More Girls Using Steroids
Anabolic steroids, muscle-building drugs that are sometimes used by weightlifters and other athletes to enhance performance, apparently have been discovered by a new group: teenage girls in search of the 1990s ideal for women’s bodies, thin and muscular.
That’s the conclusion of a study by Charles Yesalis, a professor of health policy at Pennsylvania State University, in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. He and his colleagues analyzed data from three national studies and found that steroid use among junior high and high school girls, while uncommon, had just about doubled since 1991. Use of the drugs by boys 12 to 18 had not changed, the researchers found.
Yesalis and his colleagues noted that data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found that 0.2% of girls ages 12 to 17 reported using steroids in 1991, compared with 0.6% in 1994. A second federally sponsored study found that 0.8% of eighth-grade girls reported using the drugs in 1991, compared with 1.4% in 1996.
A third large study, published in 1995, reported that 4.9% of boys and 2.4% of girls enrolled in public and private high schools said they had used steroids at least once. Those prevalence rates equal about 375,000 boys and 175,000 girls, according to the researchers.
The use of anabolic steroids by girls is of particular concern because the drugs, which are male hormones, can have permanent side effects, such as baldness or hair growth, deepening of the voice and enlargement of the clitoris. Long-term use can cause heart and liver damage. The effects of these drugs on the female reproductive system are unknown, the article noted.
Yesalis and his colleagues speculate that the increase in the use of steroids by girls may be attributable to several factors, including increased opportunities for women in sports. “But we may be seeing the negative aspects as well: cheating, drug use and pressure to win at all costs,” they said.
“A lean, muscular ‘hard body’ image popular among actresses and models may be prompting young girls to imitate these so-called ideals,” Yesalis said.
Because drug-prevention programs that discourage the use of steroids are aimed at boys, girls may be ignoring these messages, the researchers concluded.
