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This research examines the efficacy of criminological theories for explaining variation in doping behavior in professional athletes. Self-report data were collected from a sample of 732 professional athletes from Iran. Regression models were estimated using theoretically informed measures to examine performance-enhancing drug (PED) usage. Results show that variables representing self-control theory, social learning theory, and control balance theory were statistically significant predictors of PED use and account for a sizable amount of variation in PED use. Findings suggest that criminological theory can contribute to our understanding of PED use by professional athletes, which suggests that sports regulators might benefit from examining the criminological and criminal justice literatures as they consider how to combat the sports doping crisis. The results also provide additional support for each of the theoretical traditions considered, demonstrating that these theories can be useful for examining noncriminal behavior (doping) and can be useful in non-Western contexts (Iran).

The use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) is one of the most important issues in the world of sports. At its very heart, this issue speaks to athletic integrity and competitive fairness. When athletes engage in doping, they are committing acts of deviance. The main purpose of this research, accordingly, is to explain why athletes use illegal PEDs. Specifically, we use Tittle’s control balance theory as a conceptual framework. A sample of 852 professional athletes from Iran was used to test assumptions related to control balance theory, and the findings of the study generally indicated that the components of control balance theory predicted athletes’ doping behavior. In addition, the moderating relationships of the control balance model indicated that the relationship between the control deficit and PED use was moderated by the variance in self-control, opportunity, motivation, constraint, perceived benefits, and provocations. Specific results, policy implications, and study limitations are discussed.

Studies of antisocial behavior in sports are important, although most lack a theoretical framework. The current study examines the endorsement of antisocial behavior in a sample of coaches using social learning theory. This features a survey of 268 Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches in the Tehran Provincial League, Iran. Results indicate that differential association, differential reinforcement, definitions, and imitation have a significant impact on antisocial behavior, with differential association being the most influential construct. Higher education in coaches was associated with lower levels of antisocial behavior. This suggests that antisocial coaching behavior is learned in a similar manner to prosocial behaviors, and that desistance requires assessment of the learning process.

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Objective This study investigates the social factors affecting playing through pain and injury of professional athletes, using Akers’s social learning theory (SLT). Methods Propositions of SLT were examined using a sample of 784 athletes from Rasht and Bandar Anzali in Iran. Results Findings from structural equation modeling indicated that the social learning components (i.e., differential association, differential reinforcement, imitations, and definitions) predicted 33 percent of the variance in athletes’ playing through pain and injury. Conclusion This study demonstrates that athletes’ playing through pain and injury is determined by the social setting in which the athlete plays, through his or her interactions with other sports culture members, the internalization of desirable definitions, imitation of others, and the assessment of personal and social benefits.

Although there exists a growing amount of empirical literature documenting the correlates of cyberstalking victimization, research has yet to elaborate on the potential mechanisms that can explain the risk for cyberstalking victimization. We proposed an integrated theory, which combined low self-control, control deficit, peers’ online deviant behavior, and online deviant lifestyles based on previous research. We tested this integrated theory specifically for cyberstalking victimization using original data from a sample of 408 Iranian college women. Relying on structural equation modeling, we found that low self-control and peers’ online deviant behaviors were significantly associated with cyberstalking victimization not only directly but also indirectly via online deviant lifestyles. Overall, our findings yielded strong support for the integrated model to explain cyberstalking victimization.

The prevalence of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use at different levels of professional sport has become an important social issue, particularly when considering recent high-profile incidents from professional sports and the Olympics. Due to the myriad of individual, team, and sociopolitical consequences that can stem from PED use, it becomes critical to study the etiology of PED involvement among athletes regarding this deviant behavior. Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime is one such theory that may aid in explaining this phenomenon. As such, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between effective parenting, self-control, and athletes’ use of banned PEDs. Survey data from 784 professional athletes in Iran were collected, and the findings indicated that ineffective parenting, low self-control capacity, and self-control desire had significant effects on PED use. In addition, moderation effects and gender analyses were examined. Specific findings, policy implications, and study limitations are discussed.