Adolescent Steroid Use and Intercollegiate Athletic Incentives

We examine the relationship between college athletic scholarships and adolescent use of performance enhancing drugs. Annually, 4.5 million male high school athletes compete for about 132,000 athletic scholarships o_ered by NCAA Division I and II universities. Estimates from a probit model of self-reported steroid use among US adolescent males using data from the YRBSS suggest each sanction-related athletic scholarship reduction at NCAA institutions in a state increases the probability that high school males in that state report using steroids by 3%. Competition for athletic scholarships generates incentives for adolescent males to improve athletic performance through use of steroids.