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Energy Drink Consumption and Associations With Demographic Characteristics, Drug Use and Injury Among Adolescents

  • Quantitative Research
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Canadian Journal of Public Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To examine energy drink consumption and its association with demographic characteristics, drug use, and injury among adolescents.

Methods

Data on 4,342 adolescents were derived from the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, a province-wide school-based survey of students in grades 7 through 12. The survey was based on a two-stage cluster design and analyses include appropriate adjustments for the complex sample design.

Results

Overall, 49.6% of adolescents had consumed energy drinks in the previous year. A total of 13.8% of seventh grade students had consumed energy drinks in the previous week compared to 19.1% of adolescents overall. Energy drink consumption in the previous year was highly associated with having used tobacco and cannabis in the previous year, the non-medicinal use of prescription drugs in the previous year, and binge drinking in the previous month. Consumption was also highly associated with sensation-seeking and self-reports of medical treatment for an injury (reported by 16% and 42% of adolescents, respectively). The odds of consuming energy drinks did not vary significantly for males and females, and sex was not a significant moderator of the associations examined.

Conclusion

These findings support the need for greater awareness of the extent of energy drink consumption among individual adolescents and the potential that additional health and behavioural risks may be associated with consumption.

Résumé

Objectifs

Examiner la consommation de boissons énergisantes et son association avec le profil démographique, la consommation de drogue et les traumatismes chez les adolescents.

Méthode

Les données sur 4 342 adolescents provenaient du Sondage sur la consommation de drogues et la santé des élèves de l’Ontario (2011), une enquête provinciale menée en milieu scolaire auprès des élèves de la 7e à la 12e année. Le sondage était planifié selon un échantillonnage en grappe en deux étapes, et les analyses ont été adaptées à la complexité du plan d’échantillonnage.

Résultats

Globalement, 49,6% des adolescents avaient consommé des boissons énergisantes au cours de l’année précédente. En tout, 13,8% des élèves de 7e année en avaient consommé au cours de la semaine précédente, contre 19,1% des adolescents dans l’ensemble. La consommation de boissons énergisantes au cours de l’année précédente était fortement associée à la consommation de tabac et de cannabis au cours de l’année précédente, à l’utilisation de médicaments sur ordonnance à des fins non médicinales au cours de l’année précédente et aux excès occasionnels d’alcool au cours du mois précédent. La consommation était aussi fortement associée à la recherche de sensations fortes et aux déclarations autonomes de soins médicaux pour traumatisme (déclarées par 16% et 42% des adolescents, respectivement). La probabilité d’avoir consommé des boissons énergisantes ne variait pas sensiblement entre les garçons et les filles, et le sexe n’était pas une variable modératrice significative dans les associations examinées.

Conclusion

Ces constatations confirment le besoin de mieux connaître l’ampleur de la consommation des boissons énergisantes par les adolescents et la possibilité que cette consommation soit associée à des risques supplémentaires pour la santé et le comportement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell St., Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada

    Hayley A. Hamilton PhD, Angela Boak MA & Robert E. Mann PhD

  2. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Hayley A. Hamilton PhD & Robert E. Mann PhD

  3. St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Gabriela Ilie PhD

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Gabriela Ilie PhD

Authors
  1. Hayley A. Hamilton PhD
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  2. Angela Boak MA
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  3. Gabriela Ilie PhD
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  4. Robert E. Mann PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hayley A. Hamilton PhD.

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Conflict of Interest: None to declare.

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Hamilton, H.A., Boak, A., Ilie, G. et al. Energy Drink Consumption and Associations With Demographic Characteristics, Drug Use and Injury Among Adolescents. Can J Public Health 104, e496–e501 (2013). https://doi.org/10.17269/cjph.104.3998

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.17269/cjph.104.3998

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