...Sports and Substance Abuse By Amanpreet Sekhon Under the Direction of Natasha Sessoms, MA At Unitek College Introduction Sports are becoming more relevant as a major influence in the life of a human. The relationship between drug abuse in sports and society adds a different perspective on how sports effects individuals, and perhaps even society as a whole. Unfortunately, society seems to view ‘winning’ as something which is more important than the game itself. Success in sports brings fame, popularity, and may even impact scholarships and university entrance for many individuals. The societies’ demands and expectations from sports are rising over time. Society seems to view ‘winning’ as something which is more important than the game itself; consequently, the influence of drugs in competitive sports is becoming more relevant. Overview The urge to win or watch your favorite team win is becoming a societal expectation and norm. Athletes feel that they need to take drugs to help them to perform and win in the respective sport they are competing in. Whether you are watching, playing it, or talking about it, sports are becoming a major entertainment and a major part of the life of a human. Data from Lloyd D. Johnston (May 2007), reveals that 2.7% of twelfth graders utilized steroids, while 1.8% and 1.6% for the tenth and eighth graders respectively. Youths can easily be influenced into using steroids from peer pressure or the need...
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...Why do some entertainment or sports figures engage in self-destructive activities? The reason why entertainment and sports figures engage in self-destructive activities could be due to the way they were raised as a child. That means they grew up in a non materialistic household, because the important things were paying the bills, and trying to keep a roof over their head. The only thing that is required of them is to go to school get your education, play some sports or join the fine arts department. They have completed all the requirements of the home life. Now they make it in the big. They are in a whole new league. Their egos have gone from I’ve come from a poor background with local attention to making getting all this attention on a national level. They now have more money than they are use to having. They can now afford the luxuries that everyone else has. The first thing that the buy is the biggest car that is fully loaded, they shop in stores that were never thought of before, because the money wasn’t there. Everybody is their friend, even the people that talked down to them. They were into substance abuse on the low end, and now that they are in the big league they have moved up to the higher end of the substance abuse, they are going out partying every night of the week, they go to the local bar and buys rounds of drinks for everyone. The famous status has now made them aware that the local scene is not enough. Because of their financial status they can now afford...
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...Annotated Bibliography Drugs in Sport Calum Thouless Legend 2154980 (Kumar Neeraj, 2011) Spelling - Red Grammar - Green Sentence construction - Yellow Incorrect reference - Blue In this article Kumar Neeraj, Paul Maman and Sandhu J.S perform a survey to increase their knowledge and insight as to why the supporting factors of psychological and social could potentially lead players towards using drug abuse substances. The authors gained primary data by conducting surveys which 303 players participated in, with the questions consisting of performance enhancing attitudes, perfectionism and motivation among other factors. Their research focuses on reviewing the player’s answers to their surveys and their opinions on the different factors which could lead to drug abuse. This article is helpful to me as it indulges into the players own personal opinions on what factors lead to drug abuse in sports and there are multiple surveys in which these opinions are portrayed. The main limitation of the article is that the 303 participants were all in the age group of 18 to 35 which limits the opinions to older/former players or athletes. The authors of this article mention how much of this research is restricted to an individual’s perception rather than a whole team’s perception and that more in depth research needs to be conducted in order for this entire subject to be concluded. (Nadra E. Lisha, 2010) In this article the authors review data of 34 peer-reviewed quantitative...
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...society. When I say society, I am rather referring to a more predominant superior subculture, the professional athlete that can easily be held accountable for the cultivation and spread of steroids. This “high-class” group can denote the contrary of ethics; that is, revealing actions which tend to expose a sense of narcissistic personal qualities that hinder our beliefs of what is right and what is wrong. At one point or another, performance enhancing substances outspokenly seem to enter every professional athlete’s mind. The issue of steroids or any performance enhancing drugs in this matter has significantly heightened recently and seems to be a legitimate issue within professional sports. In an attempt to meet expectations and standards, reduce the pressures to perform, and alleviate public scrutiny, many professional athletes are left quivering in fear whether or not to take the two-faced drug that’s so readily adhered to by many. In my attempt to explore the mainstream issue of steroids in professional sports, I wish to focus on three imperative aspects that will help assist in the configuration of such a prevailing concern. How do steroids operate in the body? The biological construction of steroids is essential and must be deconstructed in order to interpret and understand exactly what these drugs are, how they function, and their main objective. What drives athletes to such inhuman decisions to use performance enhancing drugs such as steroids? Every athlete...
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...Garret Necaise 5/7/12 PSY 435 TuTh 11:00-12:15pm Article Critique #1 (Addiction Theories) “Television addiction: Theories and Data Behind the Ubiquitous Metaphor” This article was presented in the American Psychological Association by Robert Mcllwraith, Robin Jacobvitz, Robert Kubey, and Alison Alexander. Mcllwraith is the head of the Department of Clinical Health Psychology and the director of the Rural and Northern Psychology Program. Jacobvitz is a Psychology educator and consultant in Albuquerque, NM. Kubey is the professor of Journalism and Media Studies, and director of the Center for Media Studies at Rutgers University. Alexander has a Ph.D in Communication at Ohio State and has taught research methods, writing, media and society, and seminars in children and television. The reader population for this article is focused on an interest or relation to television addiction. The authors wrote this to present four theoretical models of television addiction derived from existing psychological data on this subject. These models are valuable because they give the reader a viewpoint on where this type of addiction is based from: the television's effects on imagination, the arousal level affected from the effect of television, a manifestation of a dependent or addictive personality, and a pattern of uses associated with the television medium. However, it still remains to be determined whether or not this use of television for effect modulation represents a significant...
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...Drug use has reached an all-time high in the sports arena. The need to succeed, be among the elite, financial gain, and the pressure to win are some of the many reasons that drugs are found in sports today. Drugs in sports range from therapeutic drugs, performance enhancement drugs, and recreational drugs. Drugs in sports are found on various levels of competition such as: high school, college, and professional sports. High school athletes' are using enhancement drugs so that they may receive a college scholarship, collegiate athletes' are using drugs so that they make it to the professional level, and professional athletes' are using drugs to make sure that they stay among the elite. Drug use in athletics have led to suspensions of players, athletes being banned from that particular sport, and ultimately death. There are many reasons for using drugs in sports, with performance enhancement being one of the top reasons, but no one will ever understand why athletes risk their career and lives. A concern for the public is the fact that athletes assume these risks just to be among the top competitors of sports. Drugs are a danger to the health of athletes. Drug use to enhance performance is unethical, and using drugs is illegal in today's society. Drugs in sports is unethical because the focus of winning and succeeding overshadows the real reasons for playing sports such as the love for a sport, natural talent and ability, and hard work to be among the elite. Athletes are thinking...
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...Brian Breslin Sports Finance 3/17/15 Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports In a world where everyone is looking for a way to gain an advantage on their competition, professional sports are no exception. In the past thirty years we have seen the rise and fall of the notorious steroid era surrounded by the pre-steroid era and its ongoing fallout. Each of our four main professional sports leagues, The NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB, have all had their own specific bouts with the same controversial issue; each of the four main sports leagues have all had to come up with their own interpretations, rulings, punishments, and general code of conduct when it comes to handling situations involving Performance Enhancing Drugs or PEDs. To further understand the issue of PEDs in domestic sports here in the US you need to take a step back and look at some of the larger scale events that effected what turned out to be the “steroid era”. Starting off in 1988 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his Olympic Gold Medal for testing positive for an anabolic steroid. Less than two months after Ben Johnson had his medal taken away, President Ronald Regan signed an act outlawing non-medical steroids sales as a part of his war on drugs; less than two years later congress passed the Anabolic Steroids Control Act which placed steroids in the same legal class as other drugs such as amphetamines, opium, and morphine. Scandal brought legal action, legal action turned into more strict legal action...
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...Addiction: Stemming from Drug and Substance Abuse I. Introduction Addiction is a monster; it lives, and feeds off of you, takes from you, controls you and destroys you. It is a beast that tears you apart, rips out your soul, and laughs at your weakness. It is a stonewall that stands to keep you in and the rest out. It is a shadow that always lurks behind you, waiting to strike. Addiction lives in everyone’s mind, sitting, waiting (A prisoner in his own body, n.d.). Addiction is defined as the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma (Dictionary.com, n.d.). It has been reported that there is an increasing rate of drug and alcohol abuse whereas 23.5 million people are involved including children at 12 years of age. The given information has alarmed the populace regarding the said issue due to its adverse effects. Drug addiction is a detrimental vicious cycle as it threatens one’s health and society; however, this could be combatted. Considering that addiction is a crisis faced by numerous individuals, I would like awareness to be entailed by discussing its causes, possible solutions, and preventions. (Transition: What could be the possible causes of addiction?) II. Body Substance and drug abuse often lead to addiction as these are caused by curiosity, stress, and peer pressure. Curiosity drives people, especially teenagers, to try drugs. Adolescence...
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...The Causes and Effects of Doping in Sport Hou Juin Yew, Calvin B1201067 HELP University Outline I. Introduction A. Opener : The history of doping in sports B. Thesis statement: There are few causes that is undergone family problems, huge amount of debts, cope with a live of stress and face a lot of pain during training and few effects that lead in to problems in body function and mental effects. II. The causes of why athletes dope in sports. A. Family problems B. Huge amount of debts C. Live of stress D. A lot of pain in training III. The effect in the body function of a person when a person dope in sport. A. The uses of steroid in sports 1. The diseases when dope in sports 2. The body function of a person B. The uses of stimulants in sports 1. The type of drugs and the problems C. The uses of peptide hormones 1. Type of peptide hormone and the effects of the substances IV. The effect in the mental problems A. The type of disease that effect the mental problems V. Conclusions The Causes and Effects of Doping in Sport Doping in sport is means the use of drug to increase the performance of an athletic above average in an athletic competition...
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...George Louis-Jean James Flemings English Comp I 4/26 /13 Steroids in Sports Should athletes be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs in order to improve their performance? Steroid usage in sports has long been a real big issue for many athletes both professional and amateur. Steroids are not allowed in any sport however; some athletes do take the chance by using performance-enhancing drugs in order to increase the chances of a successful outcome in a competition. Many athletes have been banned from participating in certain sports because they were convicted of taking steroids. In light of this, one can only wonder how many top athletes have won events due to the use of steroids. There are many sides to the debate of whether or not athletes should be able to use steroids. Despite health reasons there are quite a few people who do believe that athletes should be allowed to use performance- enhancers. On the other hand, there are those who believe that steroids should not be used. First, in the current sports arena , professional athletes are known to have well paid salaries and because steroids have the potential to improve performances and to heal injuries, it is not surprising that research activities have been enhanced to develop better and acceptable alternatives for testosterone. The Germans had started taking steroids during the 1960s in order ...
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...Due to Major League Baseball’s so called “Steroid Era,” it was necessary for congress to step in and take control of the situation. Before congress did their investigation, Major League Baseball did not have strict enough rules to punish players who tested positive with any kind of steroid. Also before congress took control of the situation, there was a variety of drugs that players could use during that time that Major League Baseball had not banned or were not considered a “performance enhancing drug”. Even though the so called “Steroid Era” brought fans back to the game of baseball after the lockout in 1994, it not only damaged the reputation of baseball but it also damaged the purity of the sport. Not only did it affect baseball’s reputation and purity of the game, it also affected the fans who dreamt of playing in Major League Baseball. Now we will focus the main reasons why congress took control of the steroid issue that surrounded Major League Baseball. First, Major League Baseball along with Congress noticed the issue of steroids due to Jose Canseco, an ex-major leaguer, who came clean about the steroid issue in his book titled Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ’Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big. In this book, Canseco explained how he taught a variety of players how to inject steroids and how it would benefit them in the future. Throughout his book, Canseco provided details as to the players, who later broke many records; that he taught how to use steroids. For example...
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...2016;106(5):872-880. Available from: Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson), Ipswich, MA. Accessed July 22, 2016. The disparity among young adults who use drugs in the United States of America has been highly an intense topic of studies. The article "Health Disparities in Drugs and Alcohol Use Disorder" was written by a group of researchers who study the racism and the ethnicity of pervasiveness of substance use disorder in youth during their twelve years after incarceration. The authors ways of reason on how the black youth are more likely to...
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...are the health risks. What is a performance enhancing substance? “A substance or method is considered to be performance-enhancing when it has the potential to enhance or enhances sport performance” “It also represents an actual or potential health risk to an athlete”(Performance-Enhancing Drugs and Their Side-Effects.) There are physical and mental effects of taking the drugs. “The physical effects could be acne, male pattern baldness, liver damage and stunted growth if you’re still an adolescent”( Effects of Performance-Enhancing Drugs | USADA). “More serious effects include heart and liver damage, and an increased risk...
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...COMM 1101 Outline On Steroid Use Introduction: I. Typical steroid users tend to be around our age, this mainly includes high school and college athletes and models trying to improve their body. II. There are pros and cons to steroid use. Steroids have been around for a long time and have been studied in depth by doctors, but there is still inconclusive evidence on the long-term effects of them. III. Steroids are used to enhance performance, build lean muscle mass, and improve overall appearance. Numerous amounts of people are taking steroids some knowing and others not, depending on the type. IV. I’ll discuss steroids for medical uses, recreational use, and the side effects of anabolic steroid use. Transition: Now that we understand the basic concepts of steroids lets go into further detail on their uses. Body: I. There are many ways steroids can be taken by a user. A. First, Some anabolic steroids are taken orally, others are injected intramuscularly, and still others are provided in gels or creams that are rubbed on the skin. Doses taken by abusers can be 10 to 100 times higher than the doses used for medical conditions. B. Second, most users rely on peoples opinions on dosages on forums, in the gym or playing field. These people have no medical background and have no right to recommend you a dosage. 1. Anabolic cycles last anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks 2. After this period you must take a PCT to keep gains and get your natural...
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...An athlete’s health should be the highest priority, and therefore the harmful substances should stop being used. Although, in some cases, anabolic steroids are used to promote muscle growth when you have AIDS or another disease that prevents muscle development, athletes use much more than what is normally prescribed. The National Institute of Drug Abuse attests to the fact that “People who abuse anabolic steroids usually take...doses...10 to 100 times higher than doses prescribed to treat medical conditions.” (NIDA, 1) The fact that these athletes are taking much more than the prescribed dosage shows that they don’t care about their health, and doing it to get ahead. Scarily enough, given the scenario “You are offered a banned performance-enhancing substance that comes with two...
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