Attitudes, beliefs and knowledge related to doping among South American footballers in CONMEBOL competitions

Introduction: This article presents a descriptive exploratory cross-sectional study of South American soccer players participating in competitions organized by the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). Objectives: The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between sociodemographic variables, knowledge and attitudes towards doping, and perfectionism in sports among male and female soccer players from field soccer, futsal, and beach soccer who participated in CONMEBOL competitions in 2023. Material and method: Three questionnaires were used to assess these factors in 614 professional athletes over the age of 18. Descriptive statistical methods were employed for data analysis, which was conducted in R environment using R Studio with the nmle, emmeans, and psych packages. The Cronbach’s alpha (α) coefficient was used to measure the reliability of the scales employed. Results: The average age of respondents was 24.2 ± 5.4 years. 92.8% (n = 614) reported having prior knowledge about antidoping. 6.8% admitted to having unintentionally consumed a prohibited substance or method, while 11.4% acknowledged doing so consciously. The Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS) had an average score of 34.43 ± 0.55 among respondents, and the Perfectionism in Sports Scale (PSS) scored 71.2 ± 0.63. Conclusion: The various disciplines within soccer exhibit negative attitudes towards doping; however, those who admitted to consciously or inadvertently using prohibited substances and/or methods showed a tendency towards more positive attitudes than the overall average. The PSS scale indicated a high level of perfectionism among all respondents. The self-reported prevalence of prohibited substance use is higher than the Adverse Analytical Results reported by CONMEBOL’s Anti-Doping Unit.