Abstract
Objectives: Energy drink consumption among adolescents has become a notable global phenomenon, and has been associated with numerous negative health outcomes. In order to understand the popularity of energy drinks among adolescents, and to target interventions, it is important to identify the determinants underpinning consumption. Methods: The nationally representative data (cross-sectional) were drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) surveys, conducted in 2014 and 2018, each comprising 13- and 15-year-old Finnish adolescents (n = 7405). Results: Weekly energy drink consumption increased among Finnish adolescents between 2014 (18.2%) and 2018 (24.4%), especially among girls. In 2018, boys typically consumed more than girls, and 15-year-olds more than 13-year-olds. Moreover, in 2018, weekly energy drink consumption was more prevalent among 15-year-old adolescents with a non-academic educational aspiration (46.0%) than among adolescents with an academic aspiration (18.3%). Gender (boys more than girls), older age (only in 2018), less parental monitoring, lower school achievement, and a lower level of health literacy explained around 28% of the variance in weekly energy drink consumption in both years. Conclusion: According to the findings, interventions to decrease the energy drink consumption, should be targeted at all adolescents, but especially at those with fewer individual resources. The interventions should also pay attention to family-level factors.
Highlights
Adolescence is a period of rapid physical and psychological changes, and cognitive development [1], within which health-related behaviors begin to form, creating a base for future health [2]
The proportion of adolescents not consuming energy drinks was higher among girls (58.9%) than boys (40.4%), and among 13-year-olds (56.2%) than 15year-olds (43.1%)
Consumption increased from 2014 to 2018, suggesting that energy drinks have not lost their popularity among Finnish adolescents, despite the fact that these beverages are inappropriate for this target group [9,10,11]
Summary
Adolescence is a period of rapid physical and psychological changes, and cognitive development [1], within which health-related behaviors begin to form, creating a base for future health [2]. The consumption of caffeine-based and carbonated energy drinks, containing plant-based stimulants [3] and other ingredients [4], has become a global phenomenon. Their consumption by adolescents has been associated with numerous negative health outcomes, including cardiovascular symptoms [5], psychological symptoms, and headaches [5,6,7]. National recommendations regarding these beverages have been established in Finland [8], with the aim of limiting their. In Europe mandatory labeling has been established for products with added caffeine content, indicating that the drinks in question are not recommended for children [11]
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