Abstract

The objective of this paper is to determine the impact of anabolic steroids on the self-efficacy of basketball and football adolescent players. In order to discover that, a survey has been conducted in Madrid, Spain, with a sample of 216 football and basketball players (60.19% males and 39.81% females) with a mean age of 16.2. The questionnaire had five simple questions, and the results show that even without having used steroids, the players rated very high the possible impact they would have on their performance (confidence to play better against the opposite team 7.3, confidence to contribute positively to the team victory 7.0), even higher than an appropriate technical or physical training. These results suggest that, anabolic steroids are an important problem among adolescents, and educational programs to increase the knowledge of anabolic steroids are needed for this age group that is in clear risk. Information should come not only from the government and media, but also from coaches, teachers, trainers and parents.

Key words: Anabolic steroids, football, basketball, self-confidence, adolescent.