Abstract
This study compares awareness about doping between Japan, which has less doping cases, and Italy, where doping is widespread, second only to that of Russia. The research sample was comprised of university physical education students. The item “opinion about doping” was divided into a doping item and a sports standards item, and the reliability of the scale was demonstrated by confirming the hypothesis model through structural equation modeling.
Result 1: The Japanese group had a significantly lower value than the Italian group with regard to awareness of special doping (awareness to justify doping for the success of famous athletes and teams).
Result 2: Italian students showed significantly stronger negative influences on “the spirit of fair play” and “doping awareness” than Japanese students. A stronger “spirit of fair play” significantly negatively influenced “doping awareness”. Furthermore, the Japanese students showed significantly stronger positive influences on “special doping” and “doping awareness” than Italian students.
Conclusion: We can conclude the following: (1) Italian university students do not generally approve of doping but tend to approve of doping for the success of famous athletes and teams, whereas Japanese students do not; (2) in Italy, there is a tendency to not approve of general doping, reflecting a higher spirit of fair play; however, in Japan, there is only a weak relation between the spirit of fair play and doping awareness; and (3) the relation between special doping awareness on doping awareness is stronger in Japan than that in Italy.
