title: Doping Among Professional Athletes in Iran: A Test of Akers's Social Learning Theory.
abstract: The use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED) is common among Iranian professional athletes. As this phenomenon is a social problem, the main purpose of this research is to explain why athletes engage in "doping" activity, using social learning theory. For this purpose, a sample of 589 professional athletes from Rasht, Iran, was used to test assumptions related to social learning theory. The results showed that there are positive and significant relationships between the components of social learning theory (differential association, differential reinforcement, imitation, and definitions) and doping behavior (past, present, and future use of PED). The structural modeling analysis indicated that the components of social learning theory accounts for 36% of the variance in past doping behavior, 35% of the variance in current doping behavior, and 32% of the variance in future use of PED.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kabiri
authors.affiliation: 2 University of South Florida, Tampa, USA.
authors.forename: John K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Cochran
authors.affiliation: 2 University of South Florida, Tampa, USA.
authors.forename: Bernadette J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharepour
authors.affiliation: 3 University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Mahdi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Rahmati
authors.affiliation: 3 University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
authors.forename: Syede Massomeh
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Shadmanfaat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004300:Doping in Sports; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D011582:Psychological Theory; D000067570:Social Learning
keywords: PED use; doping activity; professional athletes; social learning theory