MARIJUANA USE

Marijuana Use amongst Your Male Athletes in Professional Sports

Marijuana Use amongst Your Male Athletes in Professional Sports

Substance use among intercollegiate athletes generally reflects patterns exhibited by their non-athlete peers, despite the potential for negative consequences on one's athletic performance, team cohesion, and athletic eligibility. Although researchers have primarily focused on etiological factors associated with alcohol use among athletes, less research has focused on illicit drug use. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug among college students, as up to 30% of undergraduate students report marijuana use in the past year, and between 16-22% report uses in the past month (Ajzen, 1985). Consistent with prevalence estimates among college students in general, results of a national study of intercollegiate athletes indicated 28.4% of athletes used marijuana in the past year, second only to alcohol use (80.5%)(Ajzen, 1985). Further, athletes reporting marijuana use were more likely to engage in heavy episodic drinking than athletes who did not report marijuana use (Ajzen, 1985). Research has shown that college students who use both alcohol and marijuana are at heightened risk for incurring alcohol-related problems (Shillington & Clapp, 2001; Simons, Gaher, Correia, Hansen, & Christopher, 2005). Thus, a greater understanding of social factors associated with marijuana use among athletes might inform interventions targeted at reducing marijuana-related consequences, as well as marijuana use in relation to alcohol use.

Problematic marijuana use is associated with psychological and physical consequences (Ajzen, 1991). Even short-term use can have potentially debilitating and residual effects, particularly for student-athletes. These may include loss of coordination and poor sense of balance, decreased reaction time, reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration and coordination, and altered motivation and cognition (Ajzen, 1980)). Moreover, marijuana use has been shown to be associated with poorer academic performance (Ajzen, 1980) these effects may impede the ability of athletes to stay healthy to maximize performance in both competitive and academic settings.

Theoretical approaches to positive and negative health behaviors may illuminate the antecedents to risky substance use. The theory of Reasoned Action (Aiken, 1991) for example, and its extension, the theory of Planned Behavior (Aiken, 1991)), identify subjective norms, personal attitudes, and perceived behavioral control as key determinants in predicting personal behavior. The TPB labels subjective norms as the perceptions of whether important others (or a peer referent group) approve or disapprove of a behavior. This theory purports that many decisions young adults make about behavioral choices are influenced by the perceived acceptability of that decision by one's peers. The TPB has been applied as a framework for understanding a wide range of behaviors including substance use (Berkowitz, 2004).From the perspective of TPB, both attitudes towards substance use and normative beliefs about the specific substance use of fellow group members are expected to predict intentions to engage in that behavior.

The key element of normative beliefs influencing intentions has been further extended by another theory, described as the social norms approach, which has been widely used to study college students' substance use behaviors. This theory suggests that the majority of college ...