Student Well-Being

Few Adults Suspect Rampant Use of Steroids by Youths, Survey Finds

By Bryan Toporek — May 24, 2013 1 min read
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Fewer than one in five adults believe steroid use to be a major problem among high school student-athletes, according to a national survey released earlier this month.

The survey, commissioned by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Taylor Hooton Foundation, and the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society, gauged the opinions of 1,002 adults ages 18 or older, 52 percent of whom were male, about adolescent steroid use. The Center for Social Development and Education and the Center for Survey Research at the University of Massachusetts-Boston conducted the survey.

Among those surveyed, only 17 percent believed steroid use to be a big problem for high school athletes. Forty-six percent said steroid use was a major issue for college-aged athletes, and 63 percent believe it to be a big problem at the professional level. Ninety-seven percent of the survey respondents believed steroids to have negative health effects.

When asked why high school athletes would take steroids, survey participants named enhancing athletic performance as the most popular response (43 percent). Others reasons included to get stronger (18 percent), to improve physical appearance (10 percent), a response to peer pressure (8 percent), and to improve chances of getting into college (7 percent).

A study published last fall in the journal

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Schooled in Sports blog.