Energy drink expectancies among college students

Abstract

Objective

Since the late ‘90 s, energy drink consumption has increased. The purpose of this investigation was to examine energy drink expectancies of college students. Participants: The university registrar randomly selected fifty university classes to be surveyed. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used to assess the prevalence of energy drink consumption and energy drink expectancies. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to ascertain which expectancies explained energy drink consumption. Results: The expectancy factors of 1,246 participants accounted for 25.8% of the variance in past 30-day energy drink consumption. Energy enhancement, anxiety/negative physical effects, withdrawal, and appetite suppression were each found to be significantly related to energy drink consumption. Conclusions: Energy enhancement and anxiety/negative effects were the strongest predictors of energy drink consumption among college students. The results from this study can be used to design interventions to challenge erroneous expectancies and reinforce others that promote moderation or abstinence.

Keywords:

• College students
• energy drinks
• expectancies
• other drugs
• substance use

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Toledo.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.