Beliefs, Behaviors, and Contexts of Adolescent Caffeine Use: A Focus Group Study

Abstract

Background: Caffeinated products are widely available to adolescents, and consumption of caffeine products—energy drinks and coffee in particular—is on the rise in this age group (Branum, Rossen, & Schoendorf, 2014). Yet, little is known about the psychosocial context of caffeine use. Previous studies on adolescent caffeine use have focused on caffeine's acute physiological effects, rather than the psychosocial contexts and beliefs regarding different types of caffeinated beverages (e.g., coffee, energy drinks, soda). Objectives: The current research examines the contexts and beliefs associated with adolescents' use of caffeinated beverages (e.g., coffee, energy drinks, soda) using a focus group approach. Methods: Eleven focus group interviews (49 total participants) addressed adolescents' motivations for and patterns of caffeine use; they were transcribed and axial coding was used to identify common themes. Results: Coffee and energy drinks were perceived to be the most popular caffeinated beverages. Reasons for consuming caffeine included the effect of caffeine as a stimulant, the pleasant feelings experienced when drinking it, and the fact that caffeine was available. As for contexts, coffee was consumed in more diverse social contexts than other caffeinated beverages. Friends and sports were the most popular contexts for energy drink use. Conclusions: The present findings inform adolescent health promotion efforts and provide researchers and practitioners alike detailed information in adolescents' own words about how and why they use caffeine. Adolescents' beliefs about caffeinated products are not uniform; the reasons adolescents articulate regarding their use of coffee, soda, and energy drinks are different across contexts and beverage type.

KEYWORDS:

• Caffeine
• energy drinks
• coffee
• soda
• focus groups

Acknowledgments

ABL conceived of the research study and its design, helped with axial coding and analysis of the data, and coordinated and drafted the manuscript; EMO participated in the data collection, performed the axial coding and analysis of the data and drafted the manuscript; KEP participated in the interpretation of the data and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors wish to acknowledge the help from Amy Wolfson and Jumi Hayaki in designing the focus group study and from the undergraduate research assistants from the College of the Holy Cross who performed the focus group interviews as well as Nguyen Tran who helped with the axial coding of the focus group manuscripts.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.