WADA - Psychosocial factors that promote intention to doping in amateur athletes in minority sports

Page 1/1 Psychosocial factors that promote intention to doping in amateur athletes in minority sports

Ruben Trigueros

Tier 3

Doping is considered unsporting and creates unfair advantages while destroying the values of sport. Furthermore, doping can have negative consequences linked to physical and mental health such as depression, psychological and behavioural changes, increased aggressiveness and irritability, psychotic affective syndromes, sleep disorders, anorexia, psychomotor retardation, visual and auditory hallucinations, confusion, chronic anxiety, moderate agoraphobia, etc., especially if it is carried out without medical supervision. In view of the importance of protecting the health and integrity of athletes, the prevention of doping in sport is considered a top priority by a number of international sports federations. In this regard, the World Anti -Doping Agency (WADA) has launched several projects to (a) identify new policies and measures to prevent doping and (b) implement these measures. However, most amateur sport competitions are off the radar of Anti-Doping Agencies due to the scarce resources and the cost burden of enforcement. Furthermore, scientific evidence on what factors (e.g., psychosocial factors) lead an athlete to have the intention to dope has focused primarily on elite or mainstream sports (mainstream sports, Olympic sports, etc.), making studies that explore what factors influence the intention to dope in amateur and minority athletes necessary.

Therefore, the aim of this project is to increase knowledge of the psychosocial factors that lead to the intention to dope, and which should be of interest to both scientific researchers and sport governing bodies in charge of doping prevention. The project will involve 600 amateur participants from various minority sports disciplines. A quasi-experimental study based on the use of questionnaires and validated scales will be used. Novel psychosocial factors will be measured in this type of population such as motivational variables (passion and basic psychological needs), personality (dark triad), psychological vulnerability, resilience and social desirability. The data obtained will be analysed through various analyses (e.g., descriptive statistics, structur al equation

psychosocial factors will be measured in this type of population such as motivational variables (passion and basic psychological needs), personality (dark triad), psychological vulnerability, resilience and social desirability. The data obtained will be analysed through various analyses (e.g., descriptive statistics, structur al equation modelling, parametric and nonparametric tests). Dissemination of the results will be made through channels aimed at the scientific community, the media, sports health protection agencies and professionals developing anti-doping education programmes.