This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (2)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Pediatrics  • Adolescent Medicine  • Public Health  • Substance Abuse/ Alcoholism  • Women's Health  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Diane L. Elliot, MD; JeeWon Cheong, PhD; Esther L. Moe, PhD, MPH; Linn Goldberg, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(6):572-577.

Objective  To determine the characteristics of female US high school students reporting anabolic steroid use.

Design  Cross-sectional assessment using the 2003 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention national school-based Youth Risk Behavior Survey database.

Setting  Nationally representative sample of US high schools.

Participants  Female students in grades 9 through 12 (n = 7544).

Main Outcome Measures  Participants' self-reported anabolic steroid use was compared with other health-related behaviors and with sports participation.

Results  Prior or ongoing anabolic steroid use was reported by 5.3% of female high school students. Those adolescent girls had a marked increase in other health-compromising behaviors, including past 30-day use of alcohol (odds ratio [OR], 8.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.49-14.20]), cigarettes (OR, 5.14; 95% CI, 3.14-8.42), marijuana (OR, 7.91; 95% CI, 5.20-12.04), cocaine (OR, 10.78; 95% CI, 6.18-18.81), and diet pills (OR, 4.86; 95% CI, 2.98-7.93). They were more likely to carry a weapon (OR, 7.54; 95% CI, 4.83-11.76), have had sexual intercourse before age 13 years (OR, 2.90; 95% CI, 1.58-5.33), and have had feelings of sadness or hopelessness almost every day for at least 2 consecutive weeks (OR, 4.13; 95% CI, 2.57-7.22). They were less likely to play school-sponsored team sports (OR, 0.52; 95% CI 0.34-0.80). Steroid users participating in sports shared the same problem behaviors as steroid users not participating in team athletics.

Conclusion  Self-reported anabolic steroid use is not confined to adolescent girls in competitive athletics and is an indicator of adolescent girls with a marked increase in a cluster of other health-harming behaviors.

Author Affiliations: Division of Health Promotion and Sports Medicine, Department of Medicine, Oregon Health & Sciences University, Portland (Drs Elliot, Moe, and Goldberg); and Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa (Dr Cheong).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Anabolic Steroid Use by Female High School Students
Brookman
AAP Grand Rounds 2007;18:28-29.
FULL TEXT  

Anabolic Steroid Use in Female Teens
JWatch General 2007;2007:5-5.
FULL TEXT