Examining athletes' attitudes toward using anabolic steroids and their knowledge of the possible effects.

One goal of contemporary sports leaders is to eradicate the use of banned drugs in competitive sport. A common approach to achieving this outcome is to provide athletes with adequate education about the effects of drug use. Ostensibly, educational programs about the deleterious effects of using anabolic steroids are thought to discourage their intake. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the athletes' knowledge about the long-term effects of anabolic steroids and their attitudes toward this type of drug. Multiple regression analyses indicated relatively low R2's and correlations between the various components of subjects' knowledge and their attitude toward steroid ingestion. This suggests that educational programs for athletes about taking anabolic steroids may have limited value in terms of creating appropriate, responsible attitudes toward this illegal, unethical, and medically questionable practice.