1. RISKY BEHAVIOURS AMONG YOUNG ELITE-STUDENT-ATHLETES
- Author
-
Peretti-Watel, Patrick, Guagliardo, Valérie, VERGER, Pierre, Pruvost, Jacques, Mignon, Patrick, Obadia, Yolande, ORS PACA, Epidémiologie et Sciences Sociales Appliquées à l'Innovation Médicale, Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille 2-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance (INSEP), and INSEP, documentation
- Subjects
motivations ,risky behaviours ,[SHS.SPORT.SHPS]Humanities and Social Sciences/Sport/Human, political & social sport sciences ,[SHS.SPORT.SHPS] Humanities and Social Sciences/Sport/Human, political & social sport sciences ,coping strategy ,elite-student-athletes - Abstract
International audience; Since the end of the 1980s, 'youth risky behaviours' have become a major issue for public health. The relationship between these behaviours and sporting activity is well-documented but still controversial. This article examines some sociological hypotheses related to this relationship, with data from a pilot survey conducted on a sample of 458 elite-student-athletes (ESAs) aged 16–24, gathered and trained in specialized public centres. We found a significant relationship between motives to do sport and 'risky behaviours': ESAs who considered sport as a convivial leisure were more prone to use cannabis, while ESAs who mingled sporting and extra-sporting achievements together were more likely to engage in risky behaviours on the road, possibly because they transposed values from the sporting field (speed, competition) into the 'real world'. Moreover, sporting activity may provide opportunities for drug use with peers as well as incentives to use drugs in order to cope with the anxiety induced by high-level competition. Thus 'recreational' drugs may be used as 'integrative' drugs.
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF