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This study investigated psychosocial processes associated with avoidance of health- and morality-based deterrents to performance-enhancing drug (PED) use. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 64 English male bodybuilders with experience of doping. Resultant data were content analysed deductively using definitions for the eight mechanisms of moral disengagement (MD; Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development: Theory research and applications (pp. 71-129). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.), and three further themes from Boardley and Grix (2013. Doping in bodybuilders: A qualitative investigation of facilitative psychosocial processes. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health. Advance online publication, doi 10.1080/2159676X.2013.766809). These analyses evidenced six MD mechanisms, and all three of the themes from Boardley and Grix (2013. Doping in bodybuilders: A qualitative investigation of facilitative psychosocial processes. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health. Advance online publication). Subsequent frequency analyses revealed six of the eight MD mechanisms, and two of the three additional themes, were common across the sample. Overall, the findings suggest MD may help athletes circumvent health- and morality-based deterrents to doping, describe a process linking supplement and PED use and detail how some athletes may actively avoid social censure for doping by only discussing PED use with other PED users from within their training environment.

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In the present study we examined the relationships between task involvement and a range of emotions and whether these associations were mediated by perceived performance. Also, we assessed whether the relationships between ego involvement and emotions were moderated by perceived performance and outcome of the match. After a competitive match, team sport athletes (N ϭ 358) completed a multisection questionnaire measuring task and ego involvement, perceived performance, outcome of the match, happiness, pride, hope, dejection, and shame. Results showed that task involvement was related to happiness, pride, and hope positively and dejection and shame negatively, and these relationships were mediated by perceived performance. Perceived performance moderated the relationships between ego involvement and hope, dejection, and shame, whereas outcome of the match moderated the relationships between ego involvement and pride, hope, and dejection. These findings suggest that task involvement may influence emotions through perceived performance, whereas the relationship between ego involvement and emotions depends on perceptions of performance and match outcome.

The link between achievement goals and emotions has received much attention in the sport psychology literature. However, experimental studies are lacking. In this experiment, we investigated the effects of achievement goals on (a) emotions experienced before and after a competitive agility task and (b) perceived and actual agility performance. Male (n = 60) and female (n = 60) undergraduate students were assigned to a task, ego, or control group and following a practice session, they competed in a speed agility quickness ladder drill. Participants completed questionnaires measuring excitement and anxiety at prepractice and precompetition, happiness and dejection at postpractice and postcompetition, and perceived performance for practice and competition. Actual performance was also measured. ANCOVAs controlling for pre- and postpractice emotions and LSD comparisons showed that the ego group reported greater precompetition excitement than the task and control groups and higher precompetition anxiety than the task group. The task and ego groups also reported higher postcompetition perceived performance than the control group. The results suggest that ego involvement could influence excitement, and both achievement goals could affect perceived performance.