Adolescents seem to love the high they get from caffeine. However they may pay a price for this due to side effects from too much caffeine. Elsevier Health Sciences reported, more education could help adolescents cut down on consumption of caffeine. Therefore the negative outcomes of caffeine consumption could be lessened with more instruction according to a new study.
Caffeine has become the most widely available and most widely used psychoactive substance in the entire world. This is the only drug which is legally accessible and socially acceptable for children and adolescents to consume. According to some studies adolescents are among the fastest-growing population which uses caffeine. It appears about 83.2 percent of adolescents consume caffeinated beverages regularly and at least 96 percent consume them occasionally.
Researchers from Brescia University College created a study aimed at determining attitudes and beliefs as well as factors which influence caffeinated beverage consumption among adolescents. In this study one of the most commonly cited reasons for adolescents to choose a caffeinated drink was the perceived alertness which the drink would offer them and which students believed would help them study better. Due to an awareness of negative health effects of too much caffeine consumption among many adolescents the researchers concluded more education could lead to better decision-making dealing with caffeine intake.
This study has been published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. Researchers have explored adolescents’ attitudes and beliefs dealing with the consumption of caffeinated beverages and factors which influence their choice of caffeinated beverage and their consumption patterns. Reasons which adolescents identified for using caffeine included providing them with energy, good taste, accessibility, and enhancement of their image. Parental role modeling, social norms, and media and advertising were among the influences for caffeine use which were most noted by participants in the study
Although awareness levels dealing with types of caffeinated beverages and their negative health effects were found to be high in adolescents an awareness of other aspects of caffeine itself and recommended amount of consumption levels were found to be low. It has been concluded that more education is necessary to correct the misconceptions which many adolescents have in regard to certain aspects of caffeine. With effective educational strategies there would be more of a potential to lower the use of caffeine among adolescents and to mitigate the potential for harm from this drug.
