Does Alcohol and Nicotine Consumption among Athletes influence Attitudes towards Doping? Observational study of Spanish Athletes

Attitude toward doping is a complex psychological process involving environmental and social cognitive factors (García-Grimau et al 2021). The aim of this study was to investigate how alcohol and nicotine consumption among athletes - normally higher than among nonathletes - could be associated to attitude towards doping. A specific survey online investigating the prevalence of nicotine and alcohol used by athletes was performed. The Performance-Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS), which is a self-reporting questionnaire instrument measuring the consciously thought and deliberately expressed (explicit) attitude toward doping was used (6-point Likert-type scale). We made a contingence analysis (Pearson's Chi-squared test) for alcohol and nicotine consume vs PEAS. We collected 341 questionnaires (57% males, 43% females). The prevalence of nicotine and alcohol in the last 30 days was 23 and 72% respectively. PEAS mean score was 32.7 (SD=10.2) showing a general negative attitude toward doping (PEAS>33). Males mean score was significantly higher than female (p=0.010). No significant differences were found related with alcohol and nicotine. However, we found that nicotine was significant higher (p=0.046) in the ‘somewhat positive’ range group (PEAS >46). Our data confirmed a growing trend of alcohol and nicotine consumption among athletes comparing to general population. Further studies are needed to investigate if these drugs could influence attitude toward doping in athletes.