Abstract
Objectives: International research shows that performance enhancing drugs (PED) represent a serious problem both in competitive and leisure sports, affecting not only adults but adolescent athletes as well. However, to our knowledge, no recent studies of doping in adolescents are available in the Czech context.
The aim of the present study (conducted with a support of the World Anti-Doping Agency) is to explore the prevalence of doping in the Czech adolescents and their attitudes toward doping. Sample and setting: 2851 Czech adolescents (mean age 16.2 years) participated in a questionnaire survey that assessed their experience with doping and attitudes towards doping.
Results: We found that Czech adolescents reported relatively high level of doping in comparison with international studies: 8 % of the respondents reported that they had at least one-time experience with doping, and more than twice this number (16.9 %) reported that they were offered doping at least once. Doping was reported significantly more frequently by men, students of vocational schools, and students of sport schools.
The highest prevalence of doping (12.3 %) was observed in elite athletes, followed by leisure athletes (8.9 %). Doping was most frequently offered to elite athletes and competitive athletes: 25 % of elite athletes reported that they were offered doping at least once.
In general, respondents reported negative attitudes towards doping but, at the same time, relatively positive attitudes in comparison with results of international studies. More negative attitudes towards doping were reported by older respondents, participating in sports more frequently and at a higher level, coming from families of more educated and physically active parents.
Study limitation: Our results suggest that doping represents a risk behavior prevalent in a relative large portion of Czech adolescent population. However, the results are limited by the questionnaire, self-report method of the study.