An Analysis of the Effective Factors Contributing to Athletes' Drug Abuse after Retirement from Sport

The aim of the present study was to identify effective factors that contribute to athletes' drug abuse after retirement from sport. Research method was exploratory and statistical population included Chokheh wrestling athletes and other groups related to the study goal. Therefore, 227 subjects (active athletes (n=60), coaches and retired (n=20), referees and volunteers (n=20), retired addict athletes (n=17), retired non-addict athletes (n=30) and spectators (n=80)) were selected purposively as statistical sample. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. Exploratory factor analysis detected those factors affecting Chokheh wrestling athletes' drug abuse in three individual, organizational and social levels and it also identified 10 factors of positive attitude to drugs, depression, the lack of failure tolerance, curiosity, family, friends, the lack of facilities, socioeconomic deprivations, the lack of planning and drug market. Also, deprivation, lack of planning and depression explained the most proportion and curiosity, drug market and family explained the lowest proportion of the total variance.