10 Best Girls' Athletic Jackets

Bestselling Girls' Athletic Jackets in 2023

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Steroids: The Scourge of Athletics

Contemporary steroid use. What are the reasons, problems and possible solution to this immense problem?

As with every other pursuit of man, time has yielded methods to achieve our goals much faster and easier than before. Performance enhancing drugs provide the means to achieve these recreational (sportive) and esthetic (body image) goals. But when these drugs are used to the point where the body is transformed into a state that is unrecognizably human, one must examine the motivation or desire behind one's decision for such a radical transformation.

Thus enter the health psychologist's examination of performance enhancing drugs. These drugs are known as anabolic or androgenic steroids. What are these substances? Why do so many of us experiment with these substances? What is the driving force behind their usage increase? Why do so many educated individuals take such drugs that are known to have severely negative side effects?

These are the questions that will be addressed in the following paper. It is the intent of this paper is to focus on youth and steroid use. It will prove that the greatest cause for steroid abuse is low self esteem and negative body image rather than to excel in sport as commonly believed. The main reason for this negative body image will be identified as the media and will be further explored.

Anabolic steroids are synthetic substances that mimic the male sex hormones known as androgens. Testosterone, an androgen, is the naturally occurring hormone found in men which is responsible for growth, physical development and the workings of one's sexual organs. It promotes the growth of muscle (anabolic effects) and the development of male sexual characteristics (androgenic effects). Anabolic steroids were developed to treat hypogonadism in the late 1930s. This condition is characterized by "insufficient production of testosterone by the testes, which regulates the body's normal growth, development, and sexual functioning. Steroids were also used in World War II to speed recovery, treat wounds and assist in major surgery." (Steven M. Petak, MD, 2002)

Since their creation, steroids have been known to have many negative and serious health affects. Regular usage of anabolic steroids has been proven to lead to liver failure and raised blood pressure. Other possible side effects of steroids abuse are: fluid retention, cancer, jaundice, liver tumors, an increase in bad cholesterol, decreases in good cholesterol, severe acne, kidney tumors, and trembling.

Exclusively for men, steroids can be responsible for shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, and increased risk for prostate cancer. Conversely, steroid abuse by females can lead to growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris and a deepened voice.

Steroid use has been made most public by professional and amateur athletes looking for that special edge. They have been used in every sport, whether banned or not. Fuller and LaFountain (1987) found that athletes rationalized their use by trying to justify that using steroids caused no harm either to themselves or to others. Athletes rarely view their steroid use as "cheating." Instead, they think that their steroid use is showing great commitment and discipline. They are proud to be able to maintain such a strict regimen of nutrition and steroid use. Another strong motivation for athletes to begin steroid use is the notion that their competitors were taking anabolic drugs. This then creates the need to begin usage as well to compete at the same level.

One study suggest that the use of steroids produces a 'psychosomatic state' characterized by "...Sensations of well being, euphoria, increased aggressiveness and tolerance to stress, allowing the athlete to train harder." (MORTON, 2000) There is also evidence of severe mood swings associated with steroid use. Depression commonly occurs when the drugs are stopped and may contribute to the creation of dependence. "Further evidence suggests that users may suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility." There is also the danger of the common side affect known as 'Roid Rage'. This can be described as aggressive fits that one has when using steroids. Though scientific evidence is hard to find in support of roid rages, there are a large number of individual accounts of users who describe their own uncharacteristic aggressive behavior while under the influence of anabolic steroids.

Exact steroid usage statistics are almost impossible to obtain due to the fact that many users are reluctant to reveal themselves in many of the studies conducted. However, from the subjects who were examined, many alarming trends have been noted. Stilger and Yesalis conducted a study of 873 male high school football players in Indiana.

They were surveyed to investigate the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). Subjects were selected at random from 27 high schools throughout Indiana. The Subjects completed a 50 item questionnaire that measured demographic information, perceived use of AAS, reasons for use, and how AAS are taken. "The results indicate that 6.3% of Indiana high school football players were current or former AAS users. The average age at time of first use of AAS was 14 years and 15% began taking before the age of ten. Almost half of respondents indicated they could obtain AAS if they so desired, and that other athletes, physicians, and coaches were listed as sources for AAS." (Vincent G. Stilger and Charles E. Yesalis, 130).

One study suggests that from those youth who use steroids, as much as 56 % of them were supplied with the drugs coaches and teachers. (Tuttle, 1994) This obviously highlights a sever problem in high schools and provides evidence of the widespread prevalence of these substances.

Over 80% of illegally sold steroids that youth in America are buying come from Mexico or the internet. They are of very questionable quality - most are veterinary grade at best, designed for use in horses, pigs, and cattle. They are very easy to buy for both coaches and young athletes.

It has been established that steroids are being used in large numbers by young adults looking to perform better in their appropriate sports. What about those who do not participate in sports? A recent study conducted by taking random polls at fitness gyms all over America showed that out "...Of 500 steroid users, most are non-athletes whose sole intention is to improve their physical appearance. Of the 500 AAS users who participated in the survey, 78.4 percent (392/500) were non-competitive bodybuilders and non-athletes."

This study's findings is not intended to downplay the seriousness of steroids in sport, rather it highlights an alarmingly high trend of individuals who begin this drug use for their own vanity. It has been suggested that the prevalence of use for the sole intent to improve physique in the United States may be as high as 4.7% of the entire male population attending high school. ()

The steroid phenomenon is not a new one, however, the increase of usage over the past few years is alarming. Those who begin steroid use by themselves, do so because of a negative self image while those who begin steroid use to excel in a sport, tend to do so because of exterior pressures from coaches or parents to excel. While both of these catalysts for steroid use are of concern, negative self image is the more severe. With the myriads of internet sites postings questionable information and media being more influential than ever coupled with an increase of illegal steroid sales, it is youth who seems to be most at risk.

The media serves as the primary force of socialization that determines the acceptable identities we are to assume. There is a major pre-disposition towards creating an ideal image of what the male is. This immense pressure upon males creates a set identity to which they are not only assumed to adapt, but pressured to be. If they do not, they are seen as inferior. This tremendous social pressure forces young males to seek artificial self-improvements such as steroids.

The common myth is that steroid use is a niche market, reserved for professional athletes and body builders. There is no doubt that there are individuals within this category that do adopt this use of this narcotic. However, the reality is that individuals who possess low levels of self-esteem based on their self-image are the prime users of this artificial accelerator. The reason for the association is that individuals who suffer from weaker self-esteem are more penetrable to society's messages. Individuals, who lack a strong conception of their own identity, seek that identity in the prime form of what society tells them to be.

The most common way society's directs gender socialization is through the media. Thus, the prime source of this desperate and growing search for drugs that induce our ability to perform better in sports has been the media. The media has served as an outlet for many to adapt what they think are normal and acceptable physical identities and gender roles. Because the media has played such a powerful role in forming these social and physicals identities, the only way to alter them so as to reduce or eliminate the increase of steroid use, is to alter the inflated and artificial appearance of men shown in the media. It is only the media that can reverse these dogmatic images of the typical male by propagating different body types of men.

The media can play this positive role in several ways. Instead of the typical commercial displaying a robust, inflated, uncharacteristically muscular male, it can portray the common male as more representative of the population. The media must not be demeaning in its portrayal of the ideal male by excluding images the skinny, the over-weight etc. This fair portrayal will sever the severe and dogmatic image of the ideal male. In fact, it will cause males to be comfortable with who they are and eliminate the social necessity for steroids. By eliminating the social desire to be as robust and physically strong as possible, a new generation of young males will look at themselves in a new way. This sort of shift has already begun to occur with women, so why not men?