
Andrea Petróczi- PhD, PhD
- Professor at Kingston University
Andrea Petróczi
- PhD, PhD
- Professor at Kingston University
doping prevalence | Athlete Vulnerability | values-based education | sport integrity | participatory research
About
244
Publications
113,475
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6,335
Citations
Introduction
I am intrigued by complex problems which require multidisciplinary approaches and collaborations.
Grounded in psychology, I explore human behaviour of all kinds, combining quantitative and qualitative methods, fusing science and social science; and novel approaches.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
September 2021 - present
Position
- Professor
Description
- I am internationally recognised for my research in doping and anti-doping. Since 2017, I chair the WADA working group on Doping Prevalence. I am also Visiting Professor at KU Leuven (Belgium). I hold a Mercator Fellowship with University of Münster (Germany) and an adjunct position at ‘Foro Italico' University of Rome (Italy); and serve as an advisor for the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK. I am a founding member of the Clean Sport Alliance (CSA).
September 2017 - present
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
Position
- Chair of the Doping Prevalence Working Group
September 1993 - October 1995
Publications
Publications (244)
The provision of values-based education (VbE) for elite athletes, as required by WADA’s International Standard for Education, presents challenges which are related to the developmental stage of learners, delivery methods, content design, and resource availability. To address these challenges, we developed and piloted SPARK, a 90-minute, evidence-ba...
To date, most research amongst competitive bodybuilders has focused on highlighting the demands of competitive bodybuilding, competitors' emotional and behavioural responses to these demands, and the subsequent psychosocial outcomes, with limited attention to the process of coping. The current study aims to address this gap in the literature by pro...
The provision of values-based education (VbE) for elite athletes, as required by WADA’s International Standard for Education, presents challenges which are related to the developmental stage of learners, delivery methods, content design, and resource availability. To address these challenges, we developed and piloted SPARK, a 90-minute, evidence-ba...
The provision of values-based education (VbE) for elite athletes, as required by WADA’s International Standard for Education, presents challenges which are related to the developmental stage of learners, delivery methods, content design, and resource availability. To address these challenges, we developed and piloted SPARK, a 90-minute, evidence-ba...
Background: disordered eating (DE) and eating disorders (ED) can negatively impact athletes’ health, wellbeing, and athletic performance. Objective: this cross-sectional study aims to assess DE risk, body composition, and nutrition knowledge among elite Hungarian athletes. Methods: DE risk was assessed using DESA-6H and EAT-26 scales, nutrition kno...
Legitimacy is fundamental for the stability, trust, and effective functioning of organizations. Still, little is known about athletes’ perspectives about anti-doping (AD) policies. We aimed to address this gap by investigating a broader set of personal and contextual features connected to athletes’ perceived legitimacy of AD policies. The sample co...
The Extended Crosswise Model is a popular randomized response design that employs a sensitive and a randomized innocuous statement, and asks respondents if one of these statements is true, or that none or both are true. The model has a degree of freedom to test for response biases, but is unable to detect random answering. In this paper, we propose...
Objectives
The objectives of this study are to describe the prevalence of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) among athletes competing in four Olympic and four Paralympic games. The secondary objective was to present the prohibited substance and methods classes associated with TUEs.
Methods
Data from the Anti-Doping Administration and Management Sys...
In general, the presence and performance of women in science have increased significantly in recent decades. However, gender-related differences persist and remain a global phenomenon. Women make a greater contribution to multidisciplinary research, which renders anti-doping research a compelling area for investigating the gendered aspects of acade...
Values-based education seeks to cultivate personal responsibility,
empathy, and integrity to encourage critical reflection on the
(anticipated or actual) consequences of one’s choices and
behaviours. To comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s
International Standard for Education, anti-doping education
programmes must incorporate values-based com...
Background
To our knowledge, no previous systematic review and meta-analysis on doping prevalence in sport from Indirect Estimation Models (IEM) exists. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis complemented with a bibliometric analysis on empirical IEM-based studies of admitted doping prevalence in sport.
Methods
We conducted electronic...
The Extended Crosswise design is a randomized response design characterized by a sensitive and an innocuous question and two sub-samples with complementary randomization probabilities of the innocuous question. The response categories are ‘One’ with two different answers and ‘Two’ with two answers that are the same. Due to the complementary randomi...
Background
Although athletes seem to hold uniform views towards non-dopers, their perception of dopers is more nuanced, reflecting positive and negative attributes. Research also indicates that rarely a single factor can explain doping, but a host of reasons that intertwine. A holistic understanding of how values play a role in decisions in anti-do...
Studies investigating competitive bodybuilding have primarily done so from a pathologizing perspective, and have often considered aspects of the competitive bodybuilding lifestyle in isolation, therefore overlooking the broader motivations underlying individuals’ engagement in the sport. The current study addressed these limitations by using a meta...
Purpose of review: To investigate the prevalence and correlates of androgen dependence among users. A meta-analysis, meta-regression analysis, and qualitative synthesis were conducted based on a systematic literature search in Google Scholar, ISO Web of Science, PsycNET, and PubMed. Recent findings:
Twenty-six studies were included in the review a...
In the past decade, a body of evidence has reported that dietary supplement use is related to prohibited performance enhancing substance use (i.e., doping). To help international and national sport organisations understand the degree to which dietary supplement use is related to doping, the objectives of this systematic review and meta-analysis wer...
Rugby Union is a sport where physical attributes such as strength, speed and power, are highly desirable. To this end, there have been suggestions that rugby players might use doping substances to fulfil these said demands. The present study comprises interviews with thirteen doped recreational Welsh Rugby Union players. The study examined: (i) per...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fspor.2022.1017329.].
The Extended Crosswise Model (ECWM) is a randomized response model with neutral response categories, relatively simple instructions, and the availability of a goodness-of-fit test. This paper refines this model with a number sequence randomizer that virtually precludes the possibility to give evasive responses. The motivation for developing this mo...
Protecting clean sport, and the rights of athletes to a clean sport environment, is at the centre of anti-doping policies. To better support and enable clean athletes and sport, an understanding of the clean athlete lifeworld is required. The current study explored the ways that clean athletes are personally affected by others’ actual or suspected...
Background: Agents, race-organisers, and sponsors have a key influence in shaping
the world of elite professional distance running. Yet to date this important but hard-to reach stakeholder group has been omitted from the global research landscape of
doping and anti-doping. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the
literature and explo...
High levels of admitted doping use (43.6% and 57.1%) were reported for two international sport events in 2011 in Ulrich et al., 2018. Because these are frequently referenced in evaluating aspects of anti-doping, having high level of confidence in these estimates is paramount. In this study, we present new prevalence estimates from a concurrently ad...
Background
High levels of admitted doping use (43.6% and 57.1%) were reported for two international sport events in 2011. Because these are frequently referenced in evaluating aspects of anti-doping, having high level of confidence in these estimates is paramount.
Objectives
In this study, we present new prevalence estimates from a concurrently ad...
Hormonelle Stoerungen in der sportlichen Leute
BACKGROUND
The Lepidium meyenii plant also known as Peruvian Maca, originates from high altitudes in the Andes, it has a high nutritional content and is extensively used as an herbal supplement for conditions such as sexual dysfunction, semen quality and menopausal symptoms.
OBJECTIVE
This systematic review was conducted to assess the effects of M...
Background
Despite widespread reference to protecting ‘clean sport’ and the rights of ‘clean athletes’ in anti-doping, to date very little attention has been paid to athletes who are, in majority, committed to clean sport. Understanding elite athletes’ conceptions of ‘clean sport’ and integrity, the psychosocial factors related specifically to athl...
With the World Anti-Doping Agency's International Standard for Education (ISE) coming into effect in 2021, the clean-sport movement is at a pivotal stage. Through this conceptual paper we juxtapose the sector-wide anti-doping education as set out in the ISE on the decision-making process at the individual level. We discuss three critical issues for...
Bibliometrics, via the exploitation of large-scale publication data, is a facile approach to explore gender-related trends, especially gender equality in academic publishing and authorship. For the first time, this study aims to investigate the gender-related trends in anti-doping sciences to (1) explore the relational structure of gender aspects o...
This book, or perhaps anthology is a better description, collects most of the author’s re- search on doping during the last 25 years.
Background
: Patient-physician interactions involve complex interplays between patient and physician autonomy. This is intensified in stigmatised populations, such as anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) users. The current study investigated what factors influence clinical interactions between physicians and AAS users, thus providing a holistic unders...
The International Standard for Education (ISE) mandates Code Signatories to plan, deliver, and evaluate anti-doping education. Performance-based evaluation of anti-doping education requires alignment between educational goals, content, and defined outcomes. Based on an existentialist teaching and learning philosophy, we aimed to develop and test an...
Objectives
Anti-doping policies represent a group of regulations and procedures that are applied by anti-doping organizations in order to safeguard sports against doping. Evidence implies that, for anti-doping policies to be effective, they need to be endorsed by athletes. Still, there is scarce evidence on the process through which athletes decide...
Background: Although a precise percentage of athletes doping has remained elusive, evidence to date suggest that the majority of athletes are ‘clean’. Protecting clean sport, and the rights of athletes to a clean sport environment, is at the centre of anti-doping policies. To better support and enable clean athletes and sport, an understanding of t...
Education is a fundamental pillar of anti-doping. With the International Standard for Education (ISE) coming into effect in 2021, understanding the status quo of anti-doping education is paramount. This study aimed to evaluate young elite athletes’ perceptions of the anti-doping education they receive. A total of 2,232 athletes, participating at an...
Background
The prevalence of doping in competitive sport, and the methods for assessing prevalence, remain poorly understood. This reduces the ability of researchers, governments, and sporting organizations to determine the extent of doping behavior and the impacts of anti-doping strategies.
Objectives
The primary aim of this subject-wide systemat...
Background: Doping has been a prominent issue for the sport of athletics in recent years. The endurance disciplines, which currently account for 56% of the global anti-doping rule violations in athletics, appear to be particularly high risk for doping.
Objective: Using this high-risk, high-pressure context, the main purpose of this study was to inv...
Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) has gained increased attention in academia since 1997. However, like other “Exia” conditions, there is debate around its inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This study aimed to examine the experiences of those following a diet indicative of ON in the United Kingdom. This information is ess...
Tools for reliable assessment of socially sensitive or transgressive behavior warrant constant development. Among them, the Crosswise Model (CM) has gained considerable attention. We systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed empirical applications of CM and addressed a gap for quality assessment of indirect estimation models. Guided by the PRISMA p...
Little research exists on the lived experiences of female anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use from a harm reduction perspective. This study aims to address this gap and explore the experiences, perceptions, and perspectives of AAS-using females through their journeys of starting, using, and coming off AAS to facilitate appropriate public health p...
Doping is an omnipresent issue in both professional and amateur sports. Advances in social science research, including studies on doping attitude, have played a pivotal role in developing an understanding that prohibition and testing alone do not deter athletes from doping. Research on doping attitude has relied heavily on the Performance Enhanceme...
Doping violates the Spirit of Sport and is thought to contradict the values which underpin this spirit. Values-based education (VBE) has been cited as a key element for creating a clean sport culture across age groups. Culturally relevant VBE requires understanding of the values that motivate athletes from different countries to practice their spor...
PurposeOrthorexia Nervosa (ON) is defined as a pathological eating behaviour stemming from being “healthy” or “pure”. Survey-based studies typically rely on the ORTO-15 questionnaire or its variations to detect orthorexia. However, frequent post-hoc adjustments to the ORTO-15 suggest psychometric problems. In this study, we explored people’s cognit...
Doping is just one form of cheating in sport. To protect sporting integrity, all unethical behaviours must be treated equally, says Andrea Petróczi. Doping is just one form of cheating in sport. To protect sporting integrity, all unethical behaviours must be treated equally, says Andrea Petróczi.
Tools for reliable assessment of socially sensitive or transgressive behavior warrant constant development. Among them, the Crosswise Model (CM) has gained considerable attention. Therefore, we systematically reviewed and meta-analysed empirical applications of CM and addressed a gap for quality assessment of indirect estimation models. To our know...
Background
In sport the narrative is changing from anti-doping to pro-clean sport. Yet, our understanding of what ‘clean sport’ means to athletes is notably absent from the literature.
Objectives
Working together with elite athletes and National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs), this study explored the meaning and importance of ‘clean sport’ and...
Background
Doping in sport is a significant issue. To date, research informing doping prevention has lacked a framework guiding research priorities. To ensure research is coordinated, sustainable and focused on end-user priorities, this study co-created the first research agenda for doping prevention.
Methods
The Delphi method was used to develop...
The primary aim of this subject- wide systematic review was to collate and synthesize evidence on doping prevalence from published scientific papers. Secondary aims involved reviewing the reporting accuracy and data quality as evidence for doping behavior to (1) develop quality and bias assessment criteria to facilitate future systematic reviews; a...
To protect the integrity of sport and the health of athletes, global anti-doping programmes seek to prevent doping behaviours and elicit clean sport behaviours through education, deterrence, detection, enforcement and rules. To guide programme development, this meta-synthesis of qualitative research applied a behavioural science framework to identi...
Background: Doping is a significant issue in sport. To date, research efforts to inform doping prevention have lacked any guiding framework for research priorities. To ensure future research endeavors are coordinated, sustainable and focused on end-user priorities, a research agenda, informed by practical needs and expert knowledge, is needed. For...
In this study, we give voice to athletes and explore what ‘clean’ means for them in elite sport. Working together with elite athletes and National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) in five European countries, we investigated the meaning and importance of ‘clean sport’ and ‘clean athlete identity’ from the athletes’ perspectives. With athletes as co...
Research on doping attitude has relied heavily on the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS). Yet, to date, no systematic review and meta-analysis of the PEAS have been conducted. Thus, the purpose of this study is, for the first time, to cumulate evidence for the psychometric properties of PEAS; specifically to conduct a qualitative synthes...
Athletes, sponsors and sport organisations all have a vested interest in upholding the values of clean sport. Despite the considerable and concerted efforts of the global anti-doping system over two decades, the present system is imperfect. Capitalising upon consequent frustrations of athletes, event organisers and sponsors, alternative anti-doping...
Background
The creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999 and the first implementation of the Anti-Doping Code in 2004 established institutional and legal level legitimacy for the anti-doping movement. Subsequently, a distinct line of research examining athletes’ perceptions of anti-doping has emerged. This study aims to review the literature...
Background
To date, research on the dietary patterns of individuals with potential orthorexic symptoms is lacking. This cross‐sectional pilot study aimed to explore the feasibility of assessing dietary patterns with psychological traits and states of individuals with possible orthorexic tendencies.
Methods
Dietary intakes of 10 individuals (two ma...
In this paper we argue that whilst protecting clean sport is critically important to all stakeholders, alternative anti-doping protocols that put athletes in disadvantageous positions and/or pose risks to their professional and personal lives lack legitimation. We discuss the issues arising from naïve and inexpert use of anti-doping data and scient...
For seven weeks, 37 overweight adults followed a hypocaloric diet based on Orthodox Fasting (OF). A hypocaloric, time restricted eating (TRE) plan (eating between 08:00 to 16:00 h, water fasting from 16:00 to 08:00 h) was followed by 23 Body Mass Index (BMI)-matched participants. Anthropometric, glycaemic and inflammation markers and serum lipids w...
Despite efforts spanning two decades to control doping in sport, the problem persists with no real signs of abating. International opinion leaders in antidoping and Olympic sport were invited to discuss the future ideal of an elite sport system free from doping. The International Olympia Symposium “Becoming an Olympic Athlete without Doping,” was h...
Objectives:
Christian Orthodox fasting (COF), a periodical vegetarian subset of the Mediterranean diet, has been proven to exert beneficial effects on human health. Athonian fasting is a pescetarian COF variation, where red meat is strictly restricted throughout the year. Previous studies have examined the COF nutritional synthesis and health effe...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00717.].
Following the experiment that have been designed for immunological screening test followed by a GC-MS confirmation method for the simultaneous analysis of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (9-THC) , 11-nor-9-Carboxy-THC (THC-COOH), 11-Hydroxy-THC (OH-THC), cocaine, benzoylecgonine (BZ) in human hair and avoiding the significant factors responsible for d...
Objective
Christian Orthodox fasting (COF), a periodical vegetarian subset of the Mediterranean diet, has been proven to exert beneficial effects on human health. Athonian fasting is a pescetarian COF variation, where red meat is strictly restricted throughout the year. Previous studies have examined the COF nutritional synthesis and health impact...
Background
2,4-Dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) is an effective but highly dangerous fat burner, not licensed for human consumption. Death cases reported for 2,4-DNP overdose, particularly among young adults, have raised concerns about the ineffective regulatory control, lack of education and risks associated with impurity, and the unknown concentration of...
In clinical settings, nitrous oxide gas is a safe anesthetic used during childbirth, in dentistry, and to relieve anxiety in emergencies. Colloquially known as “hippy crack”’ or “laughing gas,” it is increasingly taken recreationally for its euphoric and relaxing effects and hallucinogenic properties. Using a self-reported survey, we gathered quant...
Background:
2,4-Dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) is a compound with multiple industrial purposes. Currently unlicensed for human consumption, it is used by the gym-going population for drastic, short-term body fat loss. Nonetheless, physiological mechanisms can lead to potentially fatal hyperthermia. Reported fatal incidents have caused concern and highlig...
Background:
Doping in sports compromises fair play and endangers health. To deter doping among elite athletes, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) oversees testing of several hundred thousand athletic blood and urine samples annually, of which 1-2% test positive. Measures using the Athlete Biological Passport suggest a higher mean prevalence of ab...
In vitro studies show that diclofenac inhibits enzymatic steroid glucuronidation. This study was designed to investigate the influence of diclofenac on the excretion of stanozolol and 3′-hydroxystanozolol via analyses in hair, blood and urine in vivo in a rat study. Brown Norway rats were administered with stanozolol (weeks 1–3) and diclofenac (wee...
In sport, a wide array of substances with established or putative performance-enhancing properties is used. Most substances are fully acceptable, whilst a defined set, revised annually, is prohibited; thus, using any of these prohibited substances is declared as cheating. In the increasingly tolerant culture of pharmacological and technical human e...
In vitro studies show that diclofenac inhibits enzymatic steroid glucuronidation. This study was designed to investigate the influence of diclofenac on the excretion of stanozolol and 3'-hydroxystanozolol via analyses in hair, blood and urine in vivo in a rat study. Brown Norway rats were administered with stanozolol (weeks 1-3) and diclofenac (wee...
Doping use in recreational sports is an emerging issue that has received limited attention so far in the psychological literature. The present study assessed the lifetime prevalence of controlled performance and appearance enhancing substances (PAES), and used behavioral reasoning theory to identify the reasons for using and for avoiding using cont...
Background/objectives:
Greek Orthodox fasting (OF), which involves 180-200 days of fasting per year, is dictated by the Christian Orthodox religion. For the first time, this cross-sectional study examines the characteristics and the effects of OF on anthropometry, cardiometabolic markers and calcium homeostasis in Athonian monks (AMs).
Subjects/m...
The non-medical use of prescription medication for the pursuit of increasing cognitive and intellectual capacities (defined neuroenhancement) has received growing attention from the scientific community and policymakers alike. To date, limited qualitative data exist exploring the nature of the phenomenon, especially as a potentially emerging trend...
Objectives: To examine athletes' implicit and explicit prototype perceptions of performance enhancing substance (PES) users and non-users. Design: A cross-sectional mixed-method study. Methods: Competitive athletes from 39 sports (N = 226; mean age = 27.66 ± 9.74 years; 59% male) completed four self-report questions and two Brief Implicit Associati...
This paper reports the results of a repeat trial assessing the effectiveness of an online theory-based intervention to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours in new university students. The original trial found that the intervention reduced the number of smokers at 6-month follow-up compared to the control condition, but had non-significant effects o...
Global challenges in food safety include a range of concerns: (i) persistent long-term issues such as heavy metals in seafood, (ii) emerging incidents such as a particular food contaminant (e.g. melamine), (iii) the apparent growth in food fraud, and (iv) the effectiveness of regulation and enforcement policies and their implementation across natio...
Background
2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) poses serious health-risks to humans. The aims of this three-stage multidisciplinary project were, for the first time, to assess the risks to the general public from fraudulent sale of or adulteration/contamination with DNP; and to investigate motives, reasons and risk-management among DNP-user bodybuilders and av...