The Relationship between Disappointment and Self-Handicapping with Doping Tendency in Athletes

Psychological issues are integral components of all areas of behavior, including sports. The current study attempts to find the relationship of disappointment with self –handicapping and doping tendency in sportsmen in Fars province. This was a field study using a descriptive correlational design. The population of the current study included all sportsmen competing in boxing, weightlifting, and track and field, out of whom 384 sportsmen were selected as the sample of this study. The participants were selected by convenient sampling and data were gathered using three questionnaires. The disappointment questionnaire (Beck, 1979), doping tendency questionnaire (Petróczi, 2007), and self-handicapping questionnaire (Jones & Rhodewalt, 1982) were used as the instruments of the study. The reliability coefficients of the instruments were calculated and confirmed using Cronbach's alpha test, and combined reliability was measured by PLS software. PLS3 software was also used to analyze structural equation modeling data. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between disappointment and self-handicapping. The results also confirmed the relationship between doping tendency and disappointment on one hand and self-handicapping and the tendency to doping on the other. Moreover, the results confirmed the significant role of self-handicapping as a mediating variable in the relationship between disappointment and doping tendency. Also, the model of the effect of disappointment on the tendency to doping showed an appropriate fitness. Finally, it is suggested that, in addition to an acceptable level of supervision, the psychological issues of the athletes should also be taken into consideration in different levels of competition.