title: Self-admitted behavior and perceived use of performance-enhancing vs psychoactive drugs among competitive athletes.
abstract: The relationships between projected use, self-reported behavior and attitudes to performance-enhancing (PED) and recreational (RD) drugs were investigated among 82 competitive Hungarian athletes, with 14.6% admitting using PED and 31.7% using RD. Both the observed doping estimations (even those made by non-users) and self-admitted use were considerably higher than the average rate of positive doping tests (2% of all tests). The notable overestimation by PED users (34.6% vs 16.9%) was in keeping with the false consensus effect. A prediction model with attitude and projection to the likelihood of PED use suggested at least a 70% chance of self-involvement of athletes, with responses at or above the median scores (Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale ≥ 60 and estimation ≥ 50%) on the two independent measures. Users overestimated the prevalence of doping in their sport (P=0.007) but not RD use, with the converse holding for RD users' views of doping (P=0.029). PED users also showed a significantly more lenient attitude toward doping (P<0.001). This domain-specific characteristic adds new information to the ongoing research effort in understanding drug-doping co-morbidity. The reasons for elevated in-group projection are discussed, along with the potential application of this phenomenon in doping epidemiology studies.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uvacsek
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nepusz
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Naughton
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mazanov
authors.forename: M Zs
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Ránky
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petróczi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology*; D001290:Attitude; D004300:Doping in Sports / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D058573:Performance-Enhancing Substances; D015995:Prevalence; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D057566:Self Report; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D058573:Performance-Enhancing Substances; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs