Measuring Drug and Alcohol Use Among College StudentAthletes

Objective – Few issues in athletics today receive more attention than drug and alcohol usage, especially when it comes to college athletics. The researchers seek to correctly address self-report biases related to banned drug usage and heavy drinking. Methods – The researchers employ an experimental measurement technique. Results –Their results suggest that an overwhelmingly greater percentage of studentathletes from a major conference knowingly engage in these two behaviors than selfreports indicate. Specifically, the researchers find 37% of respondents report having knowingly taken banned performance enhancing drugs (compared to 4.9% who directly admit to doing so when asked), and 46% consumed more than five drinks in a week (compared to about 3% who openly admit to doing so). Conclusions – The researchers provide clear evidence for the tremendous extent of selfunder-reporting when it comes to drug and alcohol usage among college athletes.