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Unlike substances such as steroids, there are generally no physiological performance-related advantages to using recreational substances like alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine. Nonetheless, recreational drug use, especially alcohol use, has long been linked with athletics. In Europe a formal relationship between the alcohol industry and athletics goes back several hundred years, and today alcohol companies are among the most important commercial sponsors of organized sports. Additionally, there have been several high-profile athlete deaths involving recreational drug use, including cocaine overdoses and auto accidents when driving while intoxicated.

A number of research studies have found those who participate in athletics consume more alcohol and engage in more high-risk drinking than those who do not. Several national research studies on college students in the United States have found that intercollegiate athletes are considerably more likely than other students to engage in heavy drinking. Not surprisingly, these studies have also found that college athletes are more likely than non-athletes to experience negative health, social, and legal consequences as a result of their drinking. Studies among youth, high school, professional, and recreational athletes are not as comprehensive, but most indicate that those who participate in athletics consume more alcohol than those who do not. Others studies have shown that sports fans drink more heavily than do non-fans. In contrast, research seems to indicate that participating in sports serves as somewhat of a protective factor against other recreational drug use, as studies have shown that youth and college-aged individuals participating in sport are less likely than others to use substances such as marijuana and cocaine.

There are several theoretical explanations as to why athletes tend to drink more than non-athletes. These include athletes being under more pressure than non-athletes (e.g., balancing academics and athletics), athletes having high levels of personality traits associated with alcohol use (e.g., impulsivity), the larger cultural link between alcohol and sport, athletes having more social opportunities than other individuals, and a perceived norm regarding the social behaviors expected of athletes. Few research studies have explored these possibilities, however, so the exact reasons athletes tend to drink more than non-athletes remain unknown.

The reasons that athletes seem to use drugs (other than alcohol) less often than non-athletes do are also largely unknown. Many professional and collegiate sporting organizations engage in random drug testing that could serve as a deterrent, although comprehensive research studies on the effects of drug testing programs in sports are lacking. Some research indicates that one of the common reasons college athletes report not using recreational drugs is concern for their health, so it is possible that the negative health effects of substances like cocaine and marijuana are salient for those participating in athletics. Finally, it is possible that the overall culture of athletics, while somewhat permissive regarding alcohol use, implicitly and explicitly discourages the use of other recreational drugs.

Over the past 10 years research studies have shown that brief, individualized interventions are effective in the general population at reducing alcohol and other drug use, especially those that utilize the motivational interviewing framework or alcohol and drug skills training. Motivational interviewing is a nondirective approach, often incorporating personalized feedback regarding one's behaviors, which is designed to enhance one's desire to change his or her behaviors. Alcohol and drug skills training programs are designed to help the individual develop specific strategies for reducing his or her substance use. Research studies have shown that many athletes are exposed to education-based substance abuse prevention programs, but these education-only programs generally have been shown to be ineffective at reducing substance use. However, a handful of recent studies have provided promising support for using motivational interviewing or skills training programs to reduce substance use, specifically among athletes. Adaptations of these types of programs that address considerations unique to athletes, such as the impact of substance use on an athlete's sport performance, may prove to be particularly effective.

Bibliography:

1) Damm, John and Patricia Murray. 2002. "Alcohol and Other Drug Use among College Student-Athletes." Pp. 185-220 in Counseling College Student-Athletes: Issues and Interventions, 2nd ed., edited by E. F. Etzel, A. P. Ferrante, and J. W. Pinkney. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.

2) Elliot, Diane L., Esther L. Moe, Linn Goldberg, Carol A. DeFrancesco, Melissa B. Durham, and Hollie Hix-Small. 2006. "Definition and Outcome of Curriculum to Prevent Disordered Eating and Body-Shaping Drug Use." Journal of School Health 76:67-73.

3) Mottram, David R., ed. 2006. Drugs in Sport. 4th ed. New York: Routledge.

4) National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2001. "NCAA Study of Substance Use Habits of College Student-Athletes."

5) Nelson, Toben F. and Henry Wechsler. 2001. "Alcohol and College Athletes." Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 33:43-47.

6) Peretti-Watel, Patrick, Valerie Guagliardo, Pierre Verger, Jacques Pruvost, Patrick Mignon, and Yolande Obadia. 2003. "Sporting Activity and Drug Use: Alcohol, Cigarette and Cannabis Use among Elite Student Athletes." Addiction 98:1249-56.

7) Stainback, Robert D. 1997. Alcohol and Sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

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