Factors Influencing the Likelihood of Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Adolescent Athletes: Type of Sport, Age, and Action Tendencies in Sport

This article proposes a new approach to understand substance use among adolescent athletes. Thus, this article describes an investigation of the likelihood of alcohol and tobacco use in adolescent athletes considering the type of sport, age, gender, and their action tendencies. A total of 552 athletes with an age range of 12-16 years were engaged in medium-high-contact sports (n = 291) and non-contact sports (n = 261). They completed the Children's Action Tendency Scale, the Sport Children's Action Tendency Scale, and the Personal and Social Responsibility Questionnaire. The results showed that 16-year-old athletes were the most likely to drink alcohol and to smoke tobacco (p < 0.001). Likewise, it was found that practicing a medium-high-contact sport was a risk factor for alcohol and tobacco use (p < 0.01). The more aggressive athletes were more likely to have smoked tobacco during the last month (p = 0.019) and also to drink more alcohol that the less aggressive ones (p < 0.001). Finally, the athletes who showed more submissiveness were less likely to have drunk alcohol in the last year and the last month (p < 0.001). These findings show the predictive value of new factors associated with alcohol and tobacco use among adolescent athletes. Preventive measures should be targeted, since a new link between the action tendencies in sport and substance use has been found.

Does Sport Participation Protect Adolescents from Alcohol Consumption? A Scoping Review

(1) Background: Participation in youth sports is believed to protect against alcohol consumption. Although this concept has been questioned for over 40 years, the review of methodologically reliable evidence data is scarce. This review summarizes the state of knowledge on the association between practicing sports and alcohol consumption among adolescents (10-19 years old) and its moderators. (2) Methods: The review covers only random-sample-based and population research. A systematic search was conducted on Scopus, PubMed, and WoS, for articles published between 2000 and 2021. From the 1944 identified records, 139 advanced to the full-text review, and 32 to the final data extraction and quality review. (3) Results: About two-thirds of the studies, including all the longitudinal ones, showed a positive association between sport participation and alcohol consumption. The most common mediators were gender (males were at higher risk), discipline (odds for team sports were higher, but professionalization could reduce it), and race, which intersected with gender, putting white males at the highest risk. (4) Conclusions: Further longitudinal research based on random samples using standardized indicators, including psychological and social variables, may provide more consistent outcomes and allow for the identification of mediating mechanisms.

When Students Patronize Fast-Food Restaurants near School: The Effects of Identification with the Student Community, Social Activity Spaces and Social Liability Interventions

US schools have fast-food restaurants nearby, encouraging student patronage, unhealthy consumption, and weight gain. Geographers have developed an activity space framework which suggests this nearby location effect will be moderated by whether people perceive the location as their activity space. Therefore, we study whether students perceive a fast-food restaurant near school as their activity space, and whether social marketing messages can change that perception. We conducted six studies: a secondary data analysis with 5986 students, a field experiment with 188 students, and four lab experiments with 188, 251, 178, and 379 students. We find that students who strongly identify with their student community patronize a fast-food restaurant near school (vs. farther away) because they view it as their activity space, while students who weakly identify do not. For example, in our field experiment, 44% vs. 7% of students who strongly identified with the student community patronized the near versus farther restaurant, while only 28% versus 19% of students who weakly identified patronized the near and farther restaurants comparably. We also find that to deter the strong identifiers, messages should convey that patronage is a social liability, e.g., portray student activism against fast food. We show that standard health messages do not change perceptions of restaurants as social activity spaces. Thus, to combat the problem of fast-food restaurants near schools causing unhealthy consumption, policy and educational interventions should focus on students who strongly identify with their student community and find ways to weaken their perceptions that fast-food restaurants near schools are their activity spaces.

Substance Use and Addiction in Athletes: The Case for Neuromodulation and Beyond

Substance use, misuse and use disorders continue to be major problems in society as a whole and athletes are certainly not exempt. Substance use has surrounded sports since ancient times and the pressures associated with competition sometimes can increase the likelihood of use and subsequent misuse. The addiction field as a whole has very few answers to how to prevent and secondarily treat substance use disorders and the treatments overall do not necessarily agree with the role of being an athlete. With concerns for side effects that may affect performance coupled with organizational rules and high rates of recidivism in the general population, newer treatments must be investigated. Prevention strategies must continue to be improved and more systems need to be in place to find and treat any underlying causes leading to these behaviors. This review attempts to highlight some of the data regarding the field of substance misuse and addiction in the athletic population as well as explore possible future directions for treatment including Neuromodulation methods and Ketamine. There is a need for more rigorous, high-quality studies to look at addiction as a whole and in particular how to approach this vulnerable subset of the population.

Das Polypill-Modell: Konzeptionelle Überlegungen zu den körperlichen, psychischen und sozialen Wirkungen des Sports

Hintergrund Angesichts seiner mannigfaltigen physiologischen Wirkungen wird Sport in der Literatur zunehmend als „Polypille“ bezeichnet. Sport gleiche demnach einem pleiotrop wirksamen Medikament. Die Sportwissenschaft kritisiert diese eher klinische Sichtweise als zu einseitig und warnt vor einer Medikalisierung des Sports.

Methode Der vorliegende Beitrag greift diesen Einwand auf und fasst die biopsychosozialen Wirkungen des Sports zusammen. Besondere Beachtung finden dabei die psychischen und sozialen Wirkungen sportlicher Aktivität. Die Überlegungen münden in einem konzeptionellen Modellentwurf, dem Polypill-Modell des Sports.

Ergebnisse Der Sport wird zunächst in seine Organisationsformen differenziert. Anschließend werden die individuellen Wirkungen sportlicher Aktivität auf körperliche, psychische und soziale Ressourcen beschrieben: Diese erstrecken sich auf motorische, also konditionelle und koordinative, Fähigkeiten, auf kognitive, emotionale und motivationale Aspekte sowie auf selbstbezogene und fremdbezogene Sozialkompetenzen. Wenngleich – insbesondere regelmäßiger – Sport körperliche, psychische und soziale Ressourcen zu stärken vermag, bergen beispielsweise unphysiologische Belastungen, mangelhafte Betreuung und normative Strukturen dennoch stets ein individuelles latentes Schädigungspotenzial. Darüber hinaus werden die sportspezifischen Sozialisations- und Enkulturationsprozesse unter den Begriffen „Sozialisation in den Sport“, „Sozialisation im Sport“ und „Sozialisation durch den Sport“ in das Modell integriert. So können viele im Sport erlernte – insbesondere psychische und soziale – Kompetenzen auch für andere Lebensbereiche von Bedeutung sein.

Schlussfolgerungen Unter dem Begriff der Polypille werden neben körperlichen auch psychische und soziale Wirkungen des Sports systematisiert. Das hier vorgeschlagene Polypill-Modell des Sports kann in der universitären und außeruniversitären Lehre ebenso eingesetzt werden wie in der konkreten Studien- und Trainingsplanung.

Association between sex, race/ethnicity, season, day of week, and alcohol use and related risks in college student athletes and nonathletes

Objective: To examine personal and social constructs (eg, sex, race) and external influences (ie, competition schedules) that are associated with the pattern and amount of alcohol consumption by student athletes compared to nonathletes. Participants: Students (n = 2,984; 57% female, 61% white, 16% athlete) on a single campus were surveyed in Fall 2011 and Spring 2012. Methods: Anonymous surveys included demographics, alcohol use, and related problems. Results: Student athletes consumed more alcohol than nonathletes, with male and white athletes posing the highest levels of risk for heavy consumption. Expanded examination of in- and out-of-season athletes found out-of-season athletes drink more frequently and more per occasion than their in-season peers. Athletes were more likely than nonathletes to drink on specific days of the week and daily patterns differed between in- and out-of-season athletes. Conclusions: The risk of athlete status is moderated by sex, race, season, and day of the week.

Evidencing Protective and Risk Factors for Harmful Alcohol Drinking in Adolescence: A Prospective Analysis of Sport-Participation and Scholastic-Achievement in Older Adolescents from Croatia

Background: The prevalence of alcohol drinking (AD) in Croatian adolescents is alarming, but there is an evident lack of prospective analyses of the protective/risk factors of AD. This study aimed to prospectively investigate the relationships between scholastic and sport factors and harmful alcohol drinking (HD) in older adolescents. Methods: The participants (n = 644, 53.7% females) were 16 years of age at study baseline and were tested at baseline and again 20 months later (follow-up). The predictors included four variables of scholastic achievement and four factors evidencing involvement in sport. Criterion was AD observed on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and results were later categorized into harmful drinking (HD) and non-harmful drinking (NHD). The HD at baseline, HD at follow-up and HD initiation during the study course were observed as criteria in logistic regression analyses, which were additionally controlled for confounders (age, gender, socioeconomic status, and conflict with parents). Results: With 22% and 29% adolescents who reported HD at baseline and follow-up, respectively, the prevalence of HD remains among the highest in Europe. Scholastic failure was systematically related to HD at baseline and follow-up, but scholastic variables did not predict HD initiation during the course of the study. The higher odds for HD at baseline were evidenced for current and former team sport athletes. Those who quit individual sport were more likely to engage in HD at follow-up. Longer involvement in sport (OR: 2.10, 95% CI: 1.18–3.72), higher sport result (OR: 3.15, 95% CI: 1.19–8.34), and quitting individual sport (OR: 13.13, 95% CI: 2.67–64.62) were predictive of HD initiation. Conclusions: The results indicated specific associations between sport factors with HD initiation, which is understandable knowing the high stress placed on young athletes in this period of life, mainly because of the forthcoming selection between junior (amateur) and senior (professional) level. The results did not allow interpretation of the cause-effect relationship between scholastic failure and HD in the studied period.

Associations of physical activity and sport and exercise with at-risk substance use in young men: a longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to measure the associations of physical activity and one of its components, sport and exercise, with at-risk substance use in a population of young men.

METHOD

Baseline (2010-2012) and follow-up (2012-2013) data of 4748 young Swiss men from the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF) were used. Cross-sectional and prospective associations between at-risk substance use and both sport and exercise and physical activities were measured using Chi-squared tests and logistic regression models adjusting for covariates.

RESULTS

At baseline, logistic regression indicated that sport and exercise is negatively associated with at-risk use of cigarettes and cannabis. A positive association was obtained between physical activity and at-risk alcohol use. At baseline, sport and exercise was negatively associated with at-risk use of cigarettes and cannabis at follow-up. Adjusted for sport and exercise, physical activity was positively associated with at-risk use of cigarettes and cannabis.

CONCLUSION

Sport and exercise is cross-sectionally and longitudinally associated with a low prevalence of at-risk use of cigarettes and cannabis. This protective effect was not observed for physical activity broadly defined. Taking a substance use prevention perspective, the promotion of sport and exercise among young adults should be encouraged.

Sport participation and alcohol and illicit drug use in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review of longitudinal studies

Sport participation can play an important and positive role in the health and development of children and youth. One area that has recently been receiving greater attention is the role that sport participation might play in preventing drug and alcohol use among youth. The current study is a systematic review of 17 longitudinal studies examining the relationship between sport participation and alcohol and drug use among adolescents. Results indicated that sport participation is associated with alcohol use, with 82% of the included studies (14/17) showing a significant positive relationship. Sport participation, however, appears to be related to reduced illicit drug use, especially use of non-cannabis related drugs. Eighty percent of the studies found sport participation associated with decreased illicit drug use, while 50% of the studies found negative association between sport participation and marijuana use. Further investigation revealed that participation in sports reduced the risk of overall illicit drug use, but particularly during high school; suggesting that this may be a critical period to reduce or prevent the use of drugs through sport. Future research must better understand what conditions are necessary for sport participation to have beneficial outcomes in terms of preventing alcohol and/or illicit drug use. This has been absent in the extent literature and will be central to intervention efforts in this area.

The consumption of alcohol mixed with energy drinks: prevalence and key correlates among Canadian high school students

BACKGROUND

An emerging body of research has reported high consumption of alcohol mixed with energy drinks among young adults, particularly college students. However, little is known about adolescents' consumption of these drinks. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of consumption of alcohol mixed with energy drinks and to examine its correlates among Canadian high school students.

METHODS

We used a nationally representative sample of 36 155 Canadian students in grades 7 to 12 who participated in the 2010/2011 Youth Smoking Survey.

RESULTS

About 20% of Canadian high school students reported consuming alcohol mixed with energy drinks in the last year, with considerable variation across provinces. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that the odds of consumption of these drinks were higher among students in lower grades (grades 7 and 8) and among students who identified their ethnicity as black or "other." Consumption of alcohol mixed with energy drinks was positively associated with substance use (current smoking [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19-1.95], past-year heavy drinking [adjusted OR 3.41, 95% CI 2.84-4.09] and marijuana use [adjusted OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.90-2.76]), absence from school, participation in school team sports and having more weekly spending money. Students who felt more connected to school and had an academic average of 70% or higher were less likely to consume alcohol mixed with energy drinks.

INTERPRETATION

The consumption of alcohol mixed with energy drinks is an emerging public health concern. Consumption of these drinks is substantial among Canadian high school students and can lead to many potential harms, both acute (e.g., injury) and long term (e.g., increased alcohol dependence). Our findings highlight the need for further research into the long-term effects of consumption of alcohol mixed with energy drinks among young people, as well as the development of interventions aimed at reducing consumption of these drinks.

Differences between Athletes and Non-Athletes in Risk and Health Behaviors in Graduating High School Seniors

Background

High school students involved in athletics may face additional stressors and engage in more problematic behaviors such as drinking, dieting, and gambling than non-athletes, especially as they near the end of their high school experience. Studies have in general found mixed results as to whether sports serve a protective factor or are a risk factor when it comes to a range of health behaviors.

Method

This study evaluated 653 seniors in high school who were admitted to a large, public, west-coast University, during the spring prior to college entrance, and compared 513 Athletes to 140 non-Athletes across a range of health behaviors.

Results

Those involved in sports were found to drink more than those who were not, and showed a trend for more gambling and dieting. Women athletes dieted significantly more than either male athletes or female non-athletes. Gender and ethnicity differences were found in health behaviors and were controlled for as covariates. Athletes were found to exercise more and spend less time playing video games and using the internet.

Conclusions

Athletic involvement is associated with increased incidence of some risky health behaviors while also being associated with decreased incidence of other problematic behaviors. Implications for understanding and designing prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.

Do coaches make a difference off the field? The examination of athletic coach influence on early college student drinking

Coaches can exert a considerable influence on the lives of their athletes. However, little is known about the influence of athletic coaches on athlete drinking behaviors. This study extends research on drinking influences in student-athletes. The relationship between athletic coaches and athlete drinking behaviors were examined. First-year college students (N=362) who had played high school sports were assessed on their relationships with their coaches as well as their alcohol use and problems. Findings revealed significant associations among the approval of and relationship with their athletic coaches and student drinking behaviors. These findings are discussed in the context of involving coaches in comprehensive strategies to reduce athlete drinking.

Substance use and exercise participation among young adults: parallel trajectories in a national cohort-sequential study

AIMS

This study examined the extent to which the trajectory of participation in sports, athletics or exercising (PSAE) covaried with substance use in early adulthood controlling for team sports participation using parallel process latent growth curve modeling.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Analysis of data collected from a series of panel studies using a cohort-sequential design. Specifically, the analyses used longitudinal data from 11 741 individuals from the graduating classes of 1986-2001, first surveyed as seniors in American high schools. Up to four additional follow-up surveys were administered to age 26 years. Data were collected using in-school and mailed self-administered questionnaires.

MEASUREMENTS

Level of PSAE, past-30-day alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use frequency and any past-30-day use of illicit drugs other than marijuana (IOTM) were the main processes of interest. Self-reported race/ethnicity, college status at age 19/20 years, parental education, gender and team sports participation during high school were included as covariates.

FINDINGS

Results indicate that higher initial levels of PSAE related to lower initial substance use prevalence rates other than alcohol, and lower initial prevalence rates of substance use then corresponded with lower substance use rates throughout early adulthood. Further, as individuals increased PSAE levels throughout early adulthood, the frequency of their use of cigarettes, marijuana and IOTM correspondingly decreased.

CONCLUSIONS

Increased participation in sports, athletics or exercising (PSAE) is related to significantly lower substance use frequency at modal age 18 and through significantly and negatively correlated growth trajectories through early adulthood. Encouraging PSAE among adolescents and early adults may relate to lower substance use levels throughout early adulthood.

Moderators of the relationship between physical activity and alcohol consumption in college students

OBJECTIVE

Among college students, several studies have found a positive relationship between physical activity and alcohol use. The current study tested gender, Greek status, and ethnicity as potential moderators of the physical activity-alcohol use relationship.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were college freshmen (n = 310) endorsing alcohol/drug use.

METHODS

Students completed questionnaires assessing a number of health behaviors.

RESULTS

Results indicated that gender and Greek status were significant moderators of the relationship between physical activity and alcohol consumption. There was a positive relationship between physical activity and alcohol use for men and Greeks, but not for females and non-Greeks.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that exercise does not serve as a protective factor for any of the subgroups of college students studied and is positively associated with drinking among college students who are men and/or involved with the Greek system.

Sports participation and problem alcohol use: a multi-wave national sample of adolescents

BACKGROUND

Sports participation, though offering numerous developmental benefits for youths, has been associated with adolescent alcohol use. Differences also exist between men/boys and women/girls in both sports participation and patterns of alcohol-related behaviors, but there are few longitudinal investigations of this relationship.

PURPOSE

This study investigated the relationship between school-based sports participation and alcohol-related behaviors using data from a multiwave national study of adolescent men/boys and women/girls.

METHODS

Nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, collected between 1994 and 2001, were analyzed in 2009 (n=8271). Latent growth modeling, accommodating the complex sampling design, was applied to examine whether participation in school-based sports was associated with initial levels and change in problem alcohol use over three waves of data collection.

RESULTS

After taking into account time-invariant covariates including demographics and other predictors of alcohol use, greater involvement in sports during adolescence was associated with faster average acceleration in problem alcohol use over time among youths who took part in only sports. The findings suggest, however, that the relationship between sports participation and problem alcohol use depends on participation in sports in combination with other activities, but it does not differ between men/boys and women/girls.

CONCLUSIONS

Sports may represent an important and efficient context for selective interventions to prevent problem alcohol use and negative consequences of alcohol use among adolescents.

Fatores associados ao uso pesado de álcool entre estudantes das capitais brasileiras

OBJETIVO: Analisar a associação entre o uso pesado de álcool entre estudantes e os fatores familiares, pessoais e sociais. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal realizado com estudantes de dez a 18 anos de escolas públicas de 27 capitais brasileiras, em 2004. Os dados foram coletados por meio de questionário anônimo, de autopreenchimento, adaptado de instrumento desenvolvido pela Organização Mundial da Saúde. A amostra representativa, composta por 48.155 estudantes, foi estratificada por setores censitários e por conglomerados (escolas). Associações entre o uso pesado de álcool e os fatores estudados foram analisadas por meio de regressão logística, considerando nível de significância de 5%. RESULTADOS: Do total de estudantes, 4.286 (8,9%) fizeram uso pesado de álcool no mês anterior à entrevista. A análise por regressão logística mostrou associação entre relações ruins ou regulares com pai (OR=1,46) e mãe (OR=1,61) e uso pesado de álcool. Seguir uma religião (OR=0,83) mostrou-se inversamente associado a este tipo de consumo de álcool. A prática de esportes e o fato de a mãe se percebida como liberal não mostraram significância no modelo. Houve maior prevalência de uso pesado de álcool entre os estudantes que trabalhavam. CONCLUSÕES: Ligações familiares mais coesas e seguir uma religião podem prevenir o uso abusivo de álcool entre estudantes.

A qualitative comparison of parent and adolescent views regarding substance use

Substance use is a major cause of adolescent morbidity and mortality. By age 14, 70% of adolescents have consumed alcohol and half of 12th graders report having used marijuana. The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of parent and adolescent perceptions regarding adolescent use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) to enhance the development of effective prevention programs. Six adolescent focus groups and one parent focus group participated. Results were derived following elicitation of adolescents' and parents' beliefs regarding adolescent ATOD use and current prevention programs. Findings indicate that current prevention programs are ineffective; ATOD use is normalized by schools, community, and family; positive adult role models deter use; and programs should involve youth, parents, schools, and community. Focus group discussions can strengthen the development of tailored ATOD prevention programs. School nurses can foster collaboration between families, schools, and communities to reduce adolescent substance use.

Does sports participation during adolescence prevent later alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use?

AIMS

To study whether participation in organized sports during adolescence predicts increased smoking of tobacco, alcohol intoxication and cannabis use from late adolescence to adulthood when controlling for potential confounders. Moreover, to study whether such increased drug use varies according to type of sport (team versus individual), main skills needed (endurance, strength or technical) and level of competition.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Survey of national sample of Norwegian high school students (aged 13-19 years) in 1992 (T1) followed-up in 1994 (T2), 1999 (T3) and 2006 (T4) (n = 3251).

MEASUREMENTS

Outcome measures included smoking of tobacco and 12-month prevalences of alcohol intoxication and cannabis use, respectively. Confounders included pubertal timing, friends' drug use, perceived social acceptance, grades and parental socio-economic status.

FINDINGS

Latent growth curve analyses showed that initial level of participation in organized sports predicted growth in alcohol intoxication. Those involved initially in team sports had greater growth in alcohol intoxication, but lower growth in tobacco use and cannabis use, during the adolescent and early adult years compared to those involved in technical or strength sports. Practising endurance sports, as opposed to technical or strength sports, predicted reduced growth in alcohol intoxication and tobacco use.

CONCLUSIONS

Sports participation in adolescence, and participation in team sports in particular, may increase the growth in alcohol intoxication during late adolescent and early adult years, whereas participation in team sports and endurance sports may reduce later increase in tobacco and cannabis use.

Adolescent pathways to adulthood drinking: sport activity involvement is not necessarily risky or protective

AIMS

Use pattern-centered methods to examine how adolescents' alcohol use and sports activities are related both to childhood sport and problem behavior and to heavy drinking in early adulthood.

DESIGN

The data used in this study come from four waves of the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions (MSALT) that began in 1983, when participants were approximately age 12, and continued into early adulthood, when participants were approximately age 28.

PARTICIPANTS

Sixty per cent of the approximately 1000 MSALT youth living in south-eastern Michigan were females and 97% were European American. Approximately 28% of one or both parents held at least a college degree, and 45% held a high school diploma or lower.

FINDINGS

Pattern-centered analyses revealed that the relation between adolescent sport activity and age 28 heavy alcohol use obtained primarily for sport participants who were also using more than the average amount of alcohol and other drugs at age 18. Similarly, children who were characterized by relatively high levels of sport participation, aggression and other problem behavior at age 12 were more likely than expected by chance to become sport participants who used more than the average amount of alcohol and other drugs at age 18.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that childhood problem behavior and adolescent sport participation can, but do not necessarily, presage heavy drinking in adulthood and that pattern-centered analytical techniques are useful for revealing such theoretically generated predictions.

Re-Assessing the Relationship between High School Sports Participation and Deviance: Evidence of Enduring, Bifurcated Effects

Despite its longstanding popular appeal, the idea that athletic activity is a deterrent to crime and delinquency suffers from a distinct lack of empirical support. This paper tests the hypotheses that the relationship between high school sports participation and deviance varies by both type of deviant behavior and level of athletic involvement. The analysis is based upon longitudinal data focusing on the effects of involvement in high school sports, the country's largest institutional setting for youth sports participation, in early adulthood. We find that the relationship between athletic involvement and deviance varies significantly depending upon the deviant behaviors examined. Specifically, we find that shop-lifting decreases with sports participation, while drunken driving increases. Moreover, these effects extend further into the life course (age 30) than has been demonstrated in any previous study and hold across all our measures of sports participation. Several potential explanatory mechanisms are evaluated. The implications of these enduring, bifurcated effects are discussed.

Athletic Involvement and Adolescent Delinquency

Athough conventional wisdom suggests that organized sport deters delinquency by building character, structuring adolescents' time, and providing incentives for socially approved behavior, the empirical evidence to date has been mixed. Based on a sample of approximately 600 Western New York adolescents, the present study examined how self-reported jock identity, school athlete status, and frequency of athletic activity differentially influenced a range of delinquent behaviors. Neither athlete status nor frequency of athletic activity predicted these behaviors; however, jock identity was associated with significantly more incidents of delinquency. This finding was robust across both gender and race. Follow-up analyses indicated that jock identity facilitated both minor and major delinquency, with major delinquency effects for white but not black adolescents.