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There are many benefits to sports for kids, and sports should be encouraged throughout childhood. Athletes generally have lower rates of substance abuse than their peers; however, there are certain drugs and alcohol that may be more prevalent in the athletic population.
- Athletes report lower cigarette, marijuana and cocaine use
- Certain traps for athletes include alcohol, smokeless tobacco, and opiates
- Male athletes are more likely to be prescribed and misuse opiates
- All athletes are more likely to
- ‘first get drunk’ at an earlier age
- binge drink
- drive drunk
- use smokeless tobacco
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| References: Veliz, P. T., Boyd, C. J., & McCabe, S. E. (2015). Competitive sport involvement and substance use among adolescents: a nationwide study. Substance use & misuse, 50(2), 156-165. Rainey, C. J., McKeown, R. E., Sargent, R. G., & Valois, R. F. (1996). Patterns of tobacco and alcohol use among sedentary, exercising, nonathletic, and athletic youth. Journal of School Health, 66(1), 27-32. Hartmann, D., & Massoglia, M. (2007). Reassessing the relationship between high school sports participation and deviance: Evidence of enduring, bifurcated effects. The Sociological Quarterly, 48(3), 485-505. Veliz, P., Epstein-Ngo, Q. M., Meier, E., Ross-Durow, P. L., McCabe, S. E., & Boyd, C. J. (2014). Painfully obvious: a longitudinal examination of medical use and misuse of opioid medication among adolescent sports participants. Journal of adolescent health, 54(3), 333-340. |
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