Sports research in the field of social science has shown that regular physical activity leads to wellbeing and positively affects the quality of life. A natural part of being an athlete is learning the functions of the human body, and what’s harmful and destructive, such as drugs (RF 1995). Doping is a constant problem in professional sport. Doping and manipulation of medical preparations in order to maximise performance is one of modern sport’s major problems, according to Blom and Lindroth (1995). I thought it would be interesting to see what the next generation of athletes thinks of doping. The purpose of this survey is to investigate the views on doping among adolescent athletes in ages 15-19. What do they think of it? Are they for or against it? Do they believe that doping is commonly used in elite competition? Would they consider using these substances themselves, if they were legalised? The selection of participants is 130 adolescents in ages 15-19. (83 boys, 47 girls.) All respondents are students at upper secondary sports schools, competing in the following events: Alpine sports, soccer, track and field, ice hockey, biathlon, and cross-country skiing. The foundation “Ren Idrott” has conducted a survey showing that as many as 86,3 percent of the respondents in ages 15-21 believe that doping is commonly or very commonly used in elite sports (RF 2005). The notion that using enhancements is necessary to become world champion did not have much support in this survey. Only 4 % stated that they would use preparations if it guaranteed them the world champion title. A whole 73% believed it would be easy to obtain preparations if one wanted to. Their primary reason to refuse preparationwas the risk of physical injury. A majority of the respondents felt that it is everyone’s individual choice whether to use them.All respondents considered doping in sports unacceptable. 11% of the respondents would however consider using preparations if they were legalised.

<p>Sports research in the field of social science has shown that regular physical activity leads to wellbeing and positively affects the quality of life. A natural part of being an athlete is learning the functions of the human body, and what’s harmful and destructive, such as drugs (RF 1995). Doping is a constant problem in professional sport. Doping and manipulation of medical preparations in order to maximise performance is one of modern sport’s major problems, according to Blom and Lindroth (1995).</p><p>I thought it would be interesting to see what the next generation of athletes thinks of doping. The purpose of this survey is to investigate the views on doping among adolescent athletes in ages 15-19. What do they think of it? Are they for or against it? Do they believe that doping is commonly used in elite competition? Would they consider using these substances themselves, if they were legalised?</p><p>The selection of participants is 130 adolescents in ages 15-19. (83 boys, 47 girls.) All respondents are students at upper secondary sports schools, competing in the following events: Alpine sports, soccer, track and field, ice hockey, biathlon, and cross-country skiing.</p><p>The foundation “Ren Idrott” has conducted a survey showing that as many as 86,3 percent of the respondents in ages 15-21 believe that doping is commonly or very commonly used in elite sports (RF 2005). The notion that using enhancements is necessary to become world champion did not have much support in this survey. Only 4 % stated that they would use preparations if it guaranteed them the world champion title. A whole 73% believed it would be easy to obtain preparations if one wanted to. Their primary reason to refuse preparationwas the risk of physical injury. A majority of the respondents felt that it is everyone’s individual choice whether to use them.All respondents considered doping in sports unacceptable. 11% of the respondents would however consider using preparations if they were legalised.</p>

Syftet (även kallat huvudtema i kategoriprofilen) med studien var primärt att (1) undersöka vilkeninställning idrottande ungdomar har till begreppet mental styrka. Sekundärt syfte som förs upp tilldiskussion var att (2) skapa en förståelse om hur de tränar och upprätthåller sin mentala styrka samt(3) vilka faktorer under träning och tävling som deltagarna anser är viktiga för att utveckla ochupprätthålla mental styrka. I studien deltog tio idrottande ungdomar (m= 16,24), 6 män och 4kvinnor inom både lag och individuella idrotter. En egen utformad semi- strukturerad intervjuguideanvändes, utvecklad med teoretiskt stöd från Jones et al., (2007) och Gucciardi et el., (2009).Resultaten i studien visade att deltagarnas inställning och kunskap om begreppet mental styrkavarierade. De flesta deltagarna hade en positiv inställning och ansåg att det var en viktig faktor i deflesta situationer inom deras idrott. Vidare visade resultaten att ungdomarna fick för liteundervisning och fokus på mentala faktorer från både skola och tränare. Såväl praktiskaimplikationer av resultat som förslag på vidare forskning inom området ges.