80 (8%) at the World Championships, while 33 (3%) of them won a medal at the Olympic Games. The following measuring instruments were used in the research: Attitudes towards doping (Lazuras et al., 2010), Subjective norms (Lazuras et al., 2010), Perceived degree of behavioral control (Lazuras et al., 2010), Descriptive norms (Lazuras et al., 2010), Intention to doping (Lazuras et al., 2010), Questionnaire of goal orientation in sport, CTEOSQ (Barić & Horga, 2006), Self-esteem questionnaire (Lacković-Grgin, 1994), Sports motivation questionnaire (Pelletier et al., 1995), Taking doping (Barkoukis et al., 2011), The Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale - PEAS (Petróczi & Aidman, 2009), and Demographic Assessment Scale, Rank quality and self-perceived competence. Of the total sample of athletes, 913 (92.4%) stated that they had never taken prohibited substances, while 75 (7.6%) participants stated that they had taken doping, of which 54 were men, who make up 8.6% of the total sample of athletes, and 21 were women, who make up 5.9% of the athletes in this sample. The research also examined the general opinion of athletes about doping with the following questions: (1) ”Would you use doping if you had a guarantee that you would win and not be caught?”, to which 246 (24.8%) participants answered yes, and (2) ”Would you use doping if you were sure that it would bring you a medal in every competition for the next 5 years, and then you would die?” to which 73 (7.4%) participants answered yes. The results of the research on psychological variables generally show that athletes are not in favor of doping, i.e. that on average they do not have positive attitudes towards doping, that they perceive a low level of pressure to take doping, feel a high degree of personal control over that decision, but also that they believe that approximately a quarter of other athletes use doping. Also, the athletes of this sample show a high level of self-esteem, on averagethey are more oriented towards the task and the improvement of skills, but the goal orientation towards the outcome and result is also expressed, and they have expressed both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. The results show that self-esteem, goal orientation to the task and intrinsic motivation are negatively related to attitudes towards doping and performance enhancing agents and negatively to the intention to take doping, while goal orientation to the outcome, extrinsic motivation and amotivation are positively related to attitudes towards doping and performance enhancing agents and positively with the intention of doping. Attitudes towards doping proved to be the strongest predictor of intention to doping. Athletes with more positive attitudes towards taking doping and performance enhancing agents and those who believe that their environment has positive attitudes towards doping also showed a greater intention to take doping. Also, the results show us that men, athletes of individual sports and athletes of a lower quality rank have statistically significantly more positive attitudes towards doping and taking performance enhancing agents and a stronger intention to take doping in relation to women, athletes of team sports and athletes of a higher quality rank. The results of this research provide insight into the prevalence of doping use among Croatian athletes and their attitudes about doping, and contribute to the understanding of the psychological factors behind such behavior, which is crucial for the creation of prevention and intervention program