Estimated Prevalence of Anabolic Steroid Use Among Male High School Seniors

Abstract

The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AS) is perceived by the media, by segments of the sports medicine and athletic communities, and by the public to have grown to epidemic proportions. Unfortunately, the incidence and prevalence of AS use among elite, amateur, and recreational athletes is poorly documented. This study was designed to help identify AS use patterns among the male portion of the general adolescent population. The overall participation rate on a schoolwide basis was 68.7% and on an individual basis reached 50.3%. Participants in this investigation were 12th-grade male students (N = 3403) in 46 private and public high schools across the nation who completed a questionnaire that established current or previous use of AS as well as user and nonuser characteristics. Results indicate that 6.6% of 12th grade male students use or have used AS and that over two thirds of the user group initiated use when they were 16 years of age or younger. Approximately 21% of users reported that a health professional was their primary source. The evidence indicates that educational intervention strategies should begin as early as junior high school; the intervention should not be directed only toward those individuals who participate in school-based athletics.

Anabolic Androgenic Steroids in the General Population: User Characteristics and Associations with Substance Use

“…The use of AAS has been associated with severe medical consequences, including cardiovascular complications [4], endocrine complications, and psychiatric complications such as depressed mood and a possible link to violent behavior [1,5]. In literature focusing on the purposes of AAS use, data show that apart from the performance-enhancing use of bodybuilders and other athletes, many AAS users report a desire to improve their physical appearance or to strengthen their self-esteem [2,6,7]. …”

Testosterone differentially alters cocaine-induced ambulatory and rearing behavioral responses in adult and adolescent rats

“…The fact that adolescents are more likely than adults to progress quickly from recreational cocaine use to dependence (Chen et al, 1995, 2002; Reboussin and Anthony, 2006) suggests developmental differences in vulnerability to cocaine addiction. The abuse of AAS, which are synthetic derivatives of testosterone, has spread from elite Olympic, professional, college, or high school athletes to the general population (Buckley et al, 1988; Wilson, 1988). AAS abuse in non-athletes is particularly common among adolescent boys.…”

Neurophysiological Repercussions of Anabolic Steroid Abuse: A Road into Neurodegenerative Disorders

“…This scenario was further aggravated by the rising cult for a muscularized body shape among the general population, which was boosted by popular media [33]. Furthermore, given that this body shape paradigm has been even more complex in adolescents, AS abuse also reached highschool students [34]. In this context, underground guidelines containing information about the ways to obtain and use AS have arisen and quickly gained popularity by pseudo-scientific reports [35].…”

“…In this context, underground guidelines containing information about the ways to obtain and use AS have arisen and quickly gained popularity by pseudo-scientific reports [35]. Consequently, AS abuse became a major concern to public health organizations given the severe adverse consequences that frequently follow this practice, and first, epidemiological studies have been conducted during the late 1980s and beginning 1990s showing that approximately 6.6% of 12th grade students reported AS use, and two thirds admitted its use when they were aged 16 years or less [34]. Among male Canadian adolescents, the average AS use was estimated in 5.5%, mostly stimulated by their coaches [36,37].…”