Athletes and Drug Use: A Brief Consideration of Recent Research Literature
This 10-page graduate paper considers recent research literature concerning drug use and athletes, synthesizing the results of recent studies in order to draw conclusions from current findings. This paper considers that certain patterns exist in recent scholarly literature concerning the discourse surrounding drug use among athletes. Using scholarly research articles, this paper posits that many researchers share a specific set of concerns today. Much of the recent research stresses the use of drugs - including recreational drugs and performance-enhancing drugs - by student athletes. Most of these studies tend to be comparative in nature, analysing the differences in drug use between student athletes and non-athlete students. In the fewer scholarly projects, which stress professional athletes, emphasis is placed on the abuse of legal or legally nebulous substances such as medications, vitamins and nutritional supplements. Much of the current literature is concerned not only with halting the improper use of drugs by athletes, but is also concerned with examining the reasons behind drug use in the athlete population. This paper suggests that a number of gaps exist in the current literature. Specifically, not enough studies currently concern professional athletes or those athletes who have successfully resisted or overcome drug use. Examining this problem from such angles may allow future researchers to stress active solutions rather than mere surveillance of existing drug use.
