The effects of self-affirmation manipulation on decision making about doping use in elite athletes

Objectives: Doping use is an ongoing concern in both competitive and recreational sports. The present study set out to investigate the effects of a self-affirmation intervention on the decision-making process relevant to doping among elite athletes who were doping users. Design: A between subject experimental design was employed. Method: Sixty competitive athletes using doping substances took part in the study and were randomly assigned into active control and experimental groups. In the experimental group, participants received a self affirmation manipulation, whereas those in the active control group completed a neutral task. Subsequently, all participants were exposed to information relevant to the health side effects and moral aspects of doping use and subsequently completed a questionnaire about doping intentions and related social cognitions (i.e., attitudes, social and moral norms, self-efficacy beliefs, and anticipated regret). Results: Independent samples t-tests showed that self-affirmed participants reported significantly lower intentions to dope and temptation to engage in doping under risk-conducive situations. Multiple regression analysis showed that, whereas attitudes, moral norms and anticipated regret predicted doping use intentions, the effects of self-affirmation were not mediated by these social cognitive predictors of doping intentions. Conclusions: The study presents novel findings about the role of self-affirmation in the decision-making process relevant to doping use and can have direct implications for preventive interventions. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Doping use is a major ongoing issue in elite competitive sports and a growing public health problem in recreational and leisure time exercise settings and there is growing evidence on the adverse health effects of doping use, especially anabolic steroid use (Angell et al., 2012; Goulet, Valois, Buist, & Côté, 2010; Simon, Striegel, Aust, Dietz, & Ulrich, 2006; Striegel, Ulrich, & Simon, 2010). While elite athletes use performance enhancers to achieve higher performance, recreational athletes and exercisers are mostly driven by the need to achieve muscularity, lean muscle mass and reduced body fat (Olivardia, Pope, Borowiecki, & Cohane, 2004; Petróczi & Aidman, 2008; Petróczi & Naughton, 2011). Doping use prevalence estimates vary considerably with some studies suggesting that more than 30% of elite and sub-elite competitive athletes have used at least one doping substance (Petroczi et al., 2010). Also, Müller-Platz, Boos, and Müller (2006) reported than in Germany 40% of bodybuilders were using doping substances. Simon et al. (2006) also found that 12.5% of exercisers in gyms and fitness centers were using doping substances for esthetic and performance enhancement reasons. In order to design effective interventions and awareness-raising campaigns about the side effects of doping use it is important to identify the psychological processes underlying this behavior. Doping users tend to explain their behavior in self-serving ways. Specifically, compared to non-dopers, athletes who dope tend to overestimate the prevalence of doping in fellow athletes (Dunn, Thomas, Swift, & Burns, 2012; Petróczi et al., 2008), and expect more benefits fromdoping use (Hildebrandt, Harty, & Langenbucher, 2012). Overestimating the prevalence of one’s own behavioral choices in the general population or in a group of peers is a well known self-serving mechanism in the social psychological literature that is used for self-justification (Ross, Greene, &House,1977). A selfserving explanatory style may reflect a defensive processing mechanism, whereby people are motivated to defend their self-image by * Corresponding author. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki,