Perceived motivational climate, doping attitudes, and doping temptation among elite adolescent athletes: The moderating role of perfectionism

Abstract

A sports culture that emphasizes normative success, as evident in a performance motivational climate, may encourage athletes to use prohibited performance-enhancing substances. Athletes with perfectionistic tendencies are believed to be particularly tempted to doping when finding themselves in such sporting environments. In this study, we examined whether perceived motivational climate was related to doping temptation directly and indirectly via doping attitudes and whether perfectionism moderated this indirect relationship. The sample comprised 420 adolescent athletes aged 16–18 years (mean age = 16.94 and standard deviation = 0.81) recruited from five Norwegian sport academy high schools. Regression analysis revealed that athletes' perceptions of a performance climate were positively related to their temptation to dope both directly and indirectly via doping attitudes, and that this indirect relationship was stronger among athletes who were moderate or high in their perfectionistic concerns. No direct or indirect relationships were found between mastery climate and doping temptation, nor did perfectionistic strivings moderate the indirect relationship between mastery climate and doping temptation via doping attitudes. Taken together, our findings suggest that athletes who perceive their sport environment as performance-oriented and believe that the benefits of using prohibited substances outweigh the drawbacks are more tempted to dope. Moreover, this tendency is particularly notable among athletes who are moderately or strongly concerned about making mistakes (i.e., have perfectionistic concerns).