The Effect of High School Sports Participation on the Use of Performance-Enhancing Substances in Young Adulthood

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.12.025

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 39, Issue 3, September 2006, Pages 367-373

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.12.025 Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

The present study examined the relationship between high school sports participation and the use of anabolic steroids (AS) and legal performance-enhancing dietary supplements in young adulthood. Additionally, the relationship between the use of AS and legal dietary supplements was explored.

Methods

Data on approximately 15,000 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used. School sports participation was assessed when adolescents were in grades 7–12. AS use and legal performance-enhancing dietary supplement use were assessed six years later.

Results

Males were more likely than females to use AS and legal supplements. A sport by gender interaction emerged for the use of AS, indicating that the gender differences in AS use were greater for those who participated in sports during high school. High school sports participation was associated with increased likelihood that adolescents would use legal supplements in young adulthood. Finally, there was a positive relationship between the use of legal dietary supplements and AS use.

Conclusions

This study highlights the important role that the social environment during adolescence has on future health behaviors. Results suggest that the sporting context experienced during early adolescence may have lasting effects on the use of performance-enhancing substances. The use of legal performance-enhancing dietary supplements appears to be more prevalent than the use of AS, and there seems to be a positive relationship between the use of AS and legal performance-enhancing dietary supplements.

Section snippets

Prevalence of legal performance-enhancing substance use

There has been an increase in the number of legal dietary supplements available claiming to improve athletic/physical performance. Despite this increased availability, few studies have documented the prevalence of legal PES use. One study estimated that approximately one million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years had used a performance-enhancing dietary supplement, but the number of adolescents in the sample was not reported, making it difficult to estimate the percentage of

Performance-enhancing substance use and sports participation

There has been increasing interest in the impact of sports participation on the health of adolescents and young adults. Studies have linked sports participation to numerous positive and negative health outcomes [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25]. The present study contributes to this literature by exploring the association between sports participation and the use of legal and illegal PES.

Some studies have suggested that athletes are at greater risk than

Relationship between steroids and legal performance-enhancing substances

It seems reasonable to believe there is a positive relationship between the use of AS and legal PES, although such a relationship has yet to be empirically tested. Such an association would be predicted from several different theoretical frameworks. Gateway Theory [27] predicts a positive relationship between the use of licit or legal substances (e.g., alcohol) and the use of hard or illicit substances (e.g., cocaine). According to Gateway Theory, there is a developmental trajectory or sequence

Sample and procedure

The present study used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data base [30]. From September 1994 through April 1995, an in-school self-administered questionnaire was administered during a class to students in grades seven to 12. All students who completed the in-school questionnaire, as well as those who were listed on the school roster, were used as a sampling frame to specify a sample of adolescents for in-home interviews. Follow-up data were collected from most of

Prevalence estimates

Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of the sample. About 8% of the sample reported having used a legal PES within the past year and about 1.6% reported having used AS within the past year. Males were more likely to use AS (2.7%) and legal PES (15.6%) than were females (.4% and 1.1%, respectively). Logistic analyses showed that males were nearly seven and a half times more likely than females to report having used AS within the past year (odds ratio [OR] 7.47, 95% confidence

Discussion

Using a nationally representative sample of young people, the present study examined the use of AS and legal PES in young adulthood. Results of the study suggest that the use of legal PES is more prevalent than the use of AS. The present study also found that males were more likely to have used a legal PES than were females. Few studies have documented such a gender difference and this study is one of the first to do so in a nationally representative sample.

A gender-sport participation

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Original articleThe Effect of High School Sports Participation on the Use of Performance-Enhancing Substances in Young Adulthood

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Prevalence of legal performance-enhancing substance use

Performance-enhancing substance use and sports participation

Relationship between steroids and legal performance-enhancing substances

Sample and procedure

Prevalence estimates

Discussion

J Adolesc Health

J Adolesc Health

J Adolesc

J Adolesc Health

J Adolesc Health

J Adolesc Health

J Adolesc Health

Use of multiple drugs among adolescents who use anabolic steroids

N Engl J Med

Anabolic steroid use among adolescents in a rural state

J Fam Pract

Anabolic-androgenic steroid use and other adolescent problem behaviorsrethinking the male athlete assumption

Sociol Perspect

Prevalence, knowledge, and attitudes in junior and senior high school students

J Health Educ

Adolescent use of anabolic-androgenic steroids and relations to self-reports of social, personality and health aspects

Eur J Public Health

Anabolic-androgenic steroidscurrent issues

Sports Med

Serious cardiovascular side effects of large doses of anabolic steroids in weight lifters

Eur Heart J

Hormone abuse in adolescents and adultsa review of current knowledge

Endocrinologist

Original article
The Effect of High School Sports Participation on the Use of Performance-Enhancing Substances in Young Adulthood