Running Head: Doping Perceptions and Willingness to Dope

To enable preventive measures to be designed, it is important to identify modifiable distal and proximal factors underlying doping behaviour. This study investigated aspects of the prototype willingness model in relation to doping. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 729 competitive athletes. Following ethical approval, athletes (mean age= 28.8 ± 10.1 years; 63% male) completed an online questionnaire which assessed doping-related attitudes, norms, prototype perceptions, outcome expectancies and behavioural willingness. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, 54.4% of the total variance in willingness to dope was explained. Specifically, past doping, attitudes and favourability of performance enhancing substance user prototypes were the strongest unique predictors of willingness to dope. Athletes appeared most willing to dope if they were to suffer an injury, a dip in performance or think others are doping and getting away with it. National level athletes displayed significantly greater willingness to dope (Kruskal-Wallis = 35.9, p < .001) and perceived themselves as significantly more similar to a doper (Kruskal-Wallis  = 13.4, p = .004) than athletes competing at any other level. The findings highlight the importance of extending anti-doping provision beyond elite level sport and the need to target athletes’ doping-related perceptions.