Original scientific paper
ATTITUDES TOWARDS DOPING AS A PREDICTOR OF DOPING USAGE IN PROFESSIONAL AND NONPROFESSIONAL ATHLETES
Ivan Miškulin
orcid.org/0000-0001-7238-2341
; Faculty of Medicine, J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek
Abstract
Doping and the use of performance-enhancing drugs in athletes have become
hot topics in recent years. There seem to be many factors that will influence
whether one will opt to use a banned substance, and an athlete’s attitudes
toward doping is one of them. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of
doping usage in the athlete population of the city of Osijek and to evaluate the
interconnection between athletes’ attitudes toward doping and doping usage. A
cross-sectional study with a specially designed questionnaire was done during
the period from August to October 2019 among a convenient sample of athletes
from the city of Osijek. The study showed that there were 3.7% of participants
who said that they had been using doping in the past but only for the purpose
of treatment. The study also showed that there is a positive interconnection
between attitudes toward doping and doping usage. Furthermore, the study had
revealed that competitiveness affects the doping attitude. It can be concluded
that it is necessary to put more emphasis on changing attitudes toward doping
and implementing additional educational programs in order to decrease doping
usage in the athletes’ population.
Keywords
attitudes; athletes; doping; questionnaire study; Osijek
Hrčak ID:
249650
URI
Publication date:
6.12.2020.
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