Steroid use was correlated with a range of high-risk behaviors, but not with competitive athletics or bodybuilding.
Anabolic steroid use among teenage girls has increased. To gain more insight into this behavior, researchers analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. female students in grades 9 through 12 who completed the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Of the 7544 respondents, 5.3% said that they had used, or were using, anabolic steroids. Girls who participated on sports teams were less likely to use steroids than girls who were not on teams, and girls in the 9th and 10th grades were more likely to use steroids than girls in the 12th grade. Girls who used steroids were significantly more likely than nonusers to engage in health-harming behaviors such as use of alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs; early or high-risk sexual activity; carrying weapons; fighting; drinking while driving; and taking extreme measures (e.g., purging) to lose weight. Finally, steroid users were significantly more likely to be depressed and to have attempted suicide.
Comment: Anabolic steroid use is a "red flag" for other health problems. This study did not determine why girls used these drugs and how that use contributed to other maladaptive behaviors, but the findings suggest that steroid use among female teens (unlike steroid use among adult women) is not related to competitive athletics or bodybuilding.
— Robert A. Dershewitz, MD, MSc
Published in Journal Watch General Medicine June 19, 2007
Elliot DL et al. Cross-sectional study of female students reporting anabolic steroid use. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2007 Jun; 161:572-7.