Sport, and use of anabolic androgenic steroids among Icelandic high school students: a critical test of three perspectives

Thorlindsson Thorolfur, Halldorsson, Halldorsson Vidar

Description

This study investigates the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) among a national representative sample of high school students in Iceland. We test several hypotheses drawn from three perspectives. The first perspective focuses on the use of AAS as an individual phenomenon motivated by the desire to succeed in sport. The second perspective views the use of AAS as shaped by norms and values embedded in social relationships of formally organized sport. The third perspective suggests that factors outside sport, which have been shown to correlate with the use of other substances, predict the use of AAS. Method We use logistic regression and predicted probabilities to analyze data from a national representative survey of 11031 Icelandic high school students. Results Our results indicated that the use of AAS is not significantly related to participation in formally organized sports. However, it positively relates to fitness and physical training in informal contexts. We found a relatively strong relationship between the use of AAS and the use of illicit substances and a moderate relationship between AAS use and alcohol and tobacco consumption. We also found a significant negative relationship between AAS use and school integration and school achievement, and a significant positive relationship between AAS use and school anomie. The relation between AAS use and family-related variables was weaker. Finally, we found that the relationship between sport participation, physical exercise, and AAS use varies across levels of anomie and integration. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the use of AAS and especially illegal substances should be considered more as a social and a health problem rather than a sport specific issue. We found that high school students participating in fitness and informal training outside of formally organized sport clubs are the main risk group and should be the target of prevention efforts. However, this should not be done at the expense of general risk factors that affect AAS and other substances used by the general population. Finally, we suggest that prevention efforts should target both groups and individuals.

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• Langue: English

Extrait

Thorlindsson and HalldorssonSubstance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy2010,5:32 http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/5/1/32

R E S E A R C HOpen Access Sport, and use of anabolic androgenic steroids among Icelandic high school students: a critical test of three perspectives * Thorolfur Thorlindsson , Vidar Halldorsson

Abstract Background:This study investigates the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) among a national representative sample of high school students in Iceland. We test several hypotheses drawn from three perspectives. The first perspective focuses on the use of AAS as an individual phenomenon motivated by the desire to succeed in sport. The second perspective views the use of AAS as shaped by norms and values embedded in social relationships of formally organized sport. The third perspective suggests that factors outside sport, which have been shown to correlate with the use of other substances, predict the use of AAS. Method:We use logistic regression and predicted probabilities to analyze data from a national representative survey of 11031 Icelandic high school students. Results:Our results indicated that the use of AAS is not significantly related to participation in formally organized sports. However, it positively relates to fitness and physical training in informal contexts. We found a relatively strong relationship between the use of AAS and the use of illicit substances and a moderate relationship between AAS use and alcohol and tobacco consumption. We also found a significant negative relationship between AAS use and school integration and school achievement, and a significant positive relationship between AAS use and school anomie. The relation between AAS use and familyrelated variables was weaker. Finally, we found that the relationship between sport participation, physical exercise, and AAS use varies across levels of anomie and integration. Conclusion:Our findings suggest that the use of AAS and especially illegal substances should be considered more as a social and a health problem rather than a sport specific issue. We found that high school students participating in fitness and informal training outside of formally organized sport clubs are the main risk group and should be the target of prevention efforts. However, this should not be done at the expense of general risk factors that affect AAS and other substances used by the general population. Finally, we suggest that prevention efforts should target both groups and individuals.

Background A growing body of evidence indicates that the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) can be dangerous to overall health. The harmful effects of AAS on the cardi ovascular system, mental health, the liver, and the repro ductive system are well documented [17]. Young people who use AAS face greater health risks compared to other age groups. Some of the consequences of AAS use, such as increased mood swings, aggression, and

* Correspondence: [e-mail] University of Iceland, v/Sudurgata, 107 Reykjavik, Iceland

physical closure, may cause particularly serious physiolo gical, psychological, and social problems for people in this age group [8,9]. The evidence suggests that we need to turn our attention to adolescents and young people to gain a better understanding of AAS use among this particularly vulnerable age group. The public discussion about AAS use has centered on sport, especially on elite athletes who are considered at an increased risk when it comes to using these agents, presumably because of the strong incentives that entice winners to cheat [7,1012]. This focus on sport, how ever, has diverted attention away from the wider social

© 2010 Thorlindsson and Halldorsson; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.