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This study aimed to construct a hierarchy of motives linked to doping behaviors. Between 2000 and 2005, calls to a national antidoping phone-help service by 115 cyclists, 203 bodybuilders, and 40 footballers were analyzed. The results showed that the main motives were preserving health for cyclists, increasing muscular strength for bodybuilders, and personal recreation for footballers. However, in contrast to the literature, group influence was low and health preoccupations were high for cyclists; the influence of body image was relatively low for bodybuilders; and footballers cited muscular strength enhancement as a motive. The study's limitations are noted. The prevention campaigns therefore need to be specific.

Studies have shown that doping behavior emerges from contexts. Educational research would therefore be enriched by explorations of the situatedness of athletes’ activity and its dynamics of development inside sporting life courses. The principles can be summarized as (a) the connection between antidoping and athletes’ time-specific and meaningful concerns, (b) the creation of fields of possible activity that preserve athletes from doping, (c) the focus on propensities toward activities that pull athletes away from doping, and (d) the regular and timely updating of programs. Following this, the general framework for the antidoping education of elite athletes comprises four levels articulated by their distribution over the periods of athletes’ careers: (a) creating and maintaining a global antidoping culture via continuous socialization, (b) developing a sustained antidoping background via situated activities, (c) supporting punctual and specific needs with free services for all athletes, and (d) promoting tertiary prevention and post-career education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this study was to examine the relevance of a set of psychological assessment tools for professional practice in talent development psychology. Data collection on 70 talented adolescent soccer players (ages 15-19 years) from a French-speaking part of Switzerland was based on McAdams' framework. Data were processed to identify main team characteristics and differences between subgroups compared to standard values. Results suggested needs for psychological support in four domains: (a) management of emotional stability to reduce anxiety regarding performance and interactions with coaches; (b) enhancement of involvement in practice, including conscientiousness, quality of practice, and building positive and supportive relationships with coaches; (c) protection against substance abuse and doping; and (d) appropriation of activities that improve performance and increase the likelihood of benefiting from the challenges. The results indicate how these tools can be packaged as a set for overseeing talent development in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To consider the various specific substances-taking activities in sport an examination of three psychological models of doping behaviour utilised by researchers is presented in order to evaluate their real and potential impact, and to improve the relevance and efficiency of anti-doping campaigns. Design Adopting the notion of a “research program” (Lakatos, 1978) from the philosophy of science, a range of studies into the psychology of doping behaviour are classified and critically analysed. Method Theoretical and practical parameters of three research programs are critically evaluated (i) cognitive; (ii) drive; and (iii) situated-dynamic. Results The analysis reveals the diversity of theoretical commitments of the research programs and their practical consequences. The «cognitive program» assumes that athletes are accountable for their acts that reflect the endeavour to attain sporting and non-sporting goals. Attitudes, knowledge and rational decisions are understood to be the basis of doping behaviour. The «drive program» characterises the variety of traces and consequences on psychological and somatic states coming from athlete's experience with sport. Doping behaviour here is conceived of as a solution to reduce unconscious psychological and somatic distress. The «situated-dynamic program» considers a broader context of athletes' doping activity and its evolution during a sport career. Doping is considered as emergent and self-organized behaviour, grounded on temporally critical couplings between athletes' actions and situations and the specific dynamics of their development during the sporting life course. Conclusions These hypothetical, theoretical and methodological considerations offer a more nuanced understanding of doping behaviours, making an effective contribution to anti-doping education and research by enabling researchers and policy personnel to become more critically reflective about their explicit and implicit assumptions regarding models of explanations for doping behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The aim of the present article was to present a specific activity approach called the ‘life course of a practice’ that could be used for the analysis of the long-term dynamic of learning within diverse social practices. The cases of unethical actions (doping) within a population of high-level athletes were examined, considering they could be fruitful examples for this type of analysis. After describing the theoretical construct ‘life course of a practice’, the places of these unethical actions in the sporting life courses and elements that characterize their emergence in the long-term dynamics are described. Last, targeted prevention measures of unethical actions over a lifetime are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]