A study shows that, for athletes, the notion of morality deters them more from using banned doping products than the dangers these substances present to their health.
The key factor that seems to protect athletes from doping is their sense of values and morality. Long before the fear of the sometimes dramatic consequences that doping products can have on their health. This is shown by a study funded by the World Anti-Doping Agency and conducted by the University of Birmingham with 1,500 athletes in the United Kingdom, Denmark and Greece.
More to recover from injuries than to improve performance
The participants, male and female footballers competing at just below professional level, were asked to complete a questionnaire on two hypothetical doping situations: a search for improved performance or recovery from injury. In all three countries, footballers reported a higher likelihood of using performance-enhancing drugs to recover from injuries than to improve their performance.
Justifications related to others
But beyond these first elements, the researchers examined the emotions and attitudes of these athletes with regard to doping. And it turned out that if athletes found justifications related to others – ensuring the team had better results or… doping like other athletes do – for using banned substances, the likelihood that they choose to dope was greater.
On the other hand, the study of these emotions and attitudes showed that players who claimed a strong “moral identity”, carrying values such as honesty and justice, did not use these justifications for doping, expected to felt more guilty and ultimately were less likely to dope.
The impact of coach behavior
This has led researchers to focus on the impact of coaches’ behavior. Depending on whether the latter penalize the players guilty of doping or pay excessive attention to the best performances, the athletes will respect the rules or turn to prohibited products.
These results, published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise, show that the moral aspect of doping can be taken more into account in the campaigns carried out to fight against the use of prohibited substances. “More than the threat of fines or prohibitions to practice sport and the reminder of the consequences of doping on health, a powerful moral message could be taught to athletes”, underlines Dr Maria Kavussanu, who led this study.
“An important step in understanding the behavior of athletes”
Tony Cunningham, director of school education at the World Anti-Doping Agency, said: “This study is an important step in understanding the behavior of athletes in the face of doping and it provides valuable information on how which interventions can be made to prevent it more effectively. Engaging athletes on a moral level is important, but it can be difficult to know what kinds of messages an athlete should receive.”
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