SynthesisPsychopharmacology2021
Anabolic-androgenic steroid administration increases self-reported aggression in healthy males: a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies.
Synthesis in Psychopharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Investigating the effects of single-dose intranasal testosterone on economic preferences in a large randomized trial of men.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Trial
- Effects of testosterone enanthate on aggression, risk-taking, competition, mood, and other cognitive domains during 28 days of severe energy deprivation.Psychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- "Injecting yourself there is stigma around it; taking a few tablets is not too bad, is it?": understanding perceptions and preferences of anabolic-androgenic steroid route of administration.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Muscle Dysmorphia and Anabolic Steroid-Related Psychopathology: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Psychological traits associated with anabolic androgenic steroid use and dependence: an exploratory cross-sectional study among female athletes.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Relationship Between Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use, Aggression, and Narcissism in Male Bodybuilders.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Testosterone therapy for functional hypogonadism in middle-aged and elderly males: current evidence and future perspectives.Hormones (Athens, Greece) · 2024Review
- We want healthy athletes and fair competition.British journal of sports medicine · 2024Article
- Supraphysiological testosterone levels from anabolic steroid use and reduced sensitivity to negative facial expressions in men.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Exploring the influence of stress on aggressive behavior and sexual function: Role of neuromodulator pathways and epigenetics.Heliyon · 2024Review
- Improvement of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in three adult men during testosterone treatment: a case series.Journal of medical case reports · 2022Article
- No association between psychiatric symptoms and doses of anabolic steroids in a cohort of male and female bodybuilders.Drug testing and analysis · 2022Article
- The Role of Testosterone in the Elderly: What Do We Know?International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- An Individualized Approach to Managing Testosterone Therapy in the Primary Care Setting.International journal of general medicine · 2022Review
- Generating evidence on the use of Image and performance enhancing drugs in the UK: results from a scoping review and expert consultation by the Anabolic Steroid UK network.Harm reduction journal · 2021Article
- Aggression and Psychological Distress in Male and Female Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Users: A Multigroup Latent Class Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- A Mixed-Method Evaluation of a Prison Anti-doping Intervention: The Hercules Prison Program.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleAggression and irritability are notable psychiatric side effects of anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use. However, no previous study has systematically reviewed and quantitatively synthesized effects reported by experimental studies on this topic.
objectiveWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effect of AAS administration on self-reported and observer-reported aggression.
methodsTwelve RCTs comprising a total of 562 healthy males were identified through systematic searches of MEDLINE, PsycInfo, ISI Web of Science, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library.
resultsAfter excluding one outlier, AAS administration was associated with an increase in self-reported aggression under a random-effects model, albeit small (Hedges' g = 0.171, 95% CI: 0.029-0.312, k = 11, p = .018), and when restricting the analysis to the effect of acute AAS administration on self-reported aggression under a fixed-effect model (g = 0.291, 95% CI: 0.014-0.524, p = .014). However, the above effects were neither replicated in the analysis of observer-reported aggression nor after restricting the analysis to the effects of the administration of higher (over 500 mg) and long-term (3 days to 14 weeks) doses.
conclusionsThe present meta-analysis provides evidence of an increase, although small, in self-reported aggression in healthy males following AAS administration in RCTs. Ecologically rational RCTs are warranted to better explore the effect of AAS administration on aggression in humans.
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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.