The attitudes and beliefs of paralympians and athletes with disabilities on doping in sport (original) (raw)
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Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism
Introduction. The aim of the study was twofold. The first aim was to specify attitudes toward using performance-enhancing drugs (doping) among athletes practising different sports disciplines. The second aim was to present the Polish version and validation of the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS). Material and methods. A total of 340 athletes (173 males and 167 females) took part in the study. They represented 13 sport disciplines. The study was conducted in Central Sports Centres in Poland. Athletes’ attitudes were assessed using the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS). Results. The study revealed that athletes generally were not tolerant in relation to illegal performance-enhancing substances in sport. However, men were more permissive toward illegal performance enhancement than women. The other important factor, apart from gender, was the amount of contact between competitors. The lowest values were found for sports where athletes competed parallel to each o...
Különleges Bánásmód - Interdiszciplináris folyóirat
The equal opportunities approach of the second half of the 20th century emphasizes the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups, including persons with disabilities. Education and employment play a key role in achieving integration. Nevertheless, other fields such as leisure time and sporting activities also contribute positively to the social involvement of persons with disabilities. At present nearly 7,000 persons with disabilities are registered in Hungary who pursue sports competitively, of whom approximately 5,000 persons with intellectual disabilities (Regényi et.al, 2017). The study discloses the partial results of a research aimed at revealing the awareness of the Hungarian population regarding the sport of people with disabilities. As such research has never been carried out in Hungary before, it can fill in a niche. The results of our exploratory research may be the starting point for further investigations. The importance of the topic is given by the fact that thanks to t...
Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention and Policy, 2007
Background For effective deterrence methods, individual, systemic and situational factors that make an athlete or athlete group more susceptible to doping than others should be fully investigated. Traditional behavioural models assume that the behaviour in question is the ultimate end. However, growing evidence suggests that in doping situations, the doping behaviour is not the end but a means to an end, which is gaining competitive advantage. Therefore, models of doping should include and anti-doping policies should consider attitudes or orientations toward the specific target end, in addition to the attitude toward the 'tool' itself. Objectives The aim of this study was to empirically test doping related dispositions and attitudes of competitive athletes with the view of informing anti-doping policy developments and deterrence methods. To this end, the paper focused on the individual element of the drug availability – athlete's personality – situation triangle. Methods Data were collected by questionnaires containing a battery of psychological tests among competitive US male college athletes (n = 199). Outcome measures included sport orientation (win and goal orientation and competitiveness), doping attitude, beliefs and self-reported past or current use of doping. A structural equation model was developed based on the strength of relationships between these outcome measures. Results Whilst the doping model showed satisfactory fit, the results suggested that athletes' win and goal orientation and competitiveness do not play a statistically significant role in doping behaviour, but win orientation has an effect on doping attitude. The SEM analysis provided empirical evidence that sport orientation and doping behaviour is not directly related. Conclusion The considerable proportion of doping behaviour unexplained by the model suggests that other factors play an influential role in athletes' decisions regarding prohibited methods. Future research, followed by policy development, should incorporate these factors to capture the complexity of the doping phenomenon and to identify points for effective anti-doping interventions. Sport governing bodies and anti-doping organisations need to recognise that using performance enhancements may be more of a rational, outcome optimizing behaviour than deviance and consider offering acceptable alternative performance-enhancing methods to doping.
Psychological and social correlates of doping attitudes among Italian athletes
International Journal of Drug Policy, 2015
Background: This study aims to identify the main psychological and social correlates of doping attitudes among Italian athletes. It is well recognized that athlete disposition and attitude towards doping is one of the factors responsible for doping behavior. Less is known, however, about the factors that sustain the level of athletes' attitudes towards doping. The main psychological (i.e., perfectionism, sport motivation, self-confidence and life satisfaction) and social correlates (i.e., social network and contact with people who use sports drugs) of attitudes towards doping among Italian athletes are examined in this paper. Differences are hypothesized regarding the type of sport (resistance sport vs. non-resistance sport) and athlete participation in competitive sport (i.e., agonistics) or in non-competitive sport (i.e., amateurs) on the level of attitude towards doping. The research hypothesis is that each of these constructs affects the level of athletes' attitudes toward doping. Methods: Data were collected from a sample of athletes (N = 109), aged from 15 to 45 (M = 31.5; SD = 13.78) recruited in a Sports Medicine Center. Socio-demographic information, attitude towards doping, psychological and social variables were assessed through self-report questionnaire. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression showed that both psychological (i.e., extrinsic motivation, perfectionism) and social variables (i.e., athletes' contact with doping users) were associated with athletes' attitudes towards doping. Conclusions: The results highlighted that athletes with excessive perfectionism, extrinsically motivated and who have contact with doping users have a positive attitude toward doping. Athletes who exhibit these characteristics should be considered at risk and monitored to prevent possible future sports drug use.
Perspectives of elite athletes with disabilities: Problems and possibilities
2002
Disability sport, and especially elite disability sport, has been all but ignored in terms of academic research in this country. This thesis, therefore, is an attempt to begin redressing this situation. It focuses on the Great Britain Paralympic track and field squad, that competed in the Sydney Paralympic Games between 18 th and 29 th October 2000. Through a series of in-depth interviews, which took a focused life history approach, the researcher attempted to gain a greater understanding of the kinds of factors, both positive and negative, that had an affect upon the lives of these athletes from the time they first took up the sport of athletics to the present day. In line with current research in the field of disability studies it adopts a social construction approach. The results of the analysis are set within the social model of disability in order to try and highlight the impacts of the perceptions of disability, embedded in the dominant medical model discourse, on these athletes' attempts to get involved and progress within the sport of athletics. Key findings highlighted by this research are the major influence that the medical model discourse of disability has on the perceptions of large areas of the able-bodied population with regard to disability in general and disability sport in particular. Able-bodied perceptions of disability greatly influence not only to what extent people with disabilities are able to operate within the society they live in, but also how they view themselves and their own abilities. This research also highlights some of the ways these socially constructed perceptions of disability are recreated and reinforced. In keeping with the emancipatory approach adopted for this research, the athletes were given the opportunity to comment upon an initial draft of the research findings. This was an attempt to be inclusive and keep the participants informed. Also it was an attempt to try and portray as accurate and as authentic account of the sporting life of an athlete with a disability as is possible. Throughout this thesis the researcher attempts to give an open and reflective account of the whole research process in order to make the reader aware of the possible effects of the researcher's own background on the research outcomes. In conjunction with the athletes, suggestions are made about how to better inform policies or strategies for British disability sport in general and disability athletics in particular.
The Qualitative Report, 2017
The term supercrip suggests extraordinary feats but is sometimes applied to any proficiency demonstrated by an athlete with a disability. This use of the term potentially undermines spectator appreciation for achievements of the upper echelon of disability sports participants. Prior disability sport researchers have suggested that a comparison of individuals' perceptions of athletic heroes with and without disabilities has potential to help disability sport marketers counter the supercrip stereotype. The purpose of this research was to explore differences in perceptions by comparing participant descriptions of role models with and without disabilities. Research participants, who consisted of undergraduate students at a large southwestern university, viewed video recorded scenarios of athletes with and without disabilities and participated in focus group interviews. Our findings supported those of prior researchers who suggested that participants were most likely to describe rela...