Research on doping moral disengagement (MD; temporary endorsement of a transgressive behavior) suggests this cognition is influential in athletes' doping-related decisions. This line of research should also include social variables such as subjective norms (perceived approval of or pressure to perform a behavior from significant others) and descriptive norms (perceived prevalence of a behavior), because these normative perceptions reflect the social context within which cognitions like doping MD take place. All of these variables have been found to independently predict outcomes such as anticipated guilt from doping (Ring & Kavussanu, 2017), doping intentions (Ntoumanis et al., 2014) and doping susceptibility/consideration (Boardley et al., 2019). Examining these variables together, especially in different populations (i.e., disability and able-bodied sport), could offer a fuller picture of doping-related cognitions. This holds long-term potential to develop more effective, theory-driven anti-doping interventions and maintain the spirit of fair play in sport. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how morality-based cognitions and the social environment of sport (as reflected in norms-based cognitions) associate with doping-related cognitions.Study 1 was a cross-sectional examination of how doping MD, descriptive norms, and subjective norms responses of disability sport athletes are patterned. Cluster analysis revealed four distinct groups. One-way MANOVAs determined mean differences across groups on the variables of anticipated guilt and doping intentions. One cluster, characterized by high levels of all focal variables, was one of two clusters to score significantly lower on anticipated guilt, and the only cluster to score significantly higher on doping intentions than the other athlete groups. This at-risk pattern of cognitions, which was expressed in the smallest cluster (n = 15), warrants particular attention in future anti-doping campaigns. Study 2 used latent variable analysis to examine athletes' doping MD, descriptive norms, and subjective norms as predictors of doping consideration, directly and indirectly via anticipated guilt. A model was tested with the expected relationships and exhibited adequate to excellent fit to the data. Doping MD had significant direct and indirect effects on doping consideration, and the direct effect persisted when controlling for social desirability. Such effects were not present for the descriptive norms and subjective norms constructs. Findings suggest the strength of the relationship between doping MD and doping-related outcomes is stronger than that tied to social norms. Such results may be applied to anti-doping educational programs, which have not often deliberately targeted doping MD. In sum, this dissertation extends the literature supporting the role of doping MD in athletes' doping-related outcomes. This role persists across sport type and when controlling for social desirability. It also appears to be more salient than normative influences in predicting doping-related outcomes. Researchers and anti-doping interventionists may benefit from incorporating doping MD as a target of future research and education efforts, which could lead to more effective doping prevention.
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