Background: Regarding increasing and concerning worldwide trends of doping and lack of definite information about contributing factors in this era, this study was performed to determine the emotional intelligence in athletes with doping history in comparison with general population.

Methods and materials: In this case-control study 30 subjects were enrolled including two groups of professional athletes with doping history and general population. In each group 15 subjects were present. The emotional intelligence was assessed by Bar-On Emotional Questionnaire.

Results: The highest and lowest total scores in athletes group were 401 and 197 and in normal population group 410 and 243 were highest and lowest obtained scores and there was significant difference between total scores of two groups (P=0.001), and also in some subscale items including stress tolerance, optimism, self-regard, impulse control, and assertiveness (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Totally, according to the obtained results in this study, it may be concluded that there is significantly lower emotional intelligence in athletes with doping history in comparison with general population.

Keywords: Athletes, Doping, Emotional intelligence