Decision-making style among adolescents: relationship with sensation seeking and locus of control

What Affects the Value of Our Time? The Case of Buying a Present vs. Buying for Ourselves and the Impact of Decision-Making Styles

We study how the buying purpose affects the trade-off between time and money. We consider the case of buying something for ourselves versus buying a gift and the decision whether to spend time traveling to a cheaper store to save money. We hypothesized that when purchasing a gift, people make less effort to save money, and therefore will be less willing to spend time traveling to a cheaper store when they buy a gift. In experiments with several scenarios, we fail to find support for this hypothesis. We also explore the impact of telling subjects that the purchase is made abroad. This is hypothesized to increase the valuation of the buyer's time. We also hypothesize that the interaction of being abroad and buying a gift will be negative. The data support both hypotheses. Subjects answered 15 questions about their decision-making style (rational, intuitive, and spontaneous). Subjects with more rational decision-making exhibit lower time value, which is likely to be closer to the real one. Subjects with more rational decision-making also show more strongly that time abroad is more valuable. These results suggest that questions about decision-making style are correlated with decision-making in scenarios of realistic purchase decisions.

Getting even: chasing behavior, decision-making, and craving in habitual gamblers

BACKGROUND

Dysfunctional decision-making and intense craving represent pivotal aspects across all addictive behaviors, notably evident in gambling addiction where these factors significantly shape chasing behavior-continuing gambling to recoup losses-indicative of problematic gambling. This study explores the correlation between chasing behavior, craving, affective decision-making, decision-making styles, and gambling severity among habitual Italian gamblers.

METHODS

One hundred and sixty-six participants from diverse gambling venues completed assessments including the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the General Decision-Making Style (GDMS), the Gambling Craving Scale (GACS), and a computerized task to measure chasing behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to Control and Loss chasing conditions.

RESULTS

Regression analyses revealed craving as a predictor of chasing behavior. Interestingly, individuals with a dependent decision-making style exhibited lower tendencies to chase. While IGT performance correlates with chasing frequency, it is not associated with the decision to continue or cease gambling. Intriguingly, gambling severity (SOGS total score) did not feature in the final models of both regression analyses.

DISCUSSION

These findings emphasize the significant role of craving in driving chasing behavior. Additionally, this study introduces, for the first time, the idea that a dependent decision-making style could potentially serve as a safeguard against chasing proneness.

CONCLUSIONS

The study suggests a fundamental dichotomy between chasers and nonchasers among gamblers, irrespective of gambling severity. This distinction could be instrumental in tailoring more effective intervention strategies for gambling disorder treatment.

Comparison of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, decision-making, and attention control in individuals with sex addiction and normal people

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Sexual addiction as a neglected disorder requires investigation and exploration as it affects various aspects of individual's personal and social lives. Therefore, the current research purpose was to examine the afflicted individuals from the standpoints of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, decision-making styles, and the function of attention.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The research population of this study included all students of Isfahan University during the academic year January 2020 to February 2021, and after the screening, a total of 200 individuals were selected as a research sample and divided into two groups: the group with sexual addiction and the healthy group. Subsequently, both groups completed questionnaires related to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Questionnaire (MHNQ), General Decision-Making Style Questionnaire, and Attention Control Scale (ACS).

FINDINGS

The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed significant differences between two groups, normal and abnormal, in the needs for safety and the need for respect from Maslow's hierarchy of needs, decision-making styles (intuitive, dependent, and spontaneous), and the focus maintenance of attention in attentional functioning (P < 0/001). The variables of physiological needs, belongingness, and self-actualization in Maslow groups, normal and abnormal, decision-making styles, and the subscale of attention switching in attentional functioning did not show any significant difference in the two groups.

CONCLUSION

Overall, it appears that fixing (stabilization) in one category and returning (regression) in the stages of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, attention deficits including excessive or hyper-focused attention, malfunctioning in the decision-making process, and an impulsive, desire-driven approach, may significantly account for the difference observed between the two groups in these variables.

Profiles of Decision-Making and Suicidal Behaviors

OBJECTIVE

Deficits in decision-making (DM) are a significant risk factor for suicidal behaviors. However, specific patterns of DM aspects have rarely been examined. This study examined the profiles of DM and their relationship with suicide ideation and attempts.

METHODS

A total of 175 young adults participated in an online survey and the Cambridge Gambling Task between October and November 2021.

RESULTS

Based on the latent profile analysis with four aspects of DM-risk DM, risk adjustment, DM speed, and delay-discounting-as indicators, three profiles were identified: (1) no deficit class, (2) high risk DM class, and (3) slow DM speed class. Higher use of an avoidant and dependent DM styles was associated with a greater likelihood of being in the slow DM speed class. Younger age and psychache was associated with a greater likelihood of being in the high risk DM class. The rates of lifetime suicide ideation (i.e., wish for death, suicide intent, and suicide plan) and lifetime suicide attempt were higher in the high risk DM class than in the no deficit class. The rate of lifetime wish for death was higher in the slow DM speed class than in the no deficit class.

CONCLUSIONS

Suicide prevention may benefit from addressing DM, which is characterized by high risk and slow speed.

Decision-Making Styles as a Moderator on the Efficacy of the StaySafe Tablet Intervention

Background: People with substance use disorders often differ in their decision-making styles. The present study addressed the impact of two decision-making styles (rational and dependent) on outcomes from a StaySafe tablet computer app intervention designed to improve decision-making around health risk behaviors and previously found to be effective for justice-involved people receiving treatment for a substance use disorder and under community supervision. Objectives: Participants were justice-involved residents in residential treatment. After completing a baseline survey, participants were randomly assigned to either complete the StaySafe app or to a standard procedure condition; and then asked to complete a post-intervention survey three months after baseline (this protocol has been registered with clinicaltrials.gov NCT02777086): 348 participants completed a baseline survey and 238 completed the post-test survey. Outcomes included measures of confidence and motivation around HIV knowledge and risks and getting tested. Multilevel analyses addressed the hypothesis that outcomes were related to decision-making style. Multiple imputation (MI) was used to address the effects of missing data. Results: StaySafe was more effective for those in the lower half of the decision-making dependent scale for HIV risks (HIV-Knowledge, Hepatitis testing, HIV Services testing, and Sex Risk, as well as motivation for treatment. The decision-making rational scale was less consistently related to HIV risk. Conclusions: The present study showed individuals with substance use disorders who differed in their decision-making styles reacted differently to the StaySafe intervention. Two scales, rational decision making, and dependent decision making are relevant to consider with respect to interventions targeting improving decision making among drug users.

Speech-language pathologists' counselor self-efficacy

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study was to measure and determine the factors that influence counseling self-efficacy in speech-language pathologists.

METHODS

Data was collected through an anonymous 95-question web-based survey. Five hundred and twenty-seven completed responses were received.

RESULTS

The results indicated that participants in the study were confident in their counseling abilities and skills; however, lesser confidence in skills related to personal adjustment counseling were observed. Further, emotional intelligence, internal locus of control, counseling training, and years of experience were positively related to counseling self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS

Speech-language pathologists may increase their counseling self-efficacy through increased training opportunities and experiences, development of greater emotional intelligence, and by having an internal locus of control.

Automatic Decision-Making Style Recognition Method Using Kinect Technology

In recent years, somatosensory interaction technology, represented by Microsoft's Kinect hardware platform, has been widely used in various fields, such as entertainment, education, and medicine. Kinect technology can easily capture and record behavioral data, which provides new opportunities for behavioral and psychological correlation analysis research. In this paper, an automatic decision-style recognition method is proposed. Experiments involving 240 subjects were conducted to obtain face data and individual decision-making style score. The face data was obtained using the Kinect camera, and the decision-style score were obtained via a questionnaire. To realize automatic recognition of an individual decision-making style, machine learning was employed to establish the mapping relationship between the face data and a scaled evaluation of the decision-making style score. This study adopts a variety of classical machine learning algorithms, including Linear regression, Support vector machine regression, Ridge regression, and Bayesian ridge regression. The experimental results show that the linear regression model returns the best results. The correlation coefficient between the linear regression model evaluation results and the scale evaluation results was 0.6, which represents a medium and higher correlation. The results verify the feasibility of automatic decision-making style recognition method based on facial analysis.

Impacts of Visualizations on Decoy Effects

The decoy effect is a well-known, intriguing decision-making bias that is often exploited by marketing practitioners to steer consumers towards a desired purchase outcome. It demonstrates that an inclusion of an alternative in the choice set can alter one’s preference among the other choices. Although this decoy effect has been universally observed in the real world and also studied by many economists and psychologists, little is known about how to mitigate the decoy effect and help consumers make informed decisions. In this study, we conducted two experiments: a quantitative experiment with crowdsourcing and a qualitative interview study—first, the crowdsourcing experiment to see if visual interfaces can help alleviate this cognitive bias. Four types of visualizations, one-sided bar chart, two-sided bar charts, scatterplots, and parallel-coordinate plots, were evaluated with four different types of scenarios. The results demonstrated that the two types of bar charts were effective in decreasing the decoy effect. Second, we conducted a semi-structured interview to gain a deeper understanding of the decision-making strategies while making a choice. We believe that the results have an implication on showing how visualizations can have an impact on the decision-making process in our everyday life.

Moderator role of old and new Y generation differences in the effect of perceptions of self-efficiency on decision-making strategies

Purpose

There has been a rapid generational change in the business world in Turkey recently, and X generation managers are rapidly leaving their place to Y generation managers. In countries with relatively young populations such as Turkey, management in family businesses passes into the hands of Generation Y. This study aims to examine the moderator role of the difference between old and new generation Y in the effect of self-efficacy perceptions on decision-making strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

This research, which was designed according to the quantitative research method, was designed according to the cross-sectional survey model, one of the general survey models. The research data were collected from a sample of 441 family business managers determined according to the simple random sampling technique. The data were analyzed and interpreted with various statistical techniques. Data analysis was done with AMOS. 20 and International Business Machines statistical package for the social sciences 22 data analysis programs.

Findings

According to the analysis findings, there is a significant relationship between the participants’ self-efficacy perceptions and decision-making strategies. Research findings old and new generation Y managers have different decision strategies. The research results showed that the dominant self-efficacy perceptions of the Y generation affect their decision-making strategies.

Research limitations/implications

This research only examines whether the old and new generation Y perceptions have a moderator function in the relationship between the participants’ self-efficacy perceptions and decision-making strategies. The research is quantitative research limited to family businesses. The results can be compared by repeating the research with other variables and in different samples, for example, by researching in public institutions. In addition, the way of reflecting the differences in perception to the management can be subjected to deeper analysis with mixed studies.

Practical implications

One of the important reasons for the difference in people’s approaches to events is their personality structure. Generational differences, which have been discussed primarily in recent years, make themselves felt in working life. The new working models arising from the different perspectives of the Y generation differ from the traditional business models. Today, in traditional business models, the manager profile is usually the X generation. However, the process is moving toward gaining essential positions in the management levels of the new Y generation. They put traditional managers in a difficult situation with their impatient behavior and desire to climb the career ladder quickly.

Social implications

In the studies conducted on the Y generation, it is understood that they do not favor the classical management approach based on the command-command relationship. The sense of loyalty of the Y generation is low compared to other generations and their organizational commitment levels are weak. There are determinations that they attach importance to flexible working style and want to do business using digital technologies. They are highly motivated in setting vision and participating in strategic decisions in organizations. These features differ significantly from the X-generation managers who adopt the traditional management approach.

Originality/value

Both emotional and cognitive characteristics influence decision-making behavior. The generation gap which shows common personality structures in a certain period is an important predictor of decision-making strategy. Research results and related studies significantly affect the decision strategies of the generation gap. No research has been found comparing the old and new Y generations. In this respect, it is thought that the research will contribute to theory, practice and method.

Birth order revelations about managers

Purpose

This paper aims to reveal the effects of birth order in decision-making style, conflict handling style and propensity for participative decision-making. The intention is to open the perspective of birth order research in organizational studies, as an important individual difference of managers.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted with 230 managers from different industries in Kosovo. Self-report measures were used for decision-making style, conflict handling style and participatory decision-making constructs.

Findings

Results indicate that only children are more avoidant and spontaneous decision-makers. Firstborns are rational in decision-making and prefer problem-solving in conflict handling. Middleborns are intuitive decision-makers and use compromising in conflict handling. Lastborns make decisions rationally and use both compromising and problem-solving in conflicting situations. In addition, lastborns appeared to have a more positive attitude toward participative decision-making, followed by middleborns, firstborns and only children.

Research limitations/implications

Birth order affects managers’ behaviors in decision-making and conflict situations. Relationship dynamics in sibships are reflected in organizational settings, affecting how people behave in decision-making and conflict handling.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to attest how birth order influences the ways managers make decisions, handle conflicts and involve others in decision-making. As birth order cannot be changed, such knowledge is critical.

Decision-Making Skills: An Assessment among Adolescents in Surat City

Introduction:

This study assessed the process of decision-making among adolescents and the factors affecting it and also explored the styles of decision-making among adolescents.

Methodology:

A cross-sectional study using purposive sampling was carried out involving 1177 college-going students aged between 17 and 19 years. General Decision-Making Style (GDMS) and semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed with the help of SPSS and AMOS. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were run.

Results:

Good decision-making process was seen among 76.9% of the students. Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin verified that sampling adequacy was 0.8. Scree plot and Monte Carlo parallel analysis were suggestive of four factors which were logically intuitive, avoidant, dependent, and spontaneous styles of making decisions. Cronbach's alpha was 0.7 for GDMS. Staying arrangement, paternal education, fantasy scale score, perspective-taking score, personal distress score, problem-solving, self-esteem, creative thinking, and coping with stress were found statistically significant with decision-making process. While, on confirmatory factor analysis, a five-factor model was found to be fit with minimum discrepancy/degrees of freedom value of 2.68, root mean square error of approximation: 0.038, Comparative Fit Index (CFI): 0.927, Normed Fit Index (NFI): 0.890, parsimony CFI: 0.66, and parsimony NFI: 0.634. A high correlation was observed between rational and intuitive styles.

Conclusion:

The process of decision-making was found to be good, but styles of making decisions were overlapping

What's Happened to Italian Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Preliminary Study on Symptoms, Problematic Social Media Usage, and Attachment: Relationships and Differences With Pre-pandemic Peers

Italian adolescents were confined at home for 3 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed them to feelings of fear, uncertainty, and loneliness that may have increased their vulnerability to emotional-behavioral symptoms (e.g., anxiety) and binge-eating attitudes. Potential risk factors for these psychopathological symptoms are problematic social media usage and attachment insecurity. Therefore, this study aimed: (1) to assess emotional-behavioral symptoms, binge eating, problematic social media usage, and attachment representations of adolescents during the pandemic, comparing them with prepandemic similar samples; (2) to investigate relationships among variables, exploring the role of problematic social media usage and insecure attachment as risk factors for more psychopathological symptoms. Participants were 62 community adolescents aged 12-17 years, enrolled through schools, and assessed online through the following measures: Youth Self-Report for emotional-behavioral problems, Binge-Eating Scale for binge eating, Social Media Disorder Scale for problematic social media usage, and the Friends and Family Interview for attachment. The main results were: (1) 9.4% of adolescents showed clinical rates of emotional-behavioral symptoms and 4.8% of binge eating attitudes. The comparison with pre-pandemic samples revealed that pandemic teenagers showed lower internalizing, but higher other problems (e.g., binge drinking, self-destructive behaviors) and more problematic social media usage than pre-pandemic peers. No differences in binge-eating attitudes and attachment were revealed (76% secure classifications). (2) Problematic social media usage was related to more binge eating and emotional-behavioral problems, predicting 5.4% of both delinquent and attention problems. Attachment disorganization predicted 16.5% of internalizing problems, somatic complaints, and social and identity-related problems. In conclusion, confinement did not increase adolescents' internalizing symptoms -i.e., vulnerability to mood disorders of an anxious-depressive type- which even decreased. However, teenagers may have expressed their discomfort through other problems and symptoms of social media disorder. Further studies should explore the role of adolescents' problematic social media usage and attachment insecurity as risk factors for additional psychopathological symptoms.

Personality traits, emotional intelligence and decision-making styles in Lebanese universities medical students

Background

This study aims to assess the impact of personality traits on emotional intelligence (EI) and decision-making among medical students in Lebanese Universities and to evaluate the potential mediating role-played by emotional intelligence between personality traits and decision-making styles in this population.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted between June and December 2019 on 296 general medicine students.

Results

Higher extroversion was associated with lower rational decision-making style, whereas higher agreeableness and conscientiousness were significantly associated with a higher rational decision-making style. More extroversion and openness to experience were significantly associated with a higher intuitive style, whereas higher agreeableness and conscientiousness were significantly associated with lower intuitive style. More agreeableness and conscientiousness were significantly associated with a higher dependent decision-making style, whereas more openness to experience was significantly associated with less dependent decision-making style. More agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism were significantly associated with less spontaneous decision-making style. None of the personality traits was significantly associated with the avoidant decision-making style. Emotional intelligence seemed to fully mediate the association between conscientiousness and intuitive decision-making style by 38% and partially mediate the association between extroversion and openness to experience with intuitive decision-making style by 49.82 and 57.93% respectively.

Conclusion

Our study suggests an association between personality traits and decision-making styles. The results suggest that EI showed a significant positive effect on intuitive decision-making style and a negative effect on avoidant and dependent decision-making styles. Additionally, our study underlined the role of emotional intelligence as a mediator factor between personality traits (namely conscientiousness, openness, and extroversion) and decision-making styles.

Decision-making styles in the context of colorectal cancer screening

BACKGROUND

Our study examined the use of decision-making styles, as identified by Scott and Bruce (1995) (i.e. differentiating between a rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous decision-making style), within the context of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening participation. In the field of cancer screening, informed decision-making is considered important, which follows the Rational Decision model. Subsequently, gaining more insight into decision-making styles being used in real life, could improve support to people when making their screening decision. In addition, we examined whether the decision-making style that people used was associated with their experienced decisional conflict.

METHODS

An online survey was carried out among a sample of first-time CRC screening invitees (1282 respondents, response rate 49%). We assessed people's decision-making styles, CRC screening participation, education level, self-reported health literacy, and decisional conflict, and examined the possible associations between them.

RESULTS

In our study, people who had to decide about CRC screening scored high on using both a rational and intuitive decision-making style. Respondents scoring higher on using a spontaneous or dependent decision-making style were more likely to have participated in CRC screening, while respondents scoring higher on using an avoidant decision-making style were more likely not to have participated in CRC screening. However, differences were small. Generally, people in our study experienced low decisional conflict.

CONCLUSION

Our eligible CRC screening population scored high on using both a rational and intuitive decision-making style. To optimise support to people, public education materials could be appealing more to the intuitive processes at hand. That being said, the current education materials aimed at informed/rational decision-making do not necessarily seem to create a problem, as people generally experienced low decisional conflict. Possible concerns regarding the use of a spontaneous, dependent or avoidant decision-making style could be that these styles might be contributing to less informed decisions. However, it is relevant to consider that the found differences are small and that any possible concern applies to a relatively small group of people.

The relationship between management strategies for menopausal symptoms and women's decision making styles during menopausal transition

Introduction

Considering the importance of identifying the factors affecting women’s decision making process about the management of menopausal symptoms, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relation between decision making styles and women’s chosen options for management of menopausal symptoms.

Material and methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2016 to July 2018 in Gonabad, north east of Iran.Using the cluster sampling method 473 women between 45 and 60 years old were recruited to the study. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, a menopause symptom treatment options questionnaire, the Menopause Rating Scale and the Decision Making Styles Questionnaire. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS software version 16 as well as descriptive and analytical statistics; a p-value of< 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Results

The mean age of participants was 51.6 ±4.6 years old and the majority of them (85.5%) were housewives. The most popular menopause symptom treatment option was hormone replacement therapy. The majority of participants (45.4%, 228 people) used an avoidant decision making style. There was no statistically significant difference between menopausal symptom treatment options and decision making styles type(p = 0.525). There was a statistically significant difference between severity of menopausal symptoms and type of decision making style (p = 0.003).

Conclusions

The findings showed that there was no significant relation between the selected method to manage menopausal symptoms and women’s decision making styles. It is recommended that this study be conducted on a population that has greater access to all menopausal symptom treatment options.

Spanish validation of General Decision-Making Style scale: Sex invariance, sex differences and relationships with personality and coping styles

The General Decision-Making Styles (GDMS) scale measures five decision-making styles: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous. GDMS has been related to coping and some personality factors and sex-differences has been described. In spite of its usefulness, there is not a validated Spanish translation. The aim of this study is to translate to Spanish and provide psychometric evidence considering sex differences and the relationships between GDMS, personality and coping variables. Two samples were used for this study; the first sample composed by 300 participants who completed the GDMS and the Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI), and the second sample of 361 participants who completed the GDMS, the Ten Item Personality Trait Inventory and the brief COPE scales. Participants from second sample filled in GDMS a second time (137 participants) after eight weeks from the first data collection. Confirmatory factor analyses showed a five-factor composition of GDMS with equivalence across sex using invariance analyses. Moreover, GDMS showed acceptable internal consistency and temporal stability. Finally, rational and intuitive styles were related to healthier coping patterns and emotional stability, while dependent, avoidant and spontaneous styles were associated with unhealthy coping patterns and emotional instability.

Variations in Decision-Making Profiles by Age and Gender: A Cluster-Analytic Approach

Using cluster-analysis, we investigated whether rational, intuitive, spontaneous, dependent, and avoidant styles of decision making (Scott & Bruce, 1995) combined to form distinct decision-making profiles that differed by age and gender. Self-report survey data were collected from 1,075 members of RAND's American Life Panel (56.2% female, 18-93 years, Mage = 53.49). Three decision-making profiles were identified: affective/experiential, independent/self-controlled, and an interpersonally-oriented dependent profile. Older people were less likely to be in the affective/experiential profile and more likely to be in the independent/self-controlled profile. Women were less likely to be in the affective/experiential profile and more likely to be in the interpersonally-oriented dependent profile. Interpersonally-oriented profiles are discussed as an overlooked but important dimension of how people make important decisions.

Adapting Scott and Bruce's General Decision-Making Style Inventory to Patient Decision Making in Provider Choice

OBJECTIVE

Research testing the concept of decision-making styles in specific contexts such as health care-related choices is missing. Therefore, we examine the contextuality of Scott and Bruce's (1995) General Decision-Making Style Inventory with respect to patient choice situations.

METHODS

Scott and Bruce's scale was adapted for use as a patient decision-making style inventory. In total, 388 German patients who underwent elective joint surgery responded to a questionnaire about their provider choice. Confirmatory factor analyses within 2 independent samples assessed factorial structure, reliability, and validity of the scale.

RESULTS

The final 4-dimensional, 13-item patient decision-making style inventory showed satisfactory psychometric properties. Data analyses supported reliability and construct validity. Besides the intuitive, dependent, and avoidant style, a new subdimension, called "comparative" decision-making style, emerged that originated from the rational dimension of the general model.

CONCLUSIONS

This research provides evidence for the contextuality of decision-making style to specific choice situations. Using a limited set of indicators, this report proposes the patient decision-making style inventory as valid and feasible tool to assess patients' decision propensities.

Decision-making styles and their associations with decision-making competencies and mental health

This study investigates the psychometric characteristics of the General Decision-Making Scale (GDMS) on a sample of Slovak high-school and university students. Secondly, it addresses the relationship between decision-making styles and a) decision making competencies and b) mental health as validity criteria. Participants were 427 Slovak high school and university students (64.6% females). The GDMS showed a good internal consistency and its original factor structure was confirmed. Low but significant relationships between the decision-making styles were found. Two decision-making styles served as significant predictors of the general decision-making competency (avoidant and spontaneous) and another two were found to predict mental health. The intuitive decision-making style was a protective factor and the avoidant style was a risk factor.

Beliefs about the causes of success in sports and susceptibility for doping use in adolescent athletes

The present study set out to assess the impact of attributional beliefs about success on the susceptibility for doping use in adolescent athletes. The sample consisted of 309 adolescent athletes participating in both team and individual sports. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires including Beliefs about the Causes of Success in Sport Questionnaire (BACSSQ), current and past doping use, and measures of attitudes, norms, situational temptation and social desirability. Variance reduction rate analysis revealed that social desirability did not act as a confounder in the relationship between doping susceptibility and its predictors. With regard to beliefs about the causes of success dimensions, only deception emerged as a significant predictor of doping use susceptibility over and above the effects of well-established social-cognitive predictors of doping intentions and use. These findings imply that beliefs about the causes of success in youth sports may comprise another dimension of risk factors for doping susceptibility and use.