Consumption Behaviors of Energy Drinks and Comparison of Associated Factors Among College Students in Gwangju

DaWun Seo; Bok Hee Kim

doi:10.5720/kjcn.2018.23.4.289

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Seo and Kim: Consumption Behaviors of Energy Drinks and Comparison of Associated Factors Among College Students in Gwangju

Research Article

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2018; 23(4): 289-301.

Published online: 31 August 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2018.23.4.289

Consumption Behaviors of Energy Drinks and Comparison of Associated Factors Among College Students in Gwangju

DaWun Seo, Bok Hee Kim

Department of Food and Nutrition, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.

Corresponding author: Bok Hee Kim. Department of Food and Nutrition, Chosun University, 309 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61452, Korea. Tel: (062) 230-7721, Fax: (062) 225-7726, kimbh@chosun.ac.kr

Received 7 August 2018 Revised 24 August 2018 Accepted 24 August 2018

The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study was to examine the current status of consumption of energy drinks among college students and investigate the effects of general environmental factors, health behavior factors, caffeine knowledge levels, and perceived stress levels on consumption of energy drinks.

Methods

A survey was conducted among a total of 479 college students in Gwangju, using self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of items about general environmental factors, health behavior, caffeine knowledge, perceived stress, and energy drink consumption behaviors.

Results

69.1% of participants experienced consumption of energy drinks, and specifically 82.8% of male students and 54.1% of female students experienced consumption of energy drinks (p<0.001). The reasons for drinking energy drinks were found to be recovery from fatigue, curiosity, taste, habit, thirst relief, and stress relief. In addition, 40.7% of participants experienced drinking energy drinks mixed with alcohol, and specifically 48.6% of male students and 27.4% of female students reported drinking energy drinks with alcohol (p<0.001). Moreover, 51.5% of participants responded that they experienced the effects of energy drinks, 31.9% reported experiencing adverse effects, and 41.1% were found to perceive the health risks. As a result of the assessment of caffeine knowledge, the participants showed a high level of knowledge of the arousal effect (77.7%) and the concentration increasing effect (70.8%) of caffeine, whereas they exhibited a low level of understanding of the health problems due to caffeine (32.6%) and adequate caffeine intake levels (24.4%). The higher levels of consumption experience of energy drinks was associated with higher body mass indexes (BMI) (p<0.01), higher academic years (p<0.01), lower levels of interest in health (p<0.05), smoking (p<0.001), alcohol consumption (p<0.05), and higher levels of perceived stress (p<0.05).

Conclusions

The risk groups related to consumption of energy drinks among college students were identified as male students rather than female students, students in the third or fourth year of study associated with increased stress levels, and students with negative health behaviors. Therefore, support for diverse health and nutrition education for college students is required along with the improvement of internal and external environments of schools in order for college students to manage increased stress levels due to the schoolwork and preparation for employment and maintain positive health behaviors.

Keywords: energy drinks, health behavior, caffeine knowledge, perceived stress, college students

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristics of the subjects

1) Mean ± SD

2) BMI (Body Mass Index)

3) N (%)

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001 significantly different by t or χ² test

Table 2

Health related characteristics of the subjects

1) N (%)

*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001 significantly different by χ²-test

Table 3

Stress awareness and score of the subjects

1) Mean ± SD

*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001 significantly different by t-test

2) Sum of stress scores: min 20 – max 100

Table 4

Energy drink consumption behaviors of the subjects

1) N (%)

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001 significantly different by χ²-test

Table 5

Experience effects and adverse effects of energy drink in the subjects

1) N (%)

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001 significantly different by χ²-test

Table 6

Caffeine knowledge of the subjects

1) N (%)

2) Sum of caffeine knowledge: min 0 – max 9.

3) Mean ± SD

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001 significantly different by χ²-test

Table 7

General & health related characteristics between energy drink users and non-users

1) N (%)

^*: p<0.05, ^**: p<0.01, ^***: p<0.001 significantly different by χ²-test

Table 8

Stress types and score between energy drink users and non-users

1) N (%)

^*: p<0.05 significantly different by χ²-test

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the research grant of the Chosun University in 2015

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ORCID iDs: Bok Hee Kim
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9762-0948
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