Background: Doping behavior, including the misuse of performance-enhancing drugs, is currently a serious problem in sports, and the efficacy of preventive efforts directly depends on information regarding the associations among different precipitating factors (PF) and doping behavior. This study aimed to establish the PF of potential doping behavior (PDB) in competitive swimmers. Methods: The study included 301 swimmers from Slovenia (153 females, 16.4 ± 2.4 years), tested during the 2017 National Championship. Variables were collected by previously validated questionnaires, which included questions on sociodemographics, sports-related factors, consumption of dietary supplements, knowledge of doping, factors of hesitation, and doping-related factors (i.e., number of doping tests, opinion about the presence of doping in sport). The PDB (positive, neutral, or negative intention toward doping) was observed as a criterion, while other variables were included as predictors in multinomial regression analyses (with “negative” as reference value), which additionally controlled for gender and age category (cadet-, junior-, and senior-level) as confounders. Results: The results confirmed higher susceptibility to doping in males (positive: odds ratio (OR): 2.77, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.27–6.04), those swimmers who reported higher alcohol consumption (neutral: OR: 2.18, 95%CI: 1.06–4.16, positive: OR: 2.14, 95%CI: 1.05–4.37), and those regularly used dietary supplements (positive: OR: 3.62, 95%CI: 1.25–10.52). Competitive achievement in Olympic- (neutral: OR: 0.57, 95%CI: 0.41–0.81, positive: OR: 0.59, 95%CI: 0.39–0.88), and non-Olympic disciplines (positive: OR: 0.54, 95%CI: 0.35–0.83) was protective against PDB. Swimmers who were more concerned about the negative social consequences of doping behavior (i.e., condemnation by family and friends) were less likely to declare a positive intention toward the PDB (family condemnation: OR: 0.69, 95%CI: 0.56–0.86, friends’ condemnation: OR: 0.65, 95%CI: 0.52–0.80). Conclusions: The results of the study provide more precise insight into the specific factors associated with PDB in swimming. The established precipitating factors should be incorporated into targeted anti-doping campaigns in this sport.

Background: The prevalence of alcohol drinking (AD) in Croatian adolescents is alarming, but there is an evident lack of prospective analyses of the protective/risk factors of AD. This study aimed to prospectively investigate the relationships between scholastic and sport factors and harmful alcohol drinking (HD) in older adolescents. Methods: The participants (n = 644, 53.7% females) were 16 years of age at study baseline and were tested at baseline and again 20 months later (follow-up). The predictors included four variables of scholastic achievement and four factors evidencing involvement in sport. Criterion was AD observed on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and results were later categorized into harmful drinking (HD) and non-harmful drinking (NHD). The HD at baseline, HD at follow-up and HD initiation during the study course were observed as criteria in logistic regression analyses, which were additionally controlled for confounders (age, gender, socioeconomic status, and conflict with parents). Results: With 22% and 29% adolescents who reported HD at baseline and follow-up, respectively, the prevalence of HD remains among the highest in Europe. Scholastic failure was systematically related to HD at baseline and follow-up, but scholastic variables did not predict HD initiation during the course of the study. The higher odds for HD at baseline were evidenced for current and former team sport athletes. Those who quit individual sport were more likely to engage in HD at follow-up. Longer involvement in sport (OR: 2.10, 95% CI: 1.18–3.72), higher sport result (OR: 3.15, 95% CI: 1.19–8.34), and quitting individual sport (OR: 13.13, 95% CI: 2.67–64.62) were predictive of HD initiation. Conclusions: The results indicated specific associations between sport factors with HD initiation, which is understandable knowing the high stress placed on young athletes in this period of life, mainly because of the forthcoming selection between junior (amateur) and senior (professional) level. The results did not allow interpretation of the cause-effect relationship between scholastic failure and HD in the studied period.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between sociodemographic factors and different factors of sport participation in early adolescent children. The participants were school-aged children from Kosovo (n=1813; 911 girls) aged 13.7±0.9 years who regularly attended the 8th and 9th grades of elementary school. The variables included sociodemographic data (age, gender, urban/rural living environment, parental education, and socioeconomic status) and sport factors (participation in team and individual sports, experience in sports, and competitive achievement). Differences in sport factors between groups based on sociodemographic variables were established via the Mann‒ Whitney test (MW) and Kruskal‒Wallis ANOVA (KW) The results revealed a positive association between gender and all factors of sport participation, with boys being more involved in sports (MW=7.33 and 13.56, p<0.01 for individual and team sport participation, respectively) and for a longer time (MW=18.23, p<0.001) than girls. The urban living environment was significantly associated with all the observed sport factors (MW=5.04, 2.94, 3.82, all p<0.001). Higher socioeconomic status (KW=13.81, 22.69, and 13.01, all p<0.01), higher paternal education (KW=54.11, 17.11, and 44.83, all p<0.001), and higher maternal education were positively associated with the observed sport factors (KW=85, 11, 28.34, and 108.54, all p<0.001; for team sport, individual sport participation, and experience in sport, respectively). Sociodemographic variables are strong determinants of sport participation in children, and intensive efforts are needed to build similar opportunities for involvement in sports for all children in Kosovo.

Doping is not uncommon in recreational sports, but studies rarely have examined factors associated with doping tendency (DT) in recreational sport settings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sociodemographic factors associated with DT in recreational athletes. The participants were athletes involved in various recreational sports (n=503; 272 females, 31.1±6.7 years of age) who were tested for sociodemographic factors (gender, age, experience in recreational sports, partnership/marital status, parenthood, educational level, and personal knowledge and awareness of doping). The DT was evaluated by one question, and participants were grouped into those who reported negative DTs and those who reported neutral/positive DTs. A lower neutral/positive DTs was detected in better educated athletes (OR=0.62, 95% CI: 0.43–0.89) and in participants who were parents (OR=0.66, 95% CI: 0.50–0.78). Males were more prone to neutral/positive DTs than females were (OR=1.41, 95% CI: 1.28–1.59). Sociodemographic factors are strongly associated with DT, and future studies should explore this problem in more detail, including evaluations of the impacts of other potential factors, such as health literacy, recreational sport type, training intensity, and social influences within specific recreational sport communities.