Athletes from Great Britain report greater doping likelihood than Greek and Italian athletes: A cross-sectional survey of over 4,000 athletes

In the past twenty years, a large body of research has examined who is more likely to dope as a function of participant variables, such as gender, sport type, and competition level. However, this research is limited as studies are often conducted on modest sample sizes from one country. To overcome this issue, we recruited a large sample of athletes across three countries to examine differences in doping likelihood as a function of participant variables. Athletes (N = 4,644) were recruited from Great Britain (n = 2,505), Greece (n = 1,044), and Italy (n = 1,095) and asked to complete an anonymous measure of doping likelihood. Results indicated that doping likelihood scores were greater in men than women, for athletes competing in non-Olympic sports (e.g., American football, kickboxing, netball) than Olympic sports (e.g., Athletics, basketball, football) and in British athletes than both Greek and Italian athletes. We found an interaction between country and competitive level. Specifically, in Great Britain, higher competitive level athletes reported greater doping likelihood than lower competitive level athletes, which was not found for Greek and Italian athletes. Our results highlight that athletes report greater doping likelihood for those that are 1) from Great Britain, 2) men, and 3) participating in non-Olympic sports. We also show that differences in doping likelihood between competition levels may differ depending on country of residence.

Adami, P. E., Koutlianos, N., Baggish, A., Bermon, S., Cavarretta, E., Deligiannis, A., . . . Niebauer, J. (2022). Cardiovascular effects of doping substances, commonly prescribed medications and ergogenic aids in relation to sports: A position statement of the sport cardiology and exercise nucleus of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 29(3), 559-575.
Allen, J., Taylor, J., Dimeo, P., Dixon, S., & Robinson, L. (2015). Predicting elite Scottish athletes’ attitudes towards doping: examining the contribution of achievement goals and motivational climate. Journal of Sports Sciences, 33(9), 899-906. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2014.976588
Backhouse, S. H., Whitaker, L., & Petroczi, A. (2013). Gateway to doping? Supplement use in the context of preferred competitive situations, doping attitude, beliefs, and norms. The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 23(2), 244-252. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2011.01374.x
Baggish, A. L., Weiner, R. B., Kanayama, G., Hudson, J. I., Lu, M. T., Hoffmann, U., & Pope, H. G., Jr. (2017). Cardiovascular Toxicity of Illicit Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use. Circulation, 135(21), 1991-2002. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.116.026945
Blank, C., Kopp, M., Niedermeier, M., Schnitzer, M., & Schobersberger, W. (2016). Predictors of doping intentions, susceptibility, and behaviour of elite athletes: a meta-analytic review. SpringerPlus, 5(1), 1333.
Bloodworth, A., & McNamee, M. (2010). Clean Olympians? Doping and anti-doping: the views of talented young British athletes. International Journal of Drug Policy, 21(4), 276-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2009.11.009
Bondarev, D., Barkoukis, V., Lazuras, L., Bochaver, K., Oudra, D., & Theodorou, N. (2022). Behaviours and beliefs related to whistleblowing against doping in sport: a cross-national study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 835721.
Burton, P., Gurrin, L., & Sly, P. (1998). Extending the simple linear regression model to account for correlated responses: an introduction to generalized estimating equations and multi‐level mixed modelling. Statistics in Medicine, 17(11), 1261-1291.
Devcic, S., Bednarik, J., Maric, D., Versic, S., Sekulic, D., Kutlesa, Z., . . . Liposek, S. (2018). Identification of factors associated with potential doping behavior in sports: A cross-sectional analysis in high-level competitive swimmers. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 15(8). https://www.embase.com/search/results?subaction=viewrecord&id=L6...
Girelli, L., Cavicchiolo, E., Alivernini, F., Manganelli, S., Chirico, A., Galli, F., . . . Lucidi, F. (2020). Doping use in high-school students: Measuring attitudes, self-efficacy, and moral disengagement across genders and countries. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 663.
Griffiths, S., Murray, S. B., & Mond, J. M. (2016). The stigma of anabolic steroid use. Journal of Drug Issues, 46(4), 446-456.
Hurst, P., Kavussanu, M., Boardley, I., & Ring, C. (2019). Sport supplement use predicts doping attitudes and likelihood via sport supplement beliefs. J Sports Sci, 37(15), 1734-1740. https://www.embase.com/search/results?subaction=viewrecord&id=L6...
Hurst, P., King, A., Massey, K., Kavussanu, M., & Ring, C. (2023). A national anti-doping education programme reduces doping susceptibility in British athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 69, 102512.
Hurst, P., Ring, C., & Kavussanu, M. (2020). Evaluation of UK Athletics Clean Sport Programme in Preventing Doping in Junior Elite Athletes. Performance Enhancement & Health. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2019.100155
Hurst, P., Ring, C., & Kavussanu, M. (2021). Ego orientation is related to doping likelihood via sport supplement use and sport supplement beliefs. European Journal of Sport Science, 1-19.
Hurst, P., Schiphof-Godart, L., Kavussanu, M., Barkoukis, V., Petróczi, A., & Ring, C. (2023). Are dietary supplement users more likely to dope than non-users?: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 117, 104077.
Judák, P., Esposito, S., Coppieters, G., Van Eenoo, P., & Deventer, K. (2021). Doping control analysis of small peptides: A decade of progress. Journal of Chromatography B, 1173, 122551.
Kavussanu, M. (2019). Toward an understanding of transgressive behavior in sport: Progress and prospects. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 42, 33-39.
Kavussanu, M., Barkoukis, V., Hurst, P., Yukhymenko-Lescroart, M., Skoufa, L., Chirico, A., . . . Ring, C. (2022). A psychological intervention reduces doping likelihood in British and Greek athletes: A cluster randomized controlled trial. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 61, 102099.
Kavussanu, M., Hurst, P., Yukhymenko-Lescroart, M., Galanis, E., King, A., Hatzigeorgiadis, A., & Ring, C. (2021). A Moral Intervention Reduces Doping Likelihood in UK and Greek Athletes: Evidence from a Cluster Randomized Control Trial. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2019-0313
Kavussanu, M., & Ring, C. (2017). Moral identity predicts doping likelihood via moral disengagement and anticipated guilt. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 39(4), 293-301. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2016-0333
Kavussanu, M., Rubaltelli, E., Leo, I., Hurst, P., Giovannoni, M., Barkoukis, V., . . . Ring, C. (2024). A Psychological Intervention Reduces Doping Likelihood in Italian Athletes: A Replication and Extension. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 102761.
Kavussanu, M., Yukhymenko-Lescroart, M. A., Elbe, A.-M., & Hatzigeorgiadis, A. (2019). Integrating moral and achievement variables to predict doping likelihood in football: A cross-cultural investigation. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 101518. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.04.008
Lazuras, L., Barkoukis, V., Rodafinos, A., & Tzorbatzoudis, H. (2010). Predictors of doping intentions in elite-level athletes: a social cognition approach. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 32(5), 694-710.
Lentillon-Kaestner, V., & Carstairs, C. (2010). Doping use among young elite cyclists: a qualitative psychosociological approach. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 20(2), 336-345. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2009.00885.x
Lucidi, F., Grano, C., Leone, L., Lombardo, C., & Pesce, C. (2004). Determinants of the intention to use doping substances: an empirical contribution in a sample of Italian adolescents. International Journal of Sport Psychology.
Mallia, L., Lazuras, L., Barkoukis, V., Brand, R., Baumgarten, F., Tsorbatzoudis, H., . . . Lucidi, F. (2016). Doping use in sport teams: The development and validation of measures of team-based efficacy beliefs and moral disengagement from a cross-national perspective. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 25, 78-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2016.04.005
Mazanov, J., Huybers, T., & Connor, J. (2011). Qualitative evidence of a primary intervention point for elite athlete doping. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 14(2), 106-110.
Morente-Sanchez, J., & Zabala, M. (2013). Doping in sport: a review of elite athletes' attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge. Sports Medicine, 43(6), 395-411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0037-x
Naughton, M., Salmon, P. M., Kerherve, H. A., & McLean, S. (in press). Applying a systems thinking lens to anti-doping: A systematic review identifying the contributory factors to doping in sport. Journal of Sports Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2024.2306056
Nicholls, A. R., Cope, E., Bailey, R., Koenen, K., Dumon, D., Theodorou, N. C., . . . Andrés, M. P. (2017). Children's first experience of taking anabolic-androgenic steroids can occur before their 10th birthday: a systematic review identifying 9 factors that predicted doping among young people. Frontiers in psychology, 1015.
Nieschlag, E., & Vorona, E. (2015). Medical consequences of doping with anabolic androgenic steroids: effects on reproductive functions. European Journal of Endocrinology of the European Federation of Endocrine Societies, 173(2), 47.
Ntoumanis, N., Dølven, S., Barkoukis, V., Boardley, I. D., Hvidemose, J. S., Juhl, C. B., & Gucciardi, D. F. (2024). Psychosocial predictors of doping intentions and use in sport and exercise: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Ntoumanis, N., Ng, J. Y., Barkoukis, V., & Backhouse, S. (2014). Personal and psychosocial predictors of doping use in physical activity settings: a meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 44(11), 1603-1624. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-014-0240-4
Overbye, M., Elbe, A.-M., Knudsen, M. L., & Pfister, G. (2015). Athletes' perceptions of anti-doping sanctions: the ban from sport versus social, financial and self-imposed sanctions. Sport in society, 18(3), 364-384.
Paradis, E., & Claude, J. (2002). Analysis of comparative data using generalized estimating equations. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 218(2), 175-185.
Ring, C., Kavussanu, M., Gürpınar, B., Whitehead, J., & Mortimer, H. (2020). Basic values predict unethical behavior in sport: the case of athletes’ doping likelihood. Ethics & Behavior, 1-9.
Ring, C., Kavussanu, M., & Mazanov, J. (2019). Self-other judgments of doping likelihood and anticipated guilt in hypothetical situations. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 41, 46-53.
Veltmaat, A., Dreiskaemper, D., Brückner, S., Bondarev, D., Heyes, A., Barkoukis, V., . . . Zelli, A. (2023). Context matters: Athletes' perception of dopers' values, actions and vulnerabilities. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 5, 1229679.
Von Elm, E., Altman, D. G., Egger, M., Pocock, S. J., Gøtzsche, P. C., & Vandenbroucke, J. P. (2014). The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies. International journal of surgery, 12(12), 1495-1499.
WADA. (2023). 2021 Anti-Doping Testing Figures. Montreal, Canada: WADA Retrieved from https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/2021_anti-dopin...
Whitaker, L., Long, J., Petróczi, A., & Backhouse, S. H. (2014). Using the prototype willingness model to predict doping in sport. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 24(5), e398-e405. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.12148
Woolway, T., Elbe, A.-M., Barkoukis, V., Bingham, K., Bochaver, K., Bondarev, D., . . . Mallia, L. (2021). One does not fit all: European study shows significant differences in value-priorities in clean sport. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 3, 662542.
Zorn, C. J. (2001). Generalized estimating equation models for correlated data: A review with applications. American Journal of Political Science, 470-490.