Jaime Morente-Sánchez *, Manuel Mateo-March **/*** and Mikel Zabala */***
(*) Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
(**) Faculty Miguel Hernández, University of Elche, Valencia, Spain
(***) Spanish Cycling Federation, Madrid, Spain
Citation
Morente-Sánchez, J., Mateo-March, M., Zabala, M. (2014). Attitudes towards doping in Spanish road cycling national teams. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 45(2), 157-170. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2014.45.157
Abstract
The aim was to compare attitudes towards doping in cyclists from the Spanish National road cycling teams. 33 cyclists aged 18.62 ± 2.88 years were allocated to four groups (junior men, under-23 men, junior women, and elite women). We used the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS) and a qualitative open-ended questionnaire. The overall PEAS score (17–102) was 34.91 ± 6.62. The word most associated with “doping” was “cheating” (% n: 42.42; % total answers: 14.89%), for “agents responsible for doping” it was “doctor” (84.85%, 30.11%), the “main reason” was “sport achievement” (100%, 50.75%) and the most proposed solution was “more controls” (36.36%; 29.27%). Many riders stated that “cycling and other sports are treated differently” (66.67%, 47.83%). Thus, Spanish elite road cyclists do not support doping, though younger cyclists showed more pro-doping attitudes; alongside controls, early age prevention programs may be effective to educate both cyclists and their close people.
Keywords: Attitudes, cycling, Doping substances, Elite athletes, Prevention