Weekly Energy Drink Use Is Positively Associated with Delay Discounting and Risk Behavior in a Nationwide Sample of Young Adults

Background:

Energy drink use is associated with increased risk behavior among adolescents and college students. This study examined this relationship in a nationwide sample of young adults and also examined relations between energy drink use and delay discounting.

Methods:

Participants were 874 U.S. adults 18-28 years of age with past 30-day consumption of caffeine and alcohol. Participants completed an online survey of energy drink use, drug use, sexual activity, alcohol misuse (alcohol use disorders identification test [AUDIT]), sensation seeking (four-item Brief Sensation Seeking Scale [BSSS-4]), and delay discounting of monetary rewards and condom use.

Results:

Over one-third of participants (n = 303) reported consuming energy drinks at least once per week. Weekly energy drink users were more likely than less-than-weekly energy drink users to report a recent history of risk behaviors, including cigarette smoking (56% vs. 28%), illicit stimulant use (22% vs. 6%), and unprotected sex (63% vs. 45%). Covariate-adjusted analyses found that weekly energy drink users did not have significantly higher BSSS-4 scores (3.5 vs. 3.1), but they had higher mean AUDIT scores (8.0 vs. 4.8), and they more steeply discounted delayed monetary rewards. Although weekly energy drink users did not show steeper discounting of delayed condom use, they showed a lower likelihood of using a condom when one was immediately available.

Conclusions:

This study extends findings that energy drink use is associated with risk behavior, and it is the first study to show that energy drink use is associated with monetary delay discounting.

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By:  Meredith SE1, Sweeney MM2, Johnson PS2, Johnson MW2, Griffiths RR3.

• 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.; Calhoun Cardiology Center, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut.
• 2Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore, Maryland.
• 3Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.; Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. 
• J Caffeine Res. 2016 Mar 1;6(1):10-19.

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Alcohol Mixed with Energy Drink Use as an Event-Level Predictor of Physical and Verbal Aggression in Bar Conflicts

BACKGROUND:

Young adult use of alcohol mixed with caffeinated energy drinks (AmEDs) has been globally linked with increased odds of interpersonal aggression, compared with the use of alcohol alone. However, no prior research has linked these behaviors at the event level in bar drinking situations. The present study assessed whether AmED use is associated with the perpetration of verbal and physical aggression in bar conflicts at the event level.

METHODS:

In Fall 2014, a community sample of 175 young adult AmED users (55% female) completed a web survey describing a recent conflict experienced while drinking in a bar. Use of both AmED and non-AmED alcoholic drinks in the incident were assessed, allowing calculation of our main predictor variable, the proportion of AmEDs consumed (AmED/total drinks consumed). To measure perpetration of aggression, participants reported on the occurrence of 6 verbal and 6 physical acts during the bar conflict incident.

RESULTS:

Linear regression analyses showed that the proportion of AmEDs consumed predicted scores for perpetration of both verbal aggression (β = 0.16, p < 0.05) and physical aggression (β = 0.19, p < 0.01) after controlling for gender, age, sensation-seeking and aggressive personality traits, aggressive alcohol expectancies, aggressogenic physical and social bar environments, and total number of drinks.

CONCLUSIONS:

Results of this study suggest that in alcohol-related bar conflicts, higher levels of young adult AmED use are associated with higher levels of aggression perpetration than alcohol use alone and that the elevated risk is not attributable to individual differences between AmED users and nonusers or to contextual differences in bar drinking settings. While future research is needed to identify motivations, dosages, and sequencing issues associated with AmED use, these beverages should be considered a potential risk factor in the escalation of aggressive bar conflicts.

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By:  Miller KE1, Quigley BM1, Eliseo-Arras RK1, Ball NJ1.

• 1From the Research Institute on Addictions (http://www.buffalo.edu/ria.html), University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York.
• Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2016 Jan;40(1):161-9. doi: 10.1111/acer.12921. 

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Combined Use of Alcohol and Energy Drinks Increases Participation in High-Risk Drinking and Driving Behaviors among College Students

Objective:

A recent study suggested that college students who combined alcohol and energy drinks were more likely than students who consumed only alcohol to drive when their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was higher than the .08% limit and to choose to drive despite knowing they had too much alcohol to drive safely. This study sought to replicate those findings with a larger sample while also exploring additional variables related to impaired driving.

Method:

College students (N = 549) completed an anonymous online survey to assess differences in drinking and driving-related behaviors between alcohol-only users (n = 281) and combined alcohol-energy drink users (n = 268).

Results:

Combined users were more likely than alcohol-only users to choose to 

1. drive when they perceived they were over the .08% BAC limit,
2. drive despite knowing they had too much alcohol to drive safely, and 
3. be a passenger when they knew the driver had too much alcohol to drive safely. 

Combined users were significantly more likely to report indicators of high-risk alcohol use, such as larger number of drinks consumed, number of days drinking, number of days drunk, number of heavy episodic drinking episodes, greatest number of drinks on one occasion, and average hours of consumption.

Conclusions:

Combined use of alcohol and energy drinks may place drinkers at greater risk when compared with those who consume only alcohol. College students in this sample who combined alcohol and energy drinks were more likely to participate in high-risk driving behaviors than those who consumed only alcohol.

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By:   Conrad L. Woolsey, Ph.D.,^a* Ronald D. Williams, Ph.D.,^b Jeff M. Housman, Ph.D.,^b Adam E. Barry, Ph.D.,^c Bert H. Jacobson, Ph.D.,^d & Marion W. Evans, D.C., Ph.D.^a

Affiliations
^aNorthwest Center for Lifestyle and Functional Medicine, University of Western States, Portland, Oregon
^bDepartment of Health and Human Performance, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas
^cDepartment of Health & Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
^dDepartment of Health and Human Performance, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma

*Correspondence may be sent to Conrad L. Woolsey at the Northwest Center for Lifestyle and Functional Medicine, University of Western States, 2900 NE 132nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97230, or via email at: cwoolsey@uws.edu.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2015.76.615 

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Co-Ingestion of Energy Drinks with Alcohol & Other Substances among a Sample of People Who Regularly Use Ecstasy

Despite the potential harms of mixing unregulated drugs with energy drinks (ED), research to date has primarily been focused on EDs co-ingested with alcohol. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to explore the rate of use, harms and correlates of EDs co-ingested with alcohol and other drugs among a sample of people who regularly use illicit stimulant drugs.

In 2010, 693 Australians who regularly used ecstasy completed a 1-h interview about their past six-month ED and drug use.

• Three-quarters of the sample (77%) had recently consumed EDs with other substances, primarily alcohol (70%) and ecstasy (57%). 
• People who consumed ED with alcohol versus those who had consumed ED with ecstasy and with alcohol (only 8% reported only consuming ED with ecstasy) had similar profiles in regards to demographics, drug use, mental health and drug-related problems. 
• Primary motives for consuming ED with alcohol included 
• increased alertness (59%), 
• the taste (25%), 
• to party for longer (23%) 
• and to combat fatigue (16%). 
• One-half (52%) and one-quarter (27%) of participants who consumed EDs with alcohol and with ecstasy respectively had recently experienced adverse outcomes post-consumption, primarily headaches (24% and 11%) and heart palpitations (21% and 14%).

Co-ingestion of EDs with licit and illicit drugs is common among people who regularly use ecstasy and related drugs. Adverse outcomes of co-ingestion suggest that targeted education regarding negative interactive drug effects is crucial for harm reduction.

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By: Peacock A1, Sindicich N2, Dunn M3, Whittaker E2, Sutherland R2, Entwistle G2, Burns L2, Bruno R1.

• 1School of Medicine (Psychology), University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
• 2National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
• 3School of Health and Social Development, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia. 

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