Competitive Sports Participation and
Substance Use Among Adolescents
and Young Adults: Making Sense of
a Paradox
Philip Veliz, PhD
Institute for Research on Women & Gender
The Great Sports Myth?
•  Participation in sport is essentially good for the
healthy development of adolescents and young
adults.
Are Sports Good or Bad for
Adolescents and Young Adults?
•  Two debates in the Sociology of Sport. •  Sports are Good: Sports socialize adolescents and
young adults to a set of values that promote positive
physical, cognitive, and emotional development.
•  Sports are Bad: Sports are a distraction to fully
engage in academics, and socializes participants to a
set of norms that facilitates deviance (e.g., “Win at all
costs”, “Play through pain”, “People only remember
champions”).
The Health Paradox:
Sports and Substance Use
•  Research that focuses on sport participant versus
non-participant.
–  Sport participants are at a greater risk of alcohol
consumption
–  Sport participants are at a greater risk of smokeless
tobacco use
–  Sport participants are at a greater risk of using
performance enhancing drugs
Understanding Athlete Substance Use
by Examining Sports Based
on Level of Contact
•  The majority of empirical studies focus on
sport participation as a homogenous concept
(i.e., collapsing all participants into one
group).
•  This is problematic because certain types of
sports provide vastly different experiences
(e.g., Football versus Tennis).
Adolescent Substance
Use and Different
Types of Sports Participation
•  Studies using nationally representative data of
adolescents in the U.S. have found the following:
–  Participation in High Contact Sports is associated with a
higher risk of…
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Binge Drinking
Cigarette use
Marijuana use
Nonmedical use of prescription pain killers
Nonmedical use of prescription stimulants
–  Participation in Non-Contact Sports is associated with a
lower risk of…
•  Cigarette use
•  Marijuana use
Does This Theoretical Model Work
Among
College Athletes in the NCAA?
•  Despite the research on adolescent athletes,
this theoretical model has not been applied to
college athletes.
–  Very few national surveys ask respondents about
involvement in different types of sports.
–  Lack of publically available data on college
athletes.
Data and Methods
•  The data comes from two major sources
–  The 2013 Monitoring the Future (12th graders)
–  2012-2013 NCAA National Study of Substance Use
Habits of College Student-Athletes (College Athletes)
•  Dependent Variables (Substance Use)
–  Past Year Alcohol Use
–  Past Year Marijuana Use
–  Past Year Cocaine Use
–  Past Year Steroid Use
–  Past Year Amphetamine Use
Sports Based on Level of Contact
•  Males
•  Contact Sports
–  Football, Ice Hockey,
Lacrosse, Wrestling
•  Semi-Contact Sports
–  Baseball, Basketball,
Soccer
•  Non-Contact Sports
–  Golf, Swimming, Tennis,
Track
•  Females
•  Contact Sports
–  Ice Hockey, Lacrosse
•  Semi-Contact Sports
–  Basketball, Field
Hockey, Soccer, Softball
•  Non-Contact Sports
–  Crew, Golf, Gymnastics,
Swimming, Tennis,
Track, Volleyball
Overall Percentage of Alcohol Use
Within the Last 12 Months
94%
100%
86%
80%
72%
65%
83%
82%
80%
65%
67%
65%
82%
63%
60%
Alcohol Use
(12th Grade)
40%
20%
Alcohol Use
(College)
0%
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Male Athletes
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Female Athletes
Overall Percentage of Marijuana Use
Within the Last 12 Months
60%
48%
42%
41%
39%
40%
33%
31%
25%
23%
32%
23%
20%
17%
14%
0%
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Male Athletes
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Female Athletes
Marijuana Use
(12th Grade)
Marijuana Use
(College)
Overall Percentage of Cocaine Use
Within the Last 12 Months
8%
6%
5.9%
Cocaine Use
(12th Grade)
5.6%
4.6%
4%
Cocaine Use
(College)
3.4%
2.4% 2.1%
2%
1.5%
1.7%
1.0%
1.7%
0.6%
0.3%
0%
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Male Athletes
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Female Athletes
Overall Percentage of Steroids Use
Within the Last 12 Months
4%
3%
3.0%
2.8%
1.8%
2%
1%
Steriods Use
(12th Grade)
0.8%
Steriods Use
(College)
1.8%
0.5%
0.8%
0.2%
0.3%
0.6%
0.2%
0.1%
0%
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Male Athletes
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Female Athletes
Overall Percentage of Amphetamine
Use Within the Last 12 Months
20%
Ampetamine Use
(12th Grade Athletes)
15.8%
15%
Ampetamine Use
(College Athletes)
11.1%
10%
9.0%
9.3%
9.1%
6.7% 7.0%
5.3%
5%
4.4%
6.3%
4.2%
2.9%
0%
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Male Athletes
Contact
Sports
SemiContact
Sports
NonContact
Sports
Female Athletes
Summary
•  Contact sports had the highest prevalence rates
among athletes for alcohol, marijuana use,
cocaine use, and steroid use.
•  12th grade athletes, particularly athletes in
contact sports, had higher prevalence rates for
illegal substances when compared to college
athletes.
Conclusions
•  Possible explanations
–  (1) High contact sports may foster behaviors that are
conducive of engaging in risky behaviors like
substance use.
–  (2) Youth who are more prone to engaging in risky
behaviors select into high risk/contact sports.
•  Next Steps (i.e., Interventions to target athletes
needs to begin during adolescence)