Drug Use In Sport Research Articles

Relationships between body image, nutritional supplement use, and attitudes towards doping in sport among adolescent boys: implications for prevention programs

BackgroundReports of high levels of use of protein powders and nutritional supplements among young men is a concern because these substances may act as a gateway for the use of drugs and illegal substances to enhance appearance or sports performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between body dissatisfaction, weight change behaviors, supplement use, and attitudes towards doping in sport among an adolescent male sample.MethodsParticipants were 1148 male adolescents (age range 11-21 years) in Australia who completed a self-report questionnaire that measured weight change behaviors, supplement use, body dissatisfaction (Male Body Attitudes Scale; MBAS) and attitudes towards doping in sport (Performance Enhancing Attitudes Survey; PEAS).ResultsThere was a positive correlation between MBAS total and PEAS scores (r = .19, p < .001), indicating that the young men who were more dissatisfied with their bodies were more likely to support the use of doping in sport. Young men who were currently attempting weight loss or weight gain, and those currently consuming energy drinks (ηp2 = .01, p < .01) and vitamin/mineral supplements (ηp2 = .01, p < .01) were also significantly more supportive of doping in sport. However, those involved in weight lifting, and using protein powders were not (p > .05).ConclusionsThese findings suggest that body dissatisfaction, weight change behaviors, and supplement use are related to more lenient attitudes towards doping in sport among adolescent boys. Future research might examine whether combining educational content for the prevention of body dissatisfaction and the use of drugs in sport may have a greater preventive impact than current programs aimed at young men.

Athletes’ and coaches’ perceptions of deterrents to performance-enhancing drug use

Policies to prevent performance-enhancing drug use in sport are implicitly based on a form of deterrence theory, whereby the threat of sanctions deters prohibited behaviour. While deterrents generally fail to deter serious criminal actions, criminological research suggests that deterrents can be effective with certain types of offences or offenders. This study explored the perceptions of elite athletes (n = 488) and coaches (n = 92) of two forms of deterrents to performance-enhancing drug use (legal and material loss sanctions) and a range of other anti-doping policy issues. There were marked differences in the perceived deterrent effect for athletes and coaches, with coaches consistently seeing deterrents as less credible than athletes. Both groups endorsed sanctions for the coaches and clubs of doping athletes and expressed support for the withdrawal of commercial and government sponsorship for such athletes. Findings are discussed in relation to the increasing focus of anti-doping campaigns towards elite coaches rather than athletes.

Perceived incidence of drug use in Australian sport: a survey of athletes and coaches

Doping control statistics suggest that only 1–2% of athletes are doping. However, studies of the perceived incidence of doping suggest that athletes believe that doping may be far more prevalent. Perceptions may potentially be of greater significance than actual incidence: athletes who believe that other athletes are doping may be more likely to engage in such practices, potentially creating a damaging self-fulfilling prophecy. This study investigated the perceptions of 609 Australian elite athletes and coaches about the extent of doping in sport. Data were collected via a self-completed survey. Results showed that the perceived incidence of performance-enhancing drug use was approximately 19% (30% for perceived incidence of recreational drug use). Findings are discussed in relation to how perceptions might influence athletes through the creation of damaging self-fulfilling prophecies, and how sporting associations have attempted to control testing procedures to influence perceptions of drug use in sport.

Steroids and doping in sports: a reference handbook

Emphasizing the controversy over performance-enhancing drugs in sports today, this book examines all aspects of steroid use on the human body across history, from ancient China and India to modern-day professional athletics. The use of performance-enhancing drug use in sports is never out of the news, whether it's cycling, baseball, Olympic sports, or mixed martial arts. Interestingly, the use of steroids to boost human performance stretches back to ancient times. Written by a former professor of chemistry, Steroids and Doping in Sports: A Reference Handbook provides not only information about all aspects of performance-enhancing drugs in sport, but also supplies a thorough, scientific background about the drugs themselves-the chemistry and biology of steroids, what scientists have learned about these substances, and the specific ways in which they affect the human body. The author documents the cat-and-mouse actions of the athletes and those who supply them with performance-enhancing drugs to push the envelope, and of the sport and athletic groups-such as the NCAA and the International Cycling Union-that try to monitor and control such drug use. The work also includes a chapter containing snapshot profiles of many individuals involved in steroid use scandals and organizations with an interest in topics related to steroid abuse. * Provides an extensive history on the use of performance enhancing drugs in athletics and sports, as well as in everyday life, from ancient civilizations to the present day * Spotlights the current controversy regarding whether steroids should be permitted in sports competition * Presents an in-depth discussion of potential health and psychological effects of steroid use, and identifies the pro and con arguments concerning steroid use in sports, athletics, and other settings * Derives information from source documents on laws and court cases as well as reports on steroid use

Beyond the War on Drugs? Notes on Prescription Opioids and the NFL

The recent problematization of opioid use among National Football League players presents an opportunity for scholars to rethink conventional approaches to drugs in sport, and to incorporate into their analyses a consideration of medically authorized substances. Such an undertaking may help illuminate the social dimensions of painkilling and the contextual complexity that fades from view in seemingly compassionate media portrayals of the struggles of former players who are living in pain and dependent on drugs. It may also offer new insights into more established traditions of research on cultures of drug use in sport.

What do the humanities (really) know about doping? Questions, answers and cross-disciplinary strategies

Recent years have brought debates about the future role of humanities research in light of sciences’ progress. In doping research, tacit biases in favour of science risk ignoring the humanities in their efforts to understand and address the doping phenomenon. This article is a continuation of the discussion on the role of the humanities and social sciences in research on drug use in sport. The article asserts that until those who wish to address the doping issues in sport begin engaging humanities and social science research alongside the natural sciences, the results from scientific experiments will remain detached from the lived experiences of the athletes, and the anti-doping campaign risks losing its legitimacy. Conversely, we will also argue against two types of drawbacks for humanistic research; one is the dismissal of the pursuit of truth in exchange of epistemological relativism. The other is the tendency to turn inward and become reluctant to use empirical tools that provide purchase on the doping issue. The article will conclude by sketching a positive account of the two fields collaborating with more porous borders but one that asks neither side to compromise its professional standards or modes of inquiry. This new account asserts that future doping research requires cross-disciplinary and collaborative research rooted in strong methodologies but conversant in both languages.

The International Anti-Doping Movement and UNESCO: A Historical Case Study

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) played a major role in the development of contemporary anti-doping policy. Throughout its existence, and especially since the 1970s, UNESCO has viewed sport as an educational tool. Though it acknowledged the unique problems that drug use in sport presented, UNESCO was reticent to take a leading role in creating and enacting global policy regarding the issue. However, UNESCO eventually came to endorse the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2005 when its member nations adopted the International Convention against Doping in Sport. UNESCO's shift in attitude is explained through the application of institutional isomorphism, an organisational theory that explains the tendency of organisations in a given area or industry to become more similar over time.

Book Review Essay: Beyond the Boundary: Drugs, the Body and Sport: The Scapegoat: About the Expulsion of Michael Rasmussen from the 2007 Tour De France and Beyond: Elite Sport, Doping and Public Health: Sport, Technology and the Body: The Nature of Performance

Beyond the boundary: Drugs, the body and sportThe Scapegoat: About the Expulsion of Michael Rasmussen from the 2007 Tour de France and Beyond by Verner M0ller (Aarhus: Akaprint, 2011)Elite Sport, Doping and Public Health Edited by Verner M0ller, Mike McNamee and Paul Dimeo (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2009)Sport, Technology and the Body: The Nature of Performance by Tara Magdalinski (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2009)Sport is a realm punctuated by boundaries, whether those boundaries appear in the form of physical spaces and delineated areas of play, or other boundaries, such as those that appear between players and teams, team officials, competitors and spectators. Sport is also an arrangement through which a range of other boundaries-in the form of binary pairs-are enacted: these include, for instance, divisions between fit/active subjects and inactive ones, but also nature and culture, mind and body, male and female. Academic research on sport is also characterized by certain boundaries. In preparing for this review essay, for example, I was surprised to discover that very few articles on the question of drug and alcohol use in sport have ever been published in Contemporary Drug Problems, a jour- nal that publishes almost exclusively on alcohol and other drug use. Curiously, this separation is not a phenomenon confined to this journal, and reflects a broader trend within some academic research, whereby alcohol and other drugs (AOD) and drugs in sport (DIS) research tend to operate as largely distinct fields, with little crossover of personnel, theoretical and methodological tools or ideas. This apparent polarization is, by my estimation, a great shame, not in the least because AOD and DIS research shares many common interests and concerns. Academics in both areas are grappling, for instance, with questions about the way drugs are classified and categorized, the assumptions made about different classes of drugs and their effects, the ethics and politics of drug policies, the stigmatization and marginalization of people who use drugs, the development and implementation of methods for the surveillance and treatment of individuals who use drugs, the criminalization of drug use in sporting and other contexts, arguments for and against decriminalization, and the operation of harm-reduction policies. There are, as well, many other areas of shared interest. One can only speculate as to why AOD and DIS have tended, to a large extent, to function separately. It may be something to do with a belief that the subjects and objects of interest to both fields are distinct, or that the issues that concern them are so specific and localized that researchers in these two spheres felt they have little, if anything, to offer one another. There may also be an assumption that the context within which sports doping is framed and sanctioned (which includes the very specific process of cordoning off' sport from broader society and developing and applying special rules to drug management) is much too narrow to generate anything of meaning to AOD researchers, and vice versa.Whatever the reasons may be, these divisions undoubtedly operate to produce and reproduce a set of problematic dualisms and assumptions that academics in both fields have sought to deconstruct and challenge in recent years. The tendency to separate out drug use in sport from drug use in broader society may function, for instance, to enact a distinction between sportspersons and laypersons, or between the fit/muscular bodies of elite athletes and the less fit bodies of people who use drugs outside the context of elite sport. Insofar as DIS research might assume its object to differ from that of AOD, there is also the possibility that problematic assumptions will be brought into the research environment. If, for example, DIS researchers assume that their work is fundamentally different to that concerning AOD researchers because it involves the take-up of different kinds of substances (steroids) with certain kinds of properties (performance enhancement) by unique kinds of subjects (elite bodies), then we already have a problem. …

Commentary: Ending the ban on recreational substance use in sport: And then what?

As London 2012 starts to become a distant memory, and Sochi 2014 becomes a near reality, it is timely that Waddington, Christiansen, Gleaves, Hoberman, and Moller (2013) and Henne, Koh, and McDermott (2013) have brought to the fore the inconsistencies within the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA's) policies regarding drug use in sport. These inconsistencies are not new; Smith and Stewart (2008) highlighted the inconsistencies and ambiguities of WADA policy, but nothing has changed in this time. Why a substance is placed on the banned list is an important discussion that should be occurring; however, this discussion should not be occurring in the isolation of the sporting world.

Coherence of drug policy in sports: Illicit inclusions and illegal inconsistencies

Anti-doping regulation has become a critical element of contemporary sport, conveying what substances and methods athletes may use. Although this form of regulation is often synonymous with banning performance enhancing substances and methods, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the global authority tasked with formulating policies on drug use in sports also regulates illicit drugs, including those considered non-performance enhancing. This paper examines how the inclusion of illicit drugs on the WADA Prohibited List falls under the agency's mandate by focusing on how the agency justifies the prohibition of substances more generally. In so doing, it highlights inconsistencies in the criteria used to evaluate whether or not substances should be prohibited. After critically considering WADA's criteria, this paper posits a way to reconcile the inconsistencies. It suggests that aligning the criteria with existing claims that doping is a broader health concern provides a way for WADA to clarify ambiguities around why substances are on the WADA Prohibited List and better communicate why it regulates illicit non-performance enhancing drugs.

Screening for recreational drugs in sports. Balance between fair competition and private life

The term “recreational drug” typically includes substances such s marijuana, cocaine, and other compounds that are mainly taken or pleasure and not for enhancing athletic performance. Despite onsumption of these drugs being currently banned in sports by the orld Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and several other national and upranational anti-doping organisations (Lippi et al., 2012), recent vidence suggests that their use may be widespread in elite and op-class athletes such as soccer or football (Petroczi & Naughton, 009; Waddington, Malcolm, Roderick, & Naik, 2005). The leading issue around the use of recreational drugs in sports s their questionable influence on athletic performance. According o one perspective, clearly presented by Waddington, Christiansen, leaves, Hoberman, and Moller (2013), a substance taken outside ompetition to enhance social rather than sports performances is n aspect of private life that should not involve – nor be pursued by anti-doping agencies, including WADA. According to another oint of view of Henne, Koh, and McDermott (2013), this rather ragmatic approach carries some ethical and biological drawbacks. ndeed, the use of recreational drugs such as opiates (e.g., opium, orphine, codeine, heroin, methadone, pethidine and fentanyl), entral nervous system (CNS) depressants (e.g., barbiturates and enzodiazepines), CNS stimulants (e.g., caffeine and cocaine) and annabis collides with the immaculate spirit of sport. Champions re often seen as a paragon in both official competition and in their

Should we fear the role-modelling impact of the anti-doping legislation?

Legislating for the use of drugs in sport has required the development of a legal framework specific to the problem and implemented by sports organizations. In this commentary, I wish to consider this sports-specific legislative process in comparison to the non-sports criminal justice system (which I refer to as ‘general legislation’). Beginning with an examination of recent developments in general legislation which have been motivated by international terrorism but which have had significant consequences for policing and legal representation I argue that many of the contemporary concerns around human rights in the latter can help us understand some of the current and future controversies in sports law, specifically anti-doping.

Recreational drug use and sport: Time for a WADA rethink?

This paper examines current policies towards drug use in sport to evaluate their appropriateness. The focus is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA's) attitudes and policies towards athletes’ use of recreational drugs. Since recreational drugs such as marijuana are not performance-enhancing, one of the most frequently used arguments to justify doping controls – that those involved in drug use derive an unfair advantage over other competitors – cannot be used to justify controls on the use of such drugs. Given this, it is suggested that the attempt to control the use of marijuana within a sporting context is best understood in terms of the growing concern about drug ‘abuse’ within the wider society. The paper further suggests that the WADA has used the ‘spirit of sport’ argument to reach beyond traditionally accepted sporting concerns. In this regard, WADA is using anti-doping regulations to police personal lifestyle and social activities that are unrelated to sporting performance. On this basis, it is concluded that WADA's focus and resources should return to enforcing sporting values related to doping rather than policing athletes’ lifestyles, and it is therefore suggested that the ban on marijuana and similar recreational drugs should be lifted.

Examining a negative halo effect to anabolic steroids users through perceived achievement goals, sportspersonship orientations, and aggressive tendencies

We investigated the social image of anabolic steroids (AS) users grounding our analysis on the achievement goal theory of Nicholls. Our main goal was to explore how an athlete's acceptance of AS use would impact on the way that athlete will be perceived by others. Non-AS-using participants reacted to one of two scenarios portraying a male athlete either accepting or refusing to engage in drug use behavior. The results suggested that the acceptance of anabolic steroids yielded an unfavorable social image--perceivers inferred a predominant ego orientation to characterize the AS-user's motivation as well as weaker sportspersonship and a stronger proclivity for reactive aggression than instrumental aggression. Moreover, the analyses did not yield significant gender or interaction effects. Finally, those findings are commented in view of methodological shortcomings and of the perspectives that they may offer for future research concerning the motivational aspects of the social perceptions of drug use in sport.

Investigation of the Attitudes of Japanese Physical Educational University Students toward Doping in Sports

Background: Drug abuse, most notably Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid (AAS) use, in athletes is thought to be widespread. A few drug abusers and persons who express acceptance of drug abuse in sports are known to be present in Japan as well. We investigated the state of drug abuse and attitudes toward drug abuse in sports in a Japanese physical education university from the viewpoint of anti-doping. Methods: The study sample was comprised of students attending a physical educational university in Japan. An anonymous self-completed questionnaire was given out in two classes at the beginning of the semester from 2008 until 2012, inclusive. Results for the year 2011 are given here. The questionnaire had 5 sections covering responder’s drug use, attitudes toward doping, a hypothetical situation on an athlete’s drug use, dietary supplements, and what the responder eats or drinks before playing a game. Results: The response rate for the 2011 questionnaire was 100%. There were 2 admitted drug abusers (0.4%) and 774 (99.6%) non-abusers. The use of diuretics was admitted. In Section II, which included a question on what the responder thought of doping, 144 (19.3%) selected “good” and 592 (79.1%) selected “bad”. Section III presented a hypothetical situation whereby the respondent would use a drug undetectable by doping control, win a gold medal and have a lifespan of only 5 years thereafter. In answer to the question of whether the respondent would use the drug under those conditions, 85 (11.4%) answered “yes” and 655 (87.5%) answered “no”. Conclusions: 20% of the students approved of drug use in sports. Furthermore, based on the response to a question in Section III, it can be speculated that 10% of the students might have used drugs in sports.

CONTROLE ANTIDOPING NO BRASIL: MONITORAMENTO DA PRÁTICA DE DOPAGEM

The use of substances or forbidden methods to improve the performance has become more frequent in sports. This research objective is to characterize the results of drug test accomplished in Brazil in the year of 2008. The data were obtained in the Laboratory of Drug Test of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Brazilian Olympic Committee, both recognized by the International Olympic Committee as well as by WADA. Four thousand six hundred twenty-one exams were accomplished in the year of 2008. The soccer was the modality that presented more cases of doping. The scientific progresses allow more sophisticated methods to control the use of drugs in sports. Keywords: Doping. Sports. Fair Play. Drug Test. Athletic Performance.

Monitoring drug use in sport: The contrast between official statistics and other evidence

Drug use in sport has a number of defining features with regard to type of drug, policy, behaviours and the collection of evidence. Since the mid-1960s, sports authorities with the support of other Government agencies have attempted to prevent high-level competitive athletes from enhancing their performance with stimulants or enhancing their training with steroids, growth hormones, blood boosters and other related practices known as ‘doping’. This attempted control has been based on establishing a list of banned substances, testing athletes for these and subsequently punishing those found guilty. A number of critics have argued that ‘anti-doping’ policy and testing has consistently failed to stop this form of cheating. Over time, the testing methods have become more sophisticated and the amount of testing has increased, especially since the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999 to co-ordinate and improve international activities. This article reviews the testing statistics since then, and contrasts those to the evidence provided by quantitative social science research into prevalence. The extent of doping suggested by the latter is significantly higher than that found in the official statistics. The implications of this will be discussed.

Sex, steroids and anabolic androgens in athletics

The ancient Olympic games were (almost) men only affairs. Successful athletes were highly honoured, and, perhaps for this reason, skulduggery was not unknown. For example, we read in Wikipedia that ‘Sotades at the ninety-ninth Festival was victorious in the long race and proclaimed a Cretan, as in fact he was. But at the next Festival he made himself an Ephesian, being bribed to do so by the Ephesian people. For this act he was banished by the Cretans.’ With the discovery that drugs may plausibly enhance athletic performance modern athletics associations, perhaps unsurprisingly, have to contend with doping as well as other thorny issues, and the use of drugs in sport is believed to be widespread despite its prohibition [1]. The World Anti-Doping Agency publishes a list of drugs whose use is prohibited either in or out of competition (http://www.wada-ama.org). Drug testing involves analysis of blood or urine samples mainly by gas/chromatography/ mass spectrometry or radioimmunoassay in approved laboratories according to strictly defined protocols.

Perceived incidence of drug use in Australian sport: a survey of public opinion

In the last few years, a large number of cases have come to light in which celebrated individuals, and even whole teams, have been found to have used either banned performance enhancing or ‘recreational’ drugs. There are two very different perspectives on this issue. On the one hand, some see the use of banned drugs as a threat to sport, whereas on the other hand, the use of performance enhancing drugs is actually lauded as a way of energizing flagging public interest in sport. This study is the first survey of Australian popular opinion on the incidence and seriousness of drug use in sport. Data were collected via telephone interviews featuring a nationally representative sample of 2520 participants. Results showed that the public believe that a quarter of athletes use banned performance-enhancing drugs, and a third use banned recreational drugs. The sport most commonly identified as one where performance-enhancing drug use is common was athletics (Australian Football League for recreational drugs). The public were strongly opposed to all forms of drug use in sport, yet opinion was divided as to whether anti-doping investigations should be handled by the police. Results are discussed in light of the efforts of anti-doping agencies to enforce rules and procedures that the public may not fully comprehend.

The politics of doping and anti-doping in Chinese sport

The politics of doping and anti-doping in Chinese sport