Adolescent Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use in Association With Other Drug Use, Injection Drug Use, and Team Sport Participation. Issue 4 (1st November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schneider, Kristin E.; Webb, Lindsey; Boon, Denali; Johnson, Renee M.
• Is Part Of: Journal of child & adolescent substance abuse. Volume 29:Issue 4/5/6(2020)
• Page Start: 246
• Page End: 251
• Publication Date: 2020-11-01
• Subjects: Adolescents -- anabolic-androgenic steroids -- injection drug use -- Youth Risk Behavior Survey; Drug abuse -- Treatment -- Periodicals; Teenagers -- Drug use -- Periodicals; 616.860083
• DOI: 10.1080/1067828X.2022.2052219
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1067-828X

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: The majority of epidemiologic research on adolescent non-medical anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use was conducted in the 1990s and early 2000s, indicating a need to update evidence for the modern era. We aim to understand the prevalence of AAS use among US adolescents and assess associations between AAS use, sports participation, other drug use, and injection drug use (IDU). Methods: Using data from the 2017 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, we estimated the prevalence of AAS use and tested for associations between AAS use, sports participation, and drug use, overall and by sex. Results: The prevalence of AAS use was 2.98%. The prevalence among boys (3.46%) was higher than among girls (2.41%). AAS use was high among youth with lifetime heroin use (64.41%) and IDU (64.42%). There was no association between AAS and team sport participation ( p = 0.61). Conclusions: Our results indicate that adolescent AAS use is an aspect of polysubstance use rather than a substance used solely for performance enhancement in sports. Research with adolescents should be mindful of the overlap of heroin and AAS use among youth with IDU.