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Anabolic Steroid Misuse Among US Adolescent Boys: Disparities by Sexual Orientation and Race/Ethnicity
Aaron J Blashill1, Jerel P Calzo1, Scott Griffiths1
1Aaron J. Blashill and Jerel P. Calzo are with San Diego State University, San Diego, CA. Scott Griffiths is with University of Canberra, Bruce, Canberra, Australia. Stuart B. Murray is with University of California, San Francisco.
Objectives:
To examine the prevalence of anabolic steroid misuse among US adolescent boys as a function of sexual orientation and race/ethnicity.
Methods:
We analyzed boys from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 6248; mean age = 16), a representative sample of US high school students. Lifetime prevalence of anabolic steroid misuse was dichotomized as never versus 1 or more times.
Results:
Sexual minority boys reported elevated misuse compared with heterosexual boys, within each level of race/ethnicity. Black, Hispanic, and White sexual minority boys reported misuse at approximately 25%, 20%, and 9%, respectively.
Conclusions:
Sexual orientation health disparities in anabolic steroid misuse disproportionally affect Black and Hispanic sexual minority adolescent boys, but more research is needed to understand the mechanisms driving these disparities.
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