Identification of Factors Associated with Potential Doping Behavior in Sports: A Cross-Sectional Analysis in High-Level Competitive Swimmers
Background: Doping behavior, including the misuse of performance-enhancing drugs, is currently a serious problem in sports, and the efficacy of preventive efforts directly depends on information regarding the associations among different precipitating factors (PF) and doping behavior. This study aimed to establish the PF of potential doping behavior (PDB) in competitive swimmers. Methods: The study included 301 swimmers from Slovenia (153 females, 16.4 ±
Toward Prevention of Doping in Youth Sport: Cross-Sectional Analysis of Correlates of Doping Tendency in Swimming.
Doping is recognized as one of the most important problems in sports, but a limited number of studies have investigated doping problems in youth athletes. This study aimed to evaluate doping tendency (potential doping behavior (PDB)) and correlates of PDB in youth age swimmers. The participants were 241 competitive swimmers (131 females
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN ADOLESCENCE LEVELS CHANGES AND FACTORS OF INFLUENCE
Physical activity (PA) is considered a health imperative, so it is understandable that physical inactivity imposes a serious health threat. The fact that alarming decline in physical activity levels (PALs) occurs in adolescence is particularly concerning. Accordingly, the dissertation deals with PA issues among adolescents in regular conditions and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, changes and correlates of the PALs in the period from 14 to 18 years of age and in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic are investigated. Four presented studies analyze the specified problems in adolescents from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and are among the first studies that examined this issue in S…
Familial and Parental Predictors of Physical Activity in Late Adolescence: Prospective Analysis over a Two-Year Period
Children’s health behaviors are highly influenced by their parents and family. This study aimed to prospectively evaluate the parental/familial factors associated with physical activity levels (PALs) among older adolescents. The participants were 766 adolescents, who were prospectively observed at baseline (when they were 16 years of age), at first follow-up measurement (FU1
Additional file 1: of What drives athletes toward dietary supplement use: objective knowledge or self-perceived competence? Cross-sectional analysis of professional team-sport players from Southeastern Europe during the competitive season
Table S1. The usage of specific dietary supplements (DS) in each of the studied team-sports in players from southeastern Europe. (DOCX 13 kb)
Factors associated with potential doping behavior in Olympic-sailing: A gender-specific analysis
BACKGROUND: Olympic-sailing is not contaminated with doping, and special efforts are needed to keep this sport free of doping. The aim of this study was to evaluate factors associated with potential doping behavior (PDB) in professional Olympic sailors. METHODS: The sample of participants were professional Olympic Laser class athletes (N.=80, 39 females ; all >18 years). Data were collected through previously validated questionnaires, utilizing sociodemographic-variables, sport- related- factors, and various factors of hesitation against doping (predictors), and PDB (criterion). To calculate the associations between predictors and the criterion, gender- stratified logistic regression models…
Analysis of the Relationship between Tobacco Smoking and Physical Activity in Adolescence: A Gender Specific Study
Background and Objective: Although smoking and the physical activity level (PAL) are important determinants of health status in adolescence, there is a lack of information on the relationship between smoking and PAL in early adolescence. The objective of this study was to evaluate the gender-specific relationship between smoking and PAL in 14-to-16-year-old adolescents. Materials and Methods: The sample included 650 adolescents (337 girls, 14.7 ± 0.5 years at first testing wave) from Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the first testing wave, participants were tested using structured questionnaires. Second testing was commenced after approximately 20 months (16.4 ± 0.6 years). The variables were…
Exploring the Association between Alcohol Drinking and Physical Activity in Adolescence; Two-Year Prospective Study in Younger Adolescents from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Insufficient physical activity and alcohol consumption (AC) are important health-threatening behaviors in adolescence, but there are controversial findings regarding the association that may exist between AC and physical activity levels (PALs) at this age. This study aimed to prospectively examine the relationship that may exist between AC and PAL in younger adolescence, considering the potential confounding effect of sports participation. The participants (n = 669, 337 females) were adolescents from Bosnia and Herzegovina who were tested on two occasions, at baseline (14 years of age) and again at follow-up (16 years of age). The variables included AC (as indicated by the AUDIT questionnai…
Levels and Changes of Physical Activity in Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Contextualizing Urban vs. Rural Living Environment
The COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing implemented shortly after influence physical activity levels (PALs). The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the changes in PAL and factors associated with PALs among Croatian adolescents while considering the impact of community (urban vs. rural living environment). The sample included 823 adolescents (mean age: 16.5 ±
Parental and Familial Factors Influencing Physical Activity Levels in Early Adolescence: A Prospective Study
Parental/familial factors are important determinants of the physical activity level (PAL) in children and adolescents, but studies rarely prospectively evaluate their relationships. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in physical activity levels among adolescents from Bosnia and Herzegovina over a two-year period and to determine parental/familial predictors of PAL in early adolescence. A total of 651 participants (50.3% females) were tested at baseline (beginning of high school education
What drives athletes toward dietary supplement use: objective knowledge or self-perceived competence? Cross-sectional analysis of professional team-sport players from Southeastern Europe during the competitive season.
Background Issues related to knowledge of nutrition and dietary supplementation (DS) are understudied in professional athletes. This study aimed to examine the possible association between knowledge of nutrition and DS (KN&DS) and dietary supplement use (DSU) among professional athletes involved in team sports. Methods The sample comprised professional team-sport athletes (N = 912, age: 22.11 ± 3.37 years, 356 females) involved in four Olympic sports: basketball (N = 228), soccer (N = 324), volleyball (N = 154), and handball (N = 206). The participants were tested by previously validated questionnaires to examine their self-perceived competence on nutrition and DS (S/KN&DS), their objective…
Monitoring the Internal and External Loads of Young Team Handball Players during Competition
This study aimed to examine the internal- and external-training-load (ITL and ETL, respectively) during a match of young handball players. Field testing included heart-rate monitoring (memory belt, Suunto) as a marker of ITL and accelerometry (motion-biosensor, Actical Respironcis, Philips) as a marker of ETL. Time motion analysis data were obtained by recording the player’s game activities and later analysed with the Matlab software package. T-test and Pearson-product-moment correlation coefficient were used to examine the differences and the relationship between variables collected in the study. The t-test analysis did not show significant differences between the total distance covered (2…