AUTHOR=Ayyildiz Erdem , Kayabeşler Hamza , Gülü Mehmet , Yagin Fatma Hilal , Aldhahi Monira I. , García-Grimau Elena , Al-Mhanna Sameer Badri 

TITLE=Examining mindfulness and moral disengagement in doping: Perspective of Turkish wrestlers

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1142343

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1142343

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Studies related to attitudes toward the use of prohibited substances in Turkish athletes are scarce. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has implemented anti-doping educational policies emphasizing doping-related education in studies conducted among Turkish wrestlers. However, it is still unclear the extent to which the wrestlers comply and adhere to these anti-doping policies. No research has previously examined the effect of anti-doping education on athletes' mindfulness and moral disengagement in doping (MDD). Therefore, the present study has a two-fold objective: first, to examine whether doping-related education (DRE) and the status of being a national athlete (NA) have an effect on athlete mindfulness and MDD. Second, to analyze the relationship between each sub-dimensions of athlete mindfulness: awareness (ASD), judgment (JSD), and refocus (RSD) with MDD.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A total of 409 male wrestlers participated in this study. MANOVA analysis showed that NA and DRE alone have no effect on MDD but have a general effect on mindfulness.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The highest effect was on the ASD of being an NA (<inline-formula><mml:math id="M1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msubsup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>η</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msubsup></mml:math></inline-formula> = <italic>0</italic>.173). When the interaction effect of NA<sup>*</sup>DRE was examined, significant difference in MDD (<italic>F</italic> = 8.218, <italic>p</italic> = 0.004), ASD (<italic>F</italic> = 8.476, <italic>p</italic> = 0.004), JSD (<italic>F</italic> = 5.844, <italic>p</italic> = 0.016), and RSD (<italic>F</italic> = 11.476, <italic>p</italic> = 0.001) were found. MDD has a weak negative relationship with ASD (<italic>r</italic> = −0.126) and RSD (<italic>r</italic> = −0.041) and a weak positive relationship with the JSD sub-dimension (<italic>r</italic> = 0.140). Those results suggest that being a NA and having received anti-doping education affect moral disengagement in doping and athletes' mindfulness.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>As a conclusion, it is recommended to increase awareness and anti-doping education among national-standard Turkish wrestlers to prevent them from engaging in doping behaviors.</p></sec>