Social and Personal Controls and Performance Enhancing Drug Use: Toward an Explanation of Doping Activity among Professional Athletes in Rasht,Iran

The use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED), also known as “doping,” is a common practice among professional athletes in Iran and this global phenomenon is a serious social problem. The main purpose of this research is to test the efficacy of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s conceptualization of low self-control in conjunction with their ideas of effective parenting and rational choice, in explaining why athletes engage in doping activity. Using self-report data from a random sample of 606 professional athletes from Rasht, Iran, the current study indicates that there are significant associations between ineffective parenting, self-control, perceived costs, and doping activity.     

Soccer Hooliganism in Iran: A Test of Agnew’s General Strain Theory

Fan aggression (verbal and physical) at sporting events is seemingly becoming increasingly more prevalent, so much so that that one form has been coined as “soccer hooliganism.” Although an emergent area of social and criminological inquiry, few studies have attempted to predict or explain this behavior through a theoretical lens. The present study applies Agnew’s general strain theory to self-reported data on Iranian soccer fans’ verbal and physically aggressive behaviors. The results of both hierarchical multiple regression analyses and structural equation modeling reveal solid support for Agnew’s theory. As expected, strains are both directly and indirectly (via negative affect) associated with fan aggression. Moreover, the effects of strain on fan aggression are also conditioned by both self-control and social support, but less so by criminal peer associations. Finally, although the data support Agnew’s theory with regard to deviant fan aggression, they do not support his theory with regard to conventional coping strategies; conventional coping is inversely associated with strain.