The role of self-regulatory efficacy,moral disengagement and guilt on doping likelihood: A social cognitive theory perspective

Given the concern over doping in sport, researchers have begun to explore the role played by self-regulatory processes in the decision whether to use banned performance-enhancing substances. Grounded on Bandura’s (1991) theory of moral thought and action, this study examined the role of self-regulatory efficacy, moral disengagement and anticipated guilt on the likelihood to use a banned substance among college athletes. Doping self-regulatory efficacy was associated with doping likelihood both directly (b = ?.16, P < .001) and indirectly (b = ?.29, P < .001) through doping moral disengagement. Moral disengagement also contributed directly to higher doping likelihood and lower anticipated guilt about doping, which was associated with higher doping likelihood. Overall, the present findings provide evidence to support a model of doping based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory of moral thought and action, in which self-regulatory efficacy influences the likelihood to use banned performance-enhancing substances both directly and indirectly via moral disengagement.     

Sociocognitive self-regulatory mechanisms governing judgments of the acceptability and likelihood of sport cheating

This study extends previous psychosocial literature (Bandura et al., 2001, 2003) by examining a structural model of the self-regulatory mechanisms governing the acceptability and likelihood of cheating in a sport context. Male and female adolescents (N = 804), aged 15-20 years, took part in this study. Negative affective self-regulatory efficacy influenced the acceptability and likelihood of cheating through the mediating role of moral disengagement, in females and males. Affective efficacy positively influenced prosocial behavior through moral disengagement or through resistive self-regulatory efficacy and social efficacy, in both groups. The direct effects of affective efficacy on beliefs about cheating were only evident in females. These results extend the findings of Bandura et al. (2001, 2003) to the sport context and suggest that affective and resistive self-regulatory efficacy operate in concert in governing adolescents' moral disengagement and transgressive behaviors in sport.     

Sport supplement use predicts doping attitudes and likelihood via sport supplement beliefs

The aim of this study was to examine: 1) whether sport supplement use is related to doping and 2) whether sport supplement beliefs mediated this relationship. In Study 1, athletes (N = 598), completed measures of sport supplement use, sport supplement beliefs, and doping attitudes. In Study 2, athletes (N = 475) completed measures of sport supplement use, sport supplement beliefs, and doping likelihood. In both studies, sport supplement use predicted doping outcomes indirectly via sport supplement beliefs. Our findings provide novel evidence to suggest that sport supplement users, who strongly believe that sport supplements are effective, are more likely to dope. For anti-doping organisations wishing to prevent doping, targeting an athlete’s beliefs about sport supplements may improve the effectiveness of anti-doping prevention programmes.     

体育道德强度与体育专业大学生比赛中亲-反社会行为的关系:体育道德推脱的中介作用

体育道德强度反映了个体对体育情境中道德事件本身道德性质的认知水平,对于个体在运动中的体育道德行为具有重要影响。研究以568名体育专业大学生(男生307名,女生261名,平均年龄=19.1±1.04)为被试进行问卷调查,通过数理统计检验体育道德强度与体育专业大学生比赛中亲-反社会行为之间的关系和体育道德推脱在体育道德强度与比赛中亲-反社会行为关系中的中介作用。结果显示,体育道德强度与体育专业大学生比赛中的亲社会行为之间存在显著正相关,与比赛中的反社会行为之间存在显著负相关;体育道德推脱对体育道德强度和比赛中亲-反社会行为之间关系均表现出了显著的中介效应。研究表明,体育道德强度一方面直接影响体育专业大学生比赛中的亲-反社会行为,另一方面通过体育道德推脱的中介作用对比赛中的亲-反社会行为产生影响。     

The final frontier of anti-doping: A study of athletes who have committed doping violations

Although the use of banned drugs in sport is not a new phenomenon, little is known about the experiences and perceptions of athletes who have committed anti-doping rule violations. This study qualitatively explored the experiences of 18 athletes (from the sports of bodybuilding, powerlifting, cricket, sprint kayak, rugby league, and swimming) who had committed anti-doping violations. Themes explored included motivations for initiating and maintaining doping, the psychology of doping, deterrents to doping, and views on current anti-doping policy. In most cases doping had started early in their careers. The perceived culture of the sport was considered central to the ‘normalization’ of doping, particularly in bodybuilding. When explaining their decision to dope, athletes engaged in processes or moral disengagement (including advantageous comparison, minimizing consequences and diffusion of responsibility). Ironically, moral arguments were perceived as the most effective deterrents to doping. Findings are discussed in relation to the difficulties in establishing credible deterrents and suggestions for the future development of anti-doping policy.     

Moral disengagement in sport

Historically, theories of morality have focused predominantly on moral cognition at the expense of moral action. One theory that considers moral action as well as moral cognition is Bandura's (1991) Social Cognitive Theory of Moral Thought and Action. One aspect of this theory that has recently proved particularly popular with researchers investigating sport morality is that of moral disengagement. Moral disengagement is a collective term for eight psychosocial mechanisms that selectively inhibit moral standards from preventing reprehensible conduct by disengaging self-reproof when one engages in conduct that contravenes one's moral standards. In this review, research examining moral disengagement in the sport context is discussed. Research in this area can be grouped into two broad categories: (a) moral disengagement and behaviours that occur during sport participation; and (b) moral disengagement and doping in sport. The present review considers work addressing both categories. Within each category, the main findings of pertinent studies are discussed, and strengths and weaknesses of these studies are identified. The review concludes with directions for future research.     

刍议体育道德推脱

采用文献资料法,以班杜拉的道德推脱理论为切入点,研究体育道德推脱的表现及原因,认为:体育道德推脱包括四个层级八个策略,第一种层级因素是将有害行为重新解释或转化成值得尊敬的行为,包含道德论证、委婉标示和优势对比三个策略;第二种层级因素是违规者致力于降低个人应负的责任,其中包含了责任转移与责任分散两个策略;第三种层级是针对违规行为的后果,而其策略仅有结果扭曲;最后一个层级发生在行动的受害者,包含了非人性和责备归因两个策略。针对体育道德推脱提出了对策性建议:基于价值观的道德训练课、培养运动员的社会取向特质、强化团队的道德潜意识。     

Intentional Rules Violations—One More Time

A familiar move that philosophers of sport make in the debate on the doping-issue is to reject from the start the argument that doping comes down to cheating. The claim that doping is cheating is often rebutted with the argument that doping is only cheating when one accepts that the use of doping is unjustified in itself. In this paper I want to argue that putting aside the cheating-argument in this way comes, first, too easy, because essential complexities of what cheating is, are neglected. And, second, it comes too soon, because spelling the cheating argument out throws new light on the debate about matters of justifying the rules and criteria concerning doping. I will confine myself in this paper to the claim that it is in any case the institutional authorities that professional athletes cheat on. The relations with other parties that apparently can be claimed to be cheated upon also, such as other athletes in competition, are left out. The argument from cheating takes its starting point from a principle of fidelity, taken from Scanlon. By this principle the morally acceptable conduct of those taking part in a practice is grounded in the way reciprocal expectations are raised between parties to the practice. I apply this principle to the relation between athletes and institutional authorities in sport practices. This argument can take the cheating argument to a new level of seriousness, especially in the sense that the arguments treated here support a plea for democratization of the procedures and a larger role of the sportsmen and sportswomen themselves, or so I will defend.     

Inside the locker room: a qualitative study of coaches’ anti-doping knowledge,beliefs and attitudes

It is widely assumed that coaches have an effect on athletes’ doping behaviours; however, the means by which this influence can be manifested are only superficially understood. The present study seeks to understand how coaches see their role in directly and indirectly influencing the doping attitudes and behaviours of athletes. Fourteen elite-level coaches participated in focus group discussions. Coaches displayed a low level of knowledge of banned methods and practices. While it was acknowledged that doping was prevalent in sport, coaches believed that doping was not a problem in their own sport, since doping does not aid in the development or implementation of sporting ‘skills’. While the findings suggest that coaches support the revised WADA Code, with increased sanctions for coaches, the findings also highlight how coaches may indirectly and inadvertently condone doping. This may be through inaction or the apparent endorsement of pro-doping expectancies.     

Goal striving, goal attainment, and well-being: adapting and testing the self-concordance model in sport

Grounded in self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and the self-concordance model (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999), this study examined the motivational processes underlying goal striving in sport as well as the role of perceived coach autonomy support in the goal process. Structural equation modeling with a sample of 210 British athletes showed that autonomous goal motives positively predicted effort, which, in turn, predicted goal attainment. Goal attainment was positively linked to need satisfaction, which, in turn, predicted psychological well-being. Effort and need satisfaction were found to mediate the associations between autonomous motives and goal attainment and between attainment and well-being, respectively. Controlled motives negatively predicted well-being, and coach autonomy support positively predicted both autonomous motives and need satisfaction. Associations of autonomous motives with effort were not reducible to goal difficulty, goal specificity, or goal efficacy. These findings support the self-concordance model as a framework for further research on goal setting in sport.     

A moral basis for prohibiting performance enhancing drug use in competitive sport

A strong moral reason for prohibiting doping in sport is to be found in the bad choices that would be faced by clean athletes in a sporting world that tolerated doping. The case against doping is not, however, to be grounded in the concept of coercion. Instead, it is grounded in a general duty of sport to afford fair opportunity to the goods that are distinctively within sport's sphere of control. The moral reason to prohibit doping need not be balanced against any autonomy claim of athletes who would prefer to dope because, upon closer examination, such claims have no force. The moral reason to prohibit doping does, however, need to be balanced against the enforcement costs imposed on all athletes by effective prohibition.     

Functional asymmetry in a simple coincidence-anticipation task: Effects of handedness

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether quality of self-determined motivation at the start of the competitive season in elite athletes and symptoms of overtraining can predict athlete burnout propensity at the end of the season. The participants were 141 elite winter sport athletes. In September, at the beginning of the season, the athletes responded to a self-determined motivation questionnaire, while they answered questions assessing overtraining symptoms and burnout in March, at the end of the season. Findings indicated that self-determined motivation and symptoms of overtraining were negatively and positively linked respectively to dimensions of athlete burnout. The results suggest that self-determined motivation and symptoms of overtraining are both independently linked to signs of burnout in elite athletes and that although no moderating effect was found, pairing self-determined motivation with symptoms of overtraining increased the prediction of burnout in athletes at the end of the season. Our findings are in line with those of recent research (Cresswell & Eklund, 2005; Lemyre, Treasure, & Roberts, 2006) and support a motivational approach to study burnout in elite athletes.     

Relationships among values, achievement orientations, and attitudes in youth sport

This research examines the value-expressive function of attitudes and achievement goal theory in predicting moral attitudes. In Study 1, the Youth Sport Values Questionnaire (YSVQ; Lee, Whitehead, & Balchin, 2000) was modified to measure moral, competence, and status values. In Study 2, structural equation modeling on data from 549 competitors (317 males, 232 females) aged 12-15 years showed that moral and competence values predicted prosocial attitudes, whereas moral (negatively) and status values (positively) predicted antisocial attitudes. Competence and status values predicted task and ego orientation, respectively, and task and ego orientation partially mediated the effect of competence values on prosocial attitudes and of status values on antisocial attitudes, respectively. The role of sport values is discussed, and new research directions are proposed.     

Whistleblowing determinants and the effectiveness of reporting channels in the international sports sector

International sports institutions have started to set up internal reporting mechanisms to allow actors in the sports sector to provide information on ethical wrongdoings occurring around them, such as match-fixing or doping. Analogous compliance mechanisms have been implemented for years in non-sport sectors and are the subject of a vast quantity of literature analysing notably the determinants of whistleblowing behaviour. In order to assess the potential effectiveness of reporting channels in sport, the author reviews the literature on whistleblowing determinants and discusses their weight in the sport sector. Findings identify several sport specificities which undermine the likelihood of whistleblowing, with, in particular: the weak power position and moral reasoning of athletes, intense organisational loyalties and non-supportive organisational culture. The paper concludes with a number of managerial recommendations for international sports organisations that want to infuse ethical values and promote reporting behaviour.     

我国运动员运动动机与运动道德推脱关系探究

为进一步揭示运动动机与运动道德推脱的关系,探索预测运动道德推脱的动机类型。采用运动道德推脱量表（MDSS）、运动行为调节量表（BRSQ－6）对运动员的运动道德推脱水平和运动动机进行了测量。结果表明：1）运动道德推脱在性别、项目类型上存在显著差异,在运动等级上无显著差异;2）自主动机与运动道德推脱呈显著负相关,受控动机与运动道德推脱呈显著正相关;3）自主动机可以负向预测运动道德推脱,受控动机可以正向预测运动道德推脱。     

专辑前言 反兴奋剂斗争的新武器——运动员生物护照

兴奋剂是体育运动健康发展面临的主要威胁之一;反对在体育运动中使用兴奋剂是我国发展体育运动的一贯方针。在中国政府、各级体育主管部门及体育从业者的共同努力下,20多年来中国反兴奋剂工作取得了很大成绩,得到了国际体育界的高度评价。     

少儿身体自我知觉与孤独感关系的研究

以心理问卷为工具考察153名普通少儿的自我价值、运动技能、身体状况、身体吸引力和身体素质等身体自我知觉变量对孤独感的预测作用。结果发现：男少儿的身体自我知觉各变量对孤独感的回归效应非常显著,其中自我价值对孤独感存在负向直接的预测作用,运动技能对孤独感既存在负向直接的预测作用,又存在负向间接的预测作用,身体素质对孤独感只存在负向间接的预测作用,其他变量的作用不显著;女少儿的身体自我知觉各变量预测孤独感的回归方程也非常显著,其中自我价值负向直接预测孤独感,身体吸引力负向间接预测孤独感,其他变量的作用不显著。     

Antecedents of approach-avoidance goals in sport

We investigated antecedents of mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals in sport. University athletes (n = 230) aged 18-25 years (mean 20.3 years, s = 1.5) completed measures of approach-avoidance goals, perceived parental motivational climate, perceived team motivational climate, perceived competence, and demographics. Multiple regression analyses revealed that mastery-approach goals were positively predicted by perceived competence, mastery team climate, learning/enjoyment parental climate, and gender, with males being higher on these goals than females. Mastery-avoidance goals were predicted positively by learning/enjoyment parental climate and negatively by gender, with females being higher on these goals than males. Performance-approach goals were positively predicted by perceived competence, performance team climate, and gender, with males being higher on these goals than females. Finally, performance-avoidance goals were predicted positively by worry-conducive parental climate. These findings suggest that a mastery or performance climate is related to whether athletes adopt a mastery or performance goal, whereas the perception of competence is associated with whether athletes adopt approach-focused goals. Gender should be considered in future examinations of the approach-avoidance achievement goals in sport.     

Development and validation of the moral disengagement in sport scale

A sport-specific measure of moral disengagement was developed in 2 studies. In Study 1, a 59-item questionnaire was developed and tested with 308 athletes from 5 team sports. A series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) testing different models suggested the model that best fitted the data had 6 first-order factors that could be represented by 1 second-order factor. Study 2 involved 305 athletes from the same 5 sports. CFA confirmed the 6-factor, second-order structure for the final 32-item measure. Results from Study 2 supported the construct validity of the scale, providing evidence for the factorial, concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity. The Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale (MDSS) is proposed as a valid and reliable measure of moral disengagement for use in the sport context.