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Student athletes’ use of substance abuse is major issue in the world of sports. Does the old theory stating that student athletes tend to stay away from drugs and alcohol hold true today? From my personal experience as a former high school athlete, I doubt this is true. With the many records of student athletes being arrested for alcohol and drug abuse, substance abuse has truly become a problem. The studies available show the correlation of usage between student athletes and the general student population? Hopefully, this information would be helpful in setting up a drug prevention program at the high school and middle school level. If so, maybe society could improve its efforts at alleviating this problem.
Many of these problems underly in the attitudes of these athletes. Of the athletes who are considered at risk of using substance abuse, seventeen percent of the athletes felt that marijuana use was an acceptable way to deal with the pressures of athletics. Instead of abstaining from use due to health risks, many refrain from drug use simply due to the fear of getting caught. Peer pressure from teammates is also indicated as a major influence as to whether or not athletes use o
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Why are college athletes at risk for drug abuse and effective drug treatment programs? Many college athletes feel that the programs should at least try to improve the overall health of the student athlete along with the deterring drug use.
Evaluations on alcohol use, binge drinking, and substance abuse related consequences between non-athletes and athletes show alarming results. Overall, males had a more tolerant attitude than females toward temperate and irresponsible use of alcohol. Anger was discovered to be an important difference among athletes who use alcohol and athletes who do not. To my surprise, team leaders were found just as irresponsible as their teammates concerning alcohol. A distinct correlation was noticed between the attitudes of irresponsible drinking and who drinks the most, being the more they drank the more tolerant their attitudes were.
Overman and Terry compared the patterns of use and attitudes toward alcohol and college athletes and non-athletes. Studies have even shown that white athletes are two and half times more likely to be at risk of using alcohol than black athletes would. High school alcohol users reportedly had higher scores on anger, vigor, and fatigue tests. They found non-athletes used alcohol more and were more tolerant of others using it compared to athletes. Male and female athletes consumed significantly more alcohol per week, engaged in binge drinking more often, and suffered more adverse consequences from their drug problems. The three main reasons athletes gave for drinking were to “celebrate,” “have a good time with peers,” and to “make one feel good. However, they found no difference in the frequency of alcohol consumption between female athletes and non-athletes.
Due to these students attitudes, many wonder if there were any psychological factors associated with alcohol use or non-use by high school athletes. Moreover, they used less alcohol during their in-season than off-season.
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