New frontiers in IPEDs and polydrug use: Knowledge gaps and new perspectives

Abstract

First paragraph: Historically, image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs) have generally been tied to one of two populations and motivations in public discourse and in the scholarly debate: the consumption of doping substances for a competitive advantage in elite sports and the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) in gym and fitness contexts for body image purposes (see: Andreasson & Henning 2021). Across these contexts, and although IPEDs encompass a wide range of substances that can be used for different enhancement purposes, the scholarly debate has come to focus largely on steroids and its connection to men and masculinity. However, such stark characterizations of IPEDs, their use, and motivations have served to obscure the complexity of individuals’ use trajectories and experiences, as well as the processes leading to drug engagement in the first place. Indeed, it has served to obscure broader understandings of how and why these substances are used among different populations, alone or simultaneously with other substances. But things change and new perspectives are finding their way into both discourse and research.