Exploring the relationship between passion in sports and attitudes of performance enhancing substances in collegiate sporting environments
A. Wade Wilson, PhD Candidate, Luke R. Potwarka, PhD
Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo
Introduction
The purpose of the present study was two-fold. First we were interested in seeing whether obsessive and harmonious passion would predict attitudes of performance enhancing drug (PED) use in collegiate sport environments. Secondly, we were interested in the extent to which passion and attitudes of PED use would differ between two sporting environments.
Methods
Sample consisted of 587 male and female athletes that participated in competitive (i.e., varsity and intramural) team sports at Ontario Universities. Athletic Departments and coaches at four southern Ontario universities were contacted and asked for permission to survey varsity athletes and intramural participants. Participants competed in ice hockey, basketball, volleyball, rugby, field hockey, soccer, and football. Participants completed the Passion Scale (Vallerand et al., 2003) and the Performance Enhancement Attitudes Scale (PEAS: Petroczi, 2006).
Results
Preliminary results indicated the sex split was 64% male and 36% female. Average age of participants was 21 years old. In total, 41% of respondents played intramural sports and 59% played varsity sports. Overall, participants perceived their sport participation to be more harmonious (M=5.47, SD=.96) than obsessive (M=3.83, SD=1.27) in nature. Initial analyses indicated that varsity athletes reported higher levels of both harmonious and obsessive passion than intramural participants, while intramural participants reported more lenient attitudes towards the use of PEDs.
Discussion
To our knowledge passion and attitudes of PEDs have not been compared between levels of competition in collegiate sport. Furthermore, we will discuss that different types of passion are associated with athlete’s attitudes towards the use of PEDs.
References
Petroczi, A. (2006). Measuring attitude toward doping: Further evidence for the psychometric properties for the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale. 14th Congress of the European Association of Sport Management. Nicosia, Cyprus. September 2006.
Vallerand, R.J., Blanchard, C.M., Mageau, G.A., Koestner, R., Ratelle, C., Leonard, M., Gagne, M., & Marsolais, J. (2003). Les passions de l’ame: On obsessive and harmonious passion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 756-767.