Virtue or pretense? Looking behind self-declared innocence in doping

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Social Psychology
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Social science research on doping heavily relies on self-reports, which are prone to under-reporting.
• Objective validation methods are crucial for accurate data on doping practices.
• This study addresses the need for improved self-report methodologies in sensitive research areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare self-reported doping use with objective hair analysis results.
• To examine how discrepancies between self-reports and objective data influence doping attitudes and social perceptions.
• To investigate the impact on social projection, norms, and perceived pressure to use doping.

Main Methods:

• Developed a doping attitudes questionnaire and implicit association test.
• Collected hair samples from 14 athletes for chemical analysis of doping substances.
• Compared self-reported data with objective hair analysis results in selected athlete groups.

Main Results:

• Group differences in social projection, attitudes, and perceived pressure varied based on self-report versus hair analysis verification.
• Self-confessed users exhibited higher social projection, positive attitudes, and perceived pressure.
• Athletes denying doping but testing positive showed extreme social desirability in self-reports, contrasting with implicit attitudes.

Conclusions:

• Hair analysis effectively validates athletes' doping admissions and attitude estimations.
• Findings underscore the necessity for enhanced self-report methods in socially sensitive research.
• Implicit social cognition measures show promise for large-scale studies and online data collection, despite the cost of chemical validation.