Cognitive Correlations and Psychological Morbidities of Doping in Adolescent Athletes in Kermanshah, Iran

This study aimed to determine the relations between cognitive variables (self efficacy, locus ofcontrol, and dysfunctional attitudes) and psychological morbidities with using doping agents in adolescentathletes.methods: we conducted a case-control study in kermanshah among adolescent athletes using 50 athleticdrug users with reported use as a case group and 50 athletic nonusers and 50 nonathletic nonusers as controls thatwere matched on salient demographics. controls selected by a simple random sampling. they were then studiedby self-efficacy questionnaire, locus of control scale, dysfunctional attitude scale, and general healthquestionnaire. hypotheses tested by variance analysis and tukey’s test.results: our findings showed that athletic drug users had a lower self-efficacy, more dysfunctional attitudes,and exhibited external locus of control rather than control groups. they were also more sensitive topsychological morbidity. most of relations were statistically significant.conclusion: our findings were in accordance with the theoretical basis of cognitive psychology and they arecomparable to most of the similar studies.iranian journal of psychiatry and behavioral sciences (ijpbs), volume 3, number 1, spring and summer 2009: 38-43 .