The “selves” in doping: A multi-country study

Summary: 

The purpose of this project is to investigate the relationship of narcissism and self-compassion on indices related to doping behavior, while accounting for potential underlying mechanism of these two self-concepts. To achieve this, a quantitative survey design will be employed to investigate the influences of narcissistic and compassionate selves in risks factors for doping among national and international level athletes.

The project will also examine the psycho-behavioral explanations of how narcissism contributes to doping (i.e., via indulgence in sport fantasy) and how self-compassion helps prevent doping (i.e., via enhanced coping). In addition, data will be collected from athletes from the United Kingdom, China, and the United States, enabling cross country comparisons.

The project will provide insights into psychological characteristics that may influence doping behavior by identifying risk and protective factors for doping, which is one of the key social science research agenda priorities (Boardley et al., 2021).

Furthermore, by taking a multi-country approach, implications for practice and deterring doping in both western (e.g., United Kingdom, United States) and eastern (e.g., China) countries will be developed.

Methodology

This project will use a multi-country quantitative survey design to investigate 1) the cross-sectional effects of how two self-concepts (i.e., narcissism, self-compassion) independently and interactively affect risk factors for doping; 2) the psycho-behavioral mechanisms (i.e., sport fantasy, coping) underpinning the self-concepts and doping relationship; and 3) the cross-country differences in psychological influences of self-concepts on risk factors for doping.

Results

This is an ongoing two-years research project whose results are expected to be presented in 2025.

Potential significance for Clean Sport

Embracing WADA’s new International Standard for Education, the propositions and implications from this project will contribute to the development of research-informed anti-doping intervention and education programs. While it is commonly agreed that psychological factors play an important role in doping, little is known regarding psychological drivers and preventive factors of doping, and thus effective psychological intervention for promoting clean sport are rare. In this novel project, we intend to unveil how athletes’ self-concepts, especially that of narcissistic and self-compassionate personality, play a role in doping. Self-compassion may serve as a protective factor, and this may have implications for countering narcissistic personality characteristics. Moreover, teaching self-compassion may serve to challenge dominate ideologies that surround sport, such as athletes’ acceptance of the sport ethic (i.e., accepting no obstacles in the pursuit of success). Thus, this study may provide anti-doping educators with another method to build athletes’ ability to resist the temptation to dope.