Taylor Hooton reportedly “colored his hair and looked twice when he passed a mirror (Longman, 2003)” and “…was always concerned about his looks (Kix, 2004). In combination with a reported desire to be bigger suggests potential body dissatisfaction (e.g., Pope, Phillips, & Olivardia, 2000) which is associated with both AAS use (Cafri, Thompson, Ricciardelli, McCabe, Smolak, & Yesalis, 2005) and suicide (as a form of “socially-prescribed perfectionism”; Boergers et al., 1998). He had “low self-esteem” (Longman, 2003), a family history of depression (mother) and suicide attempt (sister) (Longman, 2004) and was taking anti-depressant mediation (Lexapro) (Ardis, 2005). [Interestingly, a Mail Tribune (8-10-2004) headline (Landers, 2004) seemed to echo the parents’ sentiments in these cases, reading "Drug leads to son’s suicide, family says" – but it was actually referring to Lexapro. See both Garland, 2004 and Valuck, Libby, Sills, Giese, & Allen, 2004 for a discussion of antidepressants and adolescent suicide]. His AAS use was allegedly motivated by wanting to excel at baseball (Numerous sources including father’s testimony), although some sources have suggested it had more to do with personal appearance and status.
]
