Investigation of physical education and sports school students' perception and attitudes towards doping use: The case of Dicle University

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the perception and attitudes toward doping among students of the School of Physical Education and Sports at Dicle University. Material and Methods: This research employed a quantitative design based on the descriptive survey model. A total of 369 participants voluntarily took part in the study. The first part of the data collection form included a personal information section that gathered demographic data such as age, height, weight, gender, smoking status, presence of chronic illness, and type of sport (individual or team). In the second part, the "Attitude Scale Towards Doping Use" developed by Şapçı was utilized. The data were determined to be normally distributed. Frequency analyses were conducted for participants' demographic characteristics, and independent samples t-test was used to identify differences between group means. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 21.47 years (SD=4.34), the mean height was 171.49 cm (SD=9.42), and the mean body weight was 66.30 kg (SD=16.13). Attitude scores toward doping differed significantly by gender; male participants (M=24.98) scored higher than female participants (M=23.61) (p<0.01). No statistically significant difference was found based on smoking status (p>0.05). However, participants with chronic illnesses (M=31.46) had significantly higher attitude scores than those without (M=23.81) (p<0.01). No significant difference was observed in attitude scores based on type of sport (p>0.05). Conclusion: The findings indicate that attitudes toward doping significantly differ according to certain individual variables. Male participants and those with chronic illnesses displayed higher levels of pro-doping attitudes, while no significant differences were found with respect to smoking status or type of sport. It is recommended that future research and preventive practices consider doping attitudes particularly in the context of gender and health status. Keywords: Doping, Doping use, Doping perception.