ArticlePsychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors2012
Fitness supplements as a gateway substance for anabolic-androgenic steroid use.
Article in Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The cross-sectional relationship between body dysmorphic disorder and perfectionism: a meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- The association between muscle dysmorphia and eating disorder symptomatology: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2019Pooled it
- Polypharmacy among anabolic-androgenic steroid users: a descriptive metasynthesis.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2015Pooled it
- Dietary Supplement Use and Doping Attitudes: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Anabolic Androgenic Steroids: Emerging Use Disorder, Mechanisms of Action, and Clinical Considerations for Pharmacotherapy.Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) · 2026Article
- Physical activity and improvement of physiological parameters by training.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Review
- From scroll to sale: online media engagement predicts adolescents' online supplement purchases in a nationally representative cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Anabolic Steroid Initiation Among Boys and Young Men After Use of Muscle-Building Supplements.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Use of Sport Supplements and Doping Substances by Athletes: Prevalence and Relationships.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- A mixed-methods longitudinal examination of weight-related self-monitoring and disordered eating among a population-based sample of emerging adults.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Article
- Dietary supplementation habits in international natural bodybuilders during pre-competition.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Investigating anabolic-androgenic steroid dependence and muscle dysmorphia with network analysis among male weightlifters.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Androgenic-anabolic steroids use among bodybuilders in western Iran: application of ridge logistic regression model.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2023Article
- Online information and availability of three doping substances (anabolic agents) in sports: role of pharmacies.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Correlates of weight-related self-monitoring application use during emerging adulthood in a population-based sample.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2022Article
- Appearance and performance-enhancing drugs and supplements, eating disorders, and muscle dysmorphia among gender minority people.The International journal of eating disorders · 2022Article
- Athletes' use of analgesics is related to doping attitudes, competitive anxiety, and situational opportunity.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2022Article
- Appearance and performance-enhancing drugs and supplements (APEDS): Lifetime use and associations with eating disorder and muscle dysmorphia symptoms among cisgender sexual minority people.Eating behaviors · 2022Article
- Toxicological Characterization of GHB as a Performance-Enhancing Drug.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
- Motivators of Indiscriminate and Unsafe Supplement Use among Young Australians.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Approximately 3.0% of young Americans have used anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). A traditional model of adolescent substance use, the gateway hypothesis, suggests that drug use follows a chronological, causal sequence, whereby initial use of a specific drug leads to an increased likelihood of future drug use. Therefore, the use of illicit appearance and performance enhancing drugs (APED), such as AASs, also follows an analogous progression, whereby legal APEDs, (e.g., nutritional supplements) precedes illicit APED use. We examined the relationship between nutritional supplement use, beliefs about APEDs, and APED use in 201 male (n = 100) and female (n = 101) undergraduates. Participants completed measures of muscle dysmorphia (MDDI), body checking (BCQ, MBCQ), eating disorder symptoms (EDE-Q), perfectionism (FMPS), positive beliefs about the efficacy-safety of AAS use and APED use patterns. A series of covariance structure models (CSM) showed body image disturbance, compulsive exercise, illicit drug use, and perfectionism, independent of gender, were significant predictors of positive beliefs about AAS. Those who used both fat burning and muscle building supplements reported the strongest beliefs in AAS efficacy-safety, which was associated with higher likelihood of current illicit APED use. There was evidence of significant indirect relationships between supplement use and illicit APED use through contact with other AAS users and beliefs about AAS. The potential role for nutritional supplement use in the initiation of illegal APED use is discussed. Future prevention efforts may benefit from targeting legal APED users in youth.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.