• Students are the participants and members,
• Teachers and coaches are present,
• Adults who have trained for long periods of time are absent,
• Studies have shown that aggression and competition between students is substantially less,
• Workouts are a social occasion, rather than for the goal of bulking up and getting big,
• Workouts in school-based gyms tend to be more sporadic than the workouts of participants in commercial gyms, and
• School gyms are monitored closely for substance use.

Unlike commercial gyms where monitoring is absent and therefore encourages steroid use, school gyms are often associated with education, prevention, and intervention for youth on teams or involved in activities that are seen as �high risk.� School gyms have the reputation for being a safer environment for the youth predisposed to abusing steroids. It is harder to access the drugs, as well as learn how to use them.

Although many athletes claim to �feel good� on a steroid regimen, as soon as the drug cycle stops, bouts of depression, and withdrawal take effect. Adolescents often turn to steroids to increase their well being and confidence because of feelings of inadequacy or invincibility. Although the adolescent will turn to steroids for reasons that, in their minds, are legitimate, external pressures from friends and teammates may have a larger impact on the youth than has been recognized thus far in research.

Adolescents fall victim to many stereotypes and marketing techniques from the media. Through a continuance of cycling, youth increase mass, repetitions, and sets during weight lifting activity to continue to change their physical appearance to be more desirable in their eyes. While onlookers see these changes, the youth fails to notice, and so becomes involved in a cycle of addiction and competition with themselves.

Research has shown that youth engaging in strength activities, such as weight lifting, are often working out with or around older athletes. The motivation for many adolescents to become involved with steroid use is to gain the adult status that their body is prepared to give them through the performance enhancing effects of the drug, but that society denies them.

Becoming increasingly vulnerable to the lure of steroids, adolescent girls seeking to stay thin are at an increased risk with the greater availability of the drugs. Wanting a perfect, thin, muscular body, steroid-promoting media promises decreased body fat and increased lean muscle mass. Most information and data about adolescent females fails to talk about individual competition and rationale for use, other than the presence of eating disorders and a desire to be thin.

In adolescent males, competition for self-perceived acceptance and superiority is often the driving force behind steroid abuse. Despite the legal ramifications, steroid use remains prevalent in competitive sports.