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Doping use is an ongoing problem in contemporary sports. Despite efforts to detect and control doping, research on its etiology is limited, especially among elite-level athletes. The present study used an integrated social cognition model to examine the predictors of doping intentions. Structured anonymous questionnaires were completed by 1075 Greek adult elite-level athletes (M age = 25 years, SD = 5.89, 36.1% females) from both team and individual sports. Multiple regression and mediation analyses showed that attitudes, normative beliefs, situational temptation, and behavioral control significantly predicted doping intentions. A normative process was identified whereby situational temptation mediated the effects of normative beliefs on intentions. The findings provide the basis for future social cognition research in doping use, and set the framework for the development of evidence-based preventive interventions.

Gender differences in managerial aspirations and managerial potential have been advanced as possible explanations for the structuring of organizations along gender lines, with women concentrated in lower level jobs and under-represented in managerial positions. These hypothesized gender differences were examined in a sample of male and female physical education and non-physical education students. Analysis of variance results showed that the effects of gender, faculty, or their interaction on managerial aspirations were not significant. The main effects of aspiration level, faculty, and gender on the set of managerial potential variables were significant. Aspirants scored higher than nonaspirants on self-assurance, decisiveness, and need for dominance. Non-physical education students scored higher on need for dominance than did physical education students. Males were higher in need for autonomy and need for dominance, while females were higher in decisiveness.

Focused on physical education (PE), this study examined the association between teachers’ communication and students’ psychological needs, enjoyment/boredom, PE usefulness, and students’ grade perception. Participants were 1,000 students (572 girls; M _age = 14.58 ± 0.65) from 29 Spanish secondary schools. A path model including variables measured at three times was tested: teachers’ verbal/nonverbal communication (Time 1), needs satisfaction/frustration (Time 2), and PE outcomes (Time 3). Verbal communication positively predicted needs satisfaction, which, in turn, positively predicted enjoyment, PE usefulness, and students’ grade perception and negatively predicted boredom. Verbal communication negatively predicted needs frustration, which was a positive predictor of boredom. Multigroup analysis showed that gender did not moderate the associations in the path model, whereas mediating effects were found between teachers’ communication and consequences via students’ psychological needs. Teachers should improve their communicative capacities to satisfy students’ psychological needs and promote positive PE  outcomes.

The sport team social environment plays an important role in athletes’ experiences, including their enjoyment of sport, and these experiences may influence athletes’ decision to continue or dropout of sport. In the current study, enjoyment was examined as a mediator of the relationship between social identity and sport dropout. Adolescent girls (N = 150) who participated on a community sports team completed a questionnaire assessing social identity with their team and enjoyment of sport, and their sport participation status was measured 1 year later. Controlling for age and socioeconomic position, a path model showed that enjoyment mediated the relationship between social identity and sport dropout, bootstrapped unstandardized indirect effect = −0.04, 95% confidence interval [−0.08, −0.01]; p < .01. Fostering social identity with one’s sport team may contribute to greater enjoyment of sport and reductions in sport dropout in adolescent girls.