Competitor - an offender or victim of doping control as viewed by young athletes

Study aim: To evaluate the perception of motivations and responsibility for doping abuse by young athletes.

Material and methods: A group of male volleyball players (n = 44) and of female combat athletes (n = 26), all aged 15 - 17 years and having 4 - 8 years of training experience, were studied. By applying questionnaire technique, two issues were studied: responsibility of the athlete and of the coach/medical team, and the motivations of doping abuse.

Results: Young athletes decidedly declined to pronounce either side not guilty of doping abuse, the male subjects being more critical and severe than the female ones. All of them attributed doping abuse to exaggerated ambitions of athletes and, to a much lesser extent to the pressure of sport environment.

Conclusions: The results enable a better understanding of psychological mechanisms of giving in to the temptation of doping abuse and, thus, may help preventing it.