Young athletes' knowledge, attitude and belief levels, which may be seen as possi̇ble explanations of doping in comparison with some other variables

In this research, it is aimed to examine young athletes' knowledge, attitude and belief levels, which may be seen as possible explanations of doping in comparison with some other variables. Young athletes in athlete training centers were inquired about their knowledge, attitude and beliefs on doping while gender, age, training center and sports branch were selected as grouping varibles. Population of this study was selected from Mersin, Konya, Erzurum athlete training centers with a total number of 104 athletes whose ages are between 14-17. In data collection phase of the research a questionnaire which is developed by the researcher and "Attitute Inventory for Doping" (Şapçı, 2010) were used. Research variables' compatability for parametrical statistics was evaluated by skewness and curtosis of the data while continous variables were calculated by Shapiro-Wilk test as comparative analysis cells have less than 50 count. Independent inter-group Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were selected as non-parametric statistical methods to search for the correlation between demographical variables and doping knowledge levels considering the structure of research data. Findings revealed that there are some significant difference among training centers, gender, sports branch, national medallist and doping test experienced groups considering doping knowledge, attitude and belief variables. On the contrary there is no significant difference between age, international competition experience, and international medallist groups. Some suggestions are presented in accordance with the findings. Keywords: Doping, Doping Prevention, Athlete, Knowledge Level, Attitude