Özet:

The aim of this research was to explore the attitudes of elite athletes towards performance enhancement through banned substances. In this study, survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used. Purposive sampling method was used in the data collection process. Participants consisted of a sample group of elite athletes (n = 418: 49.3% female, 50.7% male;). Participants answered questions about sociodemographic characteristics as well as performance enhancement attitudes. A performance enhancement attitude scale was used to determine the participants' attitudes towards performance enhancement. Data were analyzed using SPSS Version 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Elite level athletes participating in the study were found to have low use of prohibited substances for performance enhancement. There was no difference between the attitudes of the participants to increase their performance according to their gender and educational status. Participation of the participants in individual or team sports did not lead to a difference between their performance enhancement attitudes. It was found that as the duration of being a national athlete of the participants in the study increased, their attitudes towards using prohibited substances for performance enhancement increased. From the point of view of elite athletes, the use of banned substances for performance enhancement was found to be low. However, as the duration of being an elite athlete increases, it has been found that the attitude towards the use of banned substances for performance enhancement increases. Policies should be developed to discourage elite athletes from using banned substances. Coaches and managers need to correctly manage success strategies at all levels of sports.

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