Towards an implicit association test (IAT) for measuring doping attitudes in sports. Data-based recommendations developed from two recently published tests

ObjectivesToday, the doping attitudes of athletes can either be measured by asking athletes directly or with the help of indirect attitude measurement procedures as for example the implicit association test (IAT). Using indirect measures may be helpful for example when psychological effects of doping prevention programs shall be evaluated. In the present study we have analyzed and compared measurement properties of two recently published IATs.DesignThe IATs “doping substance vs. tea blend” and “doping substance vs. legal nutritional supplement” were presented to two randomly assigned independent samples of 102 athletes (44 male, 58 female; mean age 23.6 years) from different sports. Both IATs were complemented by a control IAT “word vs. non-word”.MethodsIn order to test central measurement properties of both IATs, distributions of measured values, correlations with the control IAT, reliability analyses, and analyses of error rates were performed.ResultsResults pointed to a rather negative doping attitude in most athletes. Especially the fact that in the “doping vs. supplement” IAT error rates (12%) and adaptational learning effects across test blocks were substantial (η2 = .22), indicating that participants had difficulties correctly assigning the word stimuli to the respective category, we see slight advantages for the “doping vs. tea” IAT (e.g. satisfactory internal scale consistency Cronbach’s-α = .78 among athletes reporting to be regularly involved in competitions).ConclusionThe less satisfactory measurement properties of the “doping vs. supplement” IAT can possibly be explained by the fact that the boundaries between (legal) supplements and (illegal) doping substances have been shifted from time to time so that athletes were not sure whether substances were legal or not.

► Indirect measures helpful in evaluating psychological effects of doping prevention programs.
► Control IAT should be used in order to check for an IAT’s validity.
► “Doping vs. tea” IAT slightly superior to ”doping vs. supplement“ IAT.