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Article
Publication date: 17 June 2011

Dawn‐Marie Walker and Hercules Eli Joubert

This study seeks to gain some understanding about the attitudes of anabolic‐androgenic steroid (AAS) users towards the media and whether their constructs of masculinity are…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study seeks to gain some understanding about the attitudes of anabolic‐androgenic steroid (AAS) users towards the media and whether their constructs of masculinity are influenced by this. It also aims to explore their attitudes towards health information.

Design/methodology/approach

A self‐completion questionnaire containing 35 items of both open and closed questions was designed for the study. All participants were English‐speaking, injecting male steroid users, 16 years or older whose trigger for using was confidence and self‐esteem, and were registered clients at either of the two included UK needle exchange services.

Findings

Participants and other AAS users were open about their use to each other, but not to people external to that sub‐culture. They denied media influence, although they thought that most men in the media with muscular bodies used AAS. They associate masculinity with strength and muscle. They seemed knowledgeable about the health implications of AAS, but would not tell a health professional unless asked directly. There appears to be a sub‐culture normalisation regarding AAS use, with the trivialisation of health messages, their minimisation of the possibility of negative effects happening to them, and comparison of oneself to others they regard as inferior in some way.

Originality/value

The paper explores the need for a credible and non‐judgmental source of information for users of AAS.

Details

Drugs and Alcohol Today, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1745-9265

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Abstract

Details

Drugs and Alcohol Today, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1745-9265

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