Anabolic-androgenic steroid use and other adolescent problem behaviors: Rethinking the male athlete assumption

Based on a national sample of over 16,000 public and private high school students (the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey), we used logistic regression analysis to examine relationships among anabolic-androgenic steroid use and other problem behaviors for female and male athletes and nonathletes. After controlling for age, race/ethnicity, parental educational attainment, urbanicity, and recent exercise, users had significantly greater odds of engaging in other illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, fighting, suicide attempts, sexual risk taking, vehicular risk taking, and pathogenic weight loss behavior, suggesting that steroid use is part of Jessor's problem behavior syndrome for adolescents. Despite the stereotypical images of the male athlete user, both nonathlete and female users also faced elevated risks of multiple drug use and other health-compromising behavior. Thus this study rejects the view of steroid use as merely a logical extension of the male athletic cultural imperative.