According to the United States Department of Justice, 0.5% of the adult population in the United States (approximately 1,084,000 people) self-administer anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) in order to improve male-specific traits . The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that a half million junior high school-aged children in the United States use AAS for this same purpose. Worldwide, a significant number of amateur and professional athletes use AASs to increase physical size, strength and athletic performance. The adverse health effects of AAS abuse has recently prompted the Endocrine Society to re-publish a formal position paper detailing their impacting not only on users, but also on society. AAS abuse has had far reaching effects in professional athletics, with highly publicized cases of athletes attempting to obtain a competitive advantage by their use. In recent news, the use of steroids to increase competitive edge has even caused the expulsion or threat of expulsion of national teams at the Rio Olympics. Certainly, there can be a political cost to misusing steroid hormones in the quest for performance enhancement. But what are the physiological and behavioural costs of AAS abuse?

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