Table 1 Measures used to assess body image, supplement use, and attitudes towards doping in sport
Variable | Measure |
|---|---|
Body image | Direct questioning: (Do you think you are: Too fat/ just right/ too thin) and (“Would you like to be: A little lighter, A lot lighter, The same as it is now, Heavier, A lot heavier”) [6] |
Current attempts to gain or lose weight | Direct questioning ‘Are you currently trying to gain weight’ (Yes/No) and ‘Are you currently trying to lose weight’ (Yes/No)[6]. |
Sports participation | Direct questioning about participation in weight lifting asked participants to indicate their levels of sports involvement [Not involved, Recreational, Serious, Weight lifting or Body building] |
Supplement use | Direct questioning about the use of sports drinks, vitamins and minerals, energy drinks, protein powders, herbal supplements, and creatine in the past two weeks (yes/no) |
Body dissatisfaction | Male Body Attitudes Scale [MBAS] [28]. Participants responded on a likert-type scale [Never = 1, to Always = 6] includes three subscales of dissatisfaction with height (2 items), fatness (12 items), muscle (14 items), and a total score (24 items). Chronbach’s Alpha was .92. |
Attitudes towards performance enhancing drugs | Performance Enhancement Attitudes Scale [PEAS] [29]. Participants respond to 17-items on a Likert scale [Strongly disagree = 1, to Strongly agree = 6]. Chronbach’s Alpha was .89. |