Psychological aspects of the perception of legitimacy of anti-doping: Systematic review and thematic analysis of the doping literature

Summary:

The aim of the WADA-funded study was to identify and extract information in order to establish what is currently known and what is missing from anti-doping legitimacy. The project will 1) identify social cognitive variables and map the relationship between perception of legitimacy and motivation to comply through available literature on the psychological aspect of legitimacy; and 2) synthesise and triangulate the available knowledge and evidence on perceived legitimacy of anti-doping and anti-doping organisations through a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies published to date on doping. With the help of our collaborative partners, we turned this conceptualisation into testable items of a psychometric scale that measures stakeholders’ perceptions of anti-doping legitimacy.

Methodology

First, a systematic mapping review of research on athletes’ perceived legitimacy of anti-doping rules and organisations and preliminary results from an empirical study aiming to develop and validate a theory-based psychometric tool to assess perceptions of anti-doping. Next a scaled assessment of perceived anti-doping legitimacy was developped. The systematic mapping review and prior small-scale studies formed the basis of this new psychometric measure. The first item pool (38 items) was administered to 269 competitive athletes in Germany, 187 in Greece, 187 in Italy and 106 in Russia. It was tested alongside other cognate constructs. Through a series of data reduction techniques (principal component analysis, parallel analysis and item to total correlation), best items were identified and the number of items were reduced to 15. The 15-item scale (ADoLP) was tested with 109 competitive UK athletes. We found that the 15-item ADoLP scale could possibly shortened further to 10-items and used as a unidimensional measure.  Both versions showed good psychometric properties.

Results

Significant positive correlation was found between perceived anti-doping legitimacy and anti-doping rule compliance self-efficacy, and its related constructs (personal experience, knowledge, attitude and perceived social expectations). There was no statistically significant difference in legitimacy perception by involvement, or anti-doping education although the latter showed slightly more positive perception of anti-doping legitimacy compared to those with no education. Significantly higher anti-doping knowledge was present among those athletes who have been doping tested which is likely a reflection on the level of sport involvement (and thus the likelihood of being tested) and not the testing procedure per se.

Significance for Clean Sport

Perception of anti-doping legitimacy can be assessed as a psychological construct. The newly developed ADoLP scale can contribute to advancing research into anti-doping, clean sport behaviour and can be a useful addition to the battery of measures to evaluate anti-doping education. Although further research is needed into the dimensionality of the scale, the ADoLP scale (all items together as unidimensional scale) appears to be a valid and reliable measure of perceived anti-doping legitimacy. This work focused on athletes. Further work is warranted to explore perceived anti-doping legitimacy among athlete support personnel, officers of anti-doping organisations and sport federations, anti-doping researchers, even among the general public – although the ADoLP scale may not be a suitable tool for the latter because it assumes a considerable level of familiarity with details in how anti-doping works.
 

Related Publications

“Doing What Is Right and Doing It Right”: A Mapping Review of Athletes' Perception of Anti-Doping Legitimacy