Drug use among college students and the discrepancies among intramural, club, and varsity athletes

College athletes are found to be more likely to engage in drug use, especially alcohol, performance enhancing drugs, and tobacco products compared to non-athletes. However, most published findings are based on studies of varsity athletes and less on athletes of intramural and club sports. The purpose of this study is to compare drug use among undergraduate non-athlete students and athlete students in varsity, intramural, and club sports. Data collected in falls 2009, 2010 and 2011 by the American College Health Association (ACHA) National College Health Assessment Survey (NCHA-II) were analyzed using SAS statistics package. Descriptive data were first inspected, followed by logistic regression tests. Of the total of 66,834 surveys analyzed, 20,940(31.3%) participated in varsity, club, and/or intramural sports. While a higher percentage of cigarette smoking was found among non-athlete students, student athletes in general were more likely to report alcohol use. Intramural and club sports athletes were more likely to report marijuana use and varsity athletes were more likely to use steroids. Except steroid, varsity athletes were least likely to use illegal drugs. Logistic Regression test revealed different patterns of drug use across the four group study population, controlling for gender, race, age, region and year of data collection. Our findings suggest the need of strengthening drug education and prevention among college athletes in intramural and club sports where drug policy is implemented less strictly. Several drug use theories will be discussed to explain the discrepancies of drug use among the study population, especially the college athlete groups.