Citation

Jalleh G, Donovan RJ, Jobling I. J. Sci. Med. Sport 2013; 17(6): 574-579.

Affiliation

Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer Control, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia. Electronic address: g.jalleh@curtin.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Sports Medicine Australia, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsams.2013.10.249

PMID

24268440

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study presents a comprehensive examination of the Sport Drug Control Model via survey data of elite Australian athletes. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional nationwide mail survey of 1237 elite Australian athletes was conducted. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the model. RESULTS: Morality (personal moral stance on performance-enhancing substances use), reference group opinion (perceived moral stance of reference group on performance-enhancing substances use) and legitimacy (perceptions of the drug testing and appeals processes) evidenced significant relationships with attitude towards performance-enhancing substances use, which in turn was positively associated with doping behaviour. The model accounted for 81% and 13% of the variance in attitude towards performance-enhancing substances use and doping behaviour, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These findings validate the usefulness of the Sport Drug Control Model for understanding influences on performance-enhancing substances use. Nevertheless, there is a need to survey athletes representing a broader range of competition levels and cross-cultural research to test the model's applicability to other populations of athletes.

Language: en