Objective: Our aim was to assess the frequency of stimulant-use and link it to OSC of young sporting men.
Method: The target population comprised young men playing in an ice-hockey (IH) or a floor-ball (FB) team in the metropolitan area in Finland. The cross-sectional data were collected at the training sessions during autumn 2012. The participants filled-in anonymously a one-page questionnaire on OSC, smoking, drinking alcohol and taking snuff. In the analyses, any frequency of stimulant-use defined users. Age, life circumstances and parents’ education served as background information. A total of 224 team-members were reached; their mean age was 16.4 years (SD=0.9). Statistical evaluation included chi-squared tests, correlation coefficient and logistic regression.
Result: Of all, 50% reported less-than-twice-daily toothbrushing, 32% used sugary drinks on daily basis and 21% reported smoking; IH-players dominated (p=0.03) in use of alcohol (78% vs. 59%) and snuff (53% vs. 32%). Weekly-users were less frequent: 10% for smoking, 9% for alcohol-use, 30% for taking snuff. Use of one stimulant correlated with others (r= 0.29-0.51), but not with toothbrushing (r=0.05-0.10) or sugary drinks (r=0.01-0.05).
Logistic regression revealed the strong relations between stimulants: smoking was more likely (OR=11.3) for those using alcohol or snuff; taking snuff was more likely for smokers (OR=17.6) and alcohol-drinkers (OR=9.2); alcohol-use was more likely for smokers (OR=3.5) and snuff-users (OR=8.9). Infrequent toothbrushing (<2x/day) linked to daily sugary drinks (OR=2.4) and less-than-optimal use of xylitol (OR=6.6), but not to stimulant-use. Life circumstances and family background remained insignificant in all models.
Conclusion: Stimulant-use among young sporting men was alarmingly frequent calling for early interference. Stimulant-use and OSC were not linked indicating different dimensions of behavior.