Substance Use Among Collegiate Athletes Versus Non-athletes

Purpose: To supplement the literature on substance misuse by collegiate athletes by expanding the number of substances typically examined and include mental health symptom covariates related to both sleep and substance use. Methods: Substance use was assessed with the following item: "Within the last 30 days, on how many days did you use?" with a list of 17 substances. Multinomial logistic regression analysis examined each substance variable as outcome and athlete status as predictor. Results: Findings of the fully adjusted model indicated that compared to non-athletes, collegiate athletes were most likely to be past users of alcohol, occasional users of smokeless tobacco, alcohol, and steroids, and frequent users of smokeless tobacco. Conclusions: The significant differences shown between collegiate athletes and non-athletes may reflect differences in intentions to improve performance, pain management, and stress management. Future studies should seek to elucidate the underreported and self-reported phenomena among this population.