Theory of mind in users of anabolic androgenic steroids

Abstract

Rationale Anabolic androgenic steroids are used to improve physical performance or increase lean muscle mass. About one-third of users develop a dependency syndrome, which is characterized by elevated rates of psychopathology, cognitive impairments, and aggressive and antisocial behaviors. The mechanisms behind these intra- and interpersonal problems are not known. Objective To examine theory of mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to infer the mental state of others, in users of anabolic androgenic steroids. Reduced ToM may be one factor underlying the interpersonal problems that have been reported with prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids. Methods The Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) was used to assess ToM. Study participants were male/female weightlifters who used anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS, n = 34/9), who were dependent on anabolic androgenic steroids (AASdep, n = 44/7), and a non-using weightlifting comparison group (WLC, n = 69/16). Results Analyses of variance showed that the AASdep group performed significantly worse than the WLC group, for all MASC measures (total ToM, cognitive ToM, affective ToM, overmentalizing/undermentalizing errors). Sex and sex x group interaction effects were non-significant. Conclusions Male and female weightlifters who were dependent on anabolic androgenic steroids had impaired ToM. Their reduced social cognition may be one contributing factor to the elevated rates of antisocial behavior reported in this population.

Sexual Dimorphism in Language, and the Gender Shift Hypothesis of Homosexuality

“…The use of anger-related words is positively correlated with circulating testosterone levels and with polymorphisms in the androgen receptor gene (Mascaro et al, 2018), which make cells more susceptible to the masculinising influence of testosterone. These findings indicate the existence of a plausible biological mechanism (Geniole et al, 2019;Luoto et al, 2019a) which creates sex differences in anger-related language use as well as other psychobehavioural sex differences, including peoplethings orientation, risk-taking, and theory of mind (Khorashad et al, 2018;Luoto, 2020b;Vaskinn et al, 2020;Luoto and Varella, 2021). Furthermore, the finding of higher angerrelated words and sexual words in lesbian authors relative to heterosexual women is consistent with existing findings on psychobehavioural masculinisation in non-heterosexual women, including higher sociosexuality, sensation-seeking, psychopathy, and incarceration rates compared with heterosexual women (Luoto et al, 2019a,b) (though see Gil-Llario et al, 2015 who reported lower sexual sensation seeking in self-identified lesbians than in heterosexual women).…”

Funcionamiento Cognoscitivo en Usuarios de Esteroides Anabólico-Androgénicos: Revisión Sistemática/Cognitive Performance in Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Users: A Systematic Review

“…En la revisión sistemática se incluyeron 7 estudios, de los cuales el 42.9% de las investigaciones fueron realizadas principalmente en Noruega (n = 3;Bjørnebekk et al, 2019;Hauger et al, 2020;Vaskinn et al, 2020), seguido por Inglaterra con el 42.9% (n = 3; Heffernan et al, 2015;Kanayama et al, 2013;Kaufman et al, 2015) y Estados Unidos con el 14.2% (n = 1; Hildebrandt et al, 2014). En cuanto a la población, la mayoría de los estudios estuvieron dirigidos a hombres (n = 6) y solo uno incluyó a mujeres.…”

Androgen abuse and the brain

“…The sample size of animal models ranged from 20 to 149, and the sample size of studies in humans ranged from 1 to 229. The majority of studies included all male samples, with one animal model [ 12 ] and one human study [ 13 ] stating that females were included in the sample.…”

“…Non-dependent androgen users demonstrated worse impulse inhibition and working memory relative to nonusers. Furthermore, in a related study, both male and female weightlifters who were dependent on androgens demonstrated impaired theory of mind, suggesting that prolonged androgen use may also impair social cognition [ 13 ]. However, it is important to note the cross-sectional nature of these studies, making it difficult to establish causality, and it is possible that reduced executive functioning and impaired theory of mind could be a premorbid risk factor for use and dependence.…”