Profil psychologique et comportemental de vulnérabilité à la dépendance à l’exercice et au risque de pratiques dopantes chez les sportifs amateurs : l’exemple des semi-marathoniens

Abstract

Introduction Most research on doping behaviors in sportsmen is relative to professionals. However, high-risk behaviors can also be observed in amateur sportsmen. Exercise dependence corresponds to an unsuitable practice of physical exercise which leads to complications characterized by a need to increase the amount of exercise significantly, the presence of tiredness or anxiety when discontinuing the exercise, the loss of control, the increase in the time spent in exercises, the restriction of other fields of activity and the maintenance of the exercise even with a recurring physical or mental problem (Veale, 1995). It appears that exercise dependent subjects have specific representations of physical activity (Davis et al. 1993, 1995). Our objective is to study the relationship between doping practices and behavioral dependence to physical exercise in amateur sportsmen. We hypothesize that high-risk doping amateur sportsmen have the following specific profile: A threshold of consumption of physical exercises, a particular representation of the sport, a restriction of the fields of activities apart from the sport. Method Mental representations and physical exercise habits of 317 semi-marathon runners were studied through semi-structured interviews. The sample consisted of 257 men and 60 women 20 to 60 years old. (i.e. 62 individuals from 20 to 30 years old, 116 from 30 to 40, 93 from 40 to 50, and 46 over 50 years old). All the participants were amateurs practicing foot racing in competition as principal sport. The participants were asked to answer to a self-questionnaire assessing: Their relation to physical activities, the number of hours of weekly physical exercises, the type of practice, the environment extra-sportsman, the representations of the sport, the importance given to the practice of the sport, the consumption of other products, the possibility of a consumption of doping products, their capacity to be abstinent to their physical activity. We determined an indicator of risk of doping, from different questions related to a possibility of consuming doping products. The indicator which appears most sensitive is the question: "Would you be ready to take doping products under medical control". Results The majority (75%) of the semi-marathonians practice their physical activity between 1 and 5 hours weekly whatever their age. The median observed is equal to 4. A discriminating analysis does not make it possible to show a good capacity of classification of the individuals saying it self ready to take doping products under medical control according to the only criterion of the number of hours of physical practice. 11.7% of the subjects reported that they would agree to take doping substances if they had the opportunity to do so under medical control. The mental representations and behavioral characteristics of this subgroup are the following: 1) A pervasive search of a surpassing of themselves through physical exercise; 2) An every day life predominantly focused on physical exercise; 3) The onset of negative feelings and irritability related to exercise discontinuation; 4) Paradoxically, a moderate amount of time spent exercising (59.5% reported exercising less than 5 hours weekly). Discussion In amateur sportsmen, the reported propensity to use doping substances is not correlated to the intensity of physical exercise measured by the amount of time weekly spent exercising. This propensity seems to occur in a specific sub-population of vulnerable subjects characterized by a behavioral dependence to physical exercise with a specific representation of their physical activity. These specific characteristics of high-risk individuals are independent from the age of the subjects. In a perspective of prevention, it is important to identify high-risk subjects to modify their manner of perceiving the sport, and to preserve other social investments.