Abstract
This study investigated whether dietary supplement acceptance mediated the relationship between supplement use and doping attitudes in youth sports. To this end, we employed a two-wave half-longitudinal design during a sports season (time point one [T1] to time point two [T2]). The sample consisted of 217 elite youth athletes (47% male; mean age = 16.98 years, standard deviation = 0.88) who competed in team sports (43%; N = 93; basketball, floorball, handball, and ice hockey) and individual sports (57%; N = 124; alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, swimming, and tennis). The participants were recruited from eight Norwegian sports academy high schools that provide extracurricular, higher-level training and specialization for youth athletes. Results from structural equation modeling analysis indicated that dietary supplement acceptance (T2) mediated the positive relationship between supplement use (T1) and doping attitudes (T2) when accounting for prior levels of the mediator and the outcome variable. These findings suggest that when young athletes used dietary supplements at the start of the season to improve their performance, they were more likely to view the use of supplements as acceptable and to report more favorable attitudes toward doping at the end of the season six months later. For those seeking to prevent doping in youth sports, targeting athletes’ views on the acceptable use of dietary supplements may be important.
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference50 articles.
1. Dietary supplements.;RJ Maughan;Journal of Sports Sciences,2004
2. Performance-enhancing and health-compromising behaviors in youth sports: A systematic mixed-studies review.;JÅ Kristensen;Performance Enhancement & Health.,2022
3. Sports rules as common pool resources: A better way to respond to doping.;E Castronova;Economic Analysis & Policy.,2009
4. Relationship between perfectionism and attitudes toward doping in young athletes: The mediating role of autonomous and controlled motivation.;K Wang;Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy.,2020
5. Inevitable? Doping attitudes among Berliners in 2011: The role of socialist state socialisation and athlete experience;GG Wagner;European Journal of Public Health,2016