Individual, Parental, Peer, and Media Correlates of Energy Drink Consumption Among Middle School Students

Introduction: Energy drink consumption among youth is prevalent and linked to several negative outcomes. Research is needed which explores the correlates of this behavior particularly among younger samples. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the associations between sensation seeking, parenting (solicitation and disclosure), peer energy drink use, media use and energy drink consumption among a sample of middle school youth.

 Methods: Participants were 374 11–15 year old (M age=12.4) adolescents (63% female; 54% white) from four urban middle schools. Students completed a self-report survey assessing a variety of health behaviors during classroom time. Sensation seeking was assessed with the 8-item Brief Sensation Seeking Scale. Parental Solicitation and Child Disclosure were each measured with 5 items from Stattin & Kerr. Peer energy drink use assessed the number of friends who used energy drinks (none to all of them). Total media use was created by summing the number of hours students watched television, played video games, were on social networking sites, used the internet other than social networking, and used smartphone apps. Energy drink consumption assessed the number of times energy drinks were consumed in the past month (never to all 30 days) and was dichotomized to represent any use of energy drinks in the past month. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine associations between sensation seeking, parenting, peer energy drink use, media use, and energy drink consumption controlling for gender and age. Models were run with each correlate independently (with the exception of parental solicitation and child disclosure which were included in one model) and as an overall model with all correlates included.

 Results:  Findings for the independent models indicated that higher levels of sensation seeking (OR=3.4, 95% CI 2.3, 5.0), greater number of friends who used energy drinks (OR=2.3, 95% CI 1.8, 3.0), and higher levels of media use (OR=1.2, 95% CI 1.1, 1.2), were each associated with increased odds of energy drink consumption. Higher levels of child disclosure were associated with decreased odds of energy drink consumption (OR=0.5, 95% CI 0.3, 0.7). Parental solicitation was not significant. The overall model indicated that when adjusting for each correlate, gender, and age, sensation seeking (OR=2.4, 95% CI 1.6, 3.7), peer use (OR=1.8, 95% CI 1.4, 2.5), and media use (OR=1.1, 95% CI 1.03, 1.2) remained significant while parental solicitation and child disclosure were not significantly associated with energy drink consumption.

 Conclusions: Very little research has explored the individual, peer, parental, and media correlates of energy drink consumption, particularly among middle school youth. Similar to work in the field of substance use, sensation seeking, peer energy drink use, and media use were all associated with increased risk of energy drink consumption. While independently associated with energy drink consumption, parenting did not remain a significant predictor once these other factors were included in the model. Future research is needed which explores the associations longitudinally.