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. 2023 Jan;37(1):84-88.
doi: 10.1177/08901171221113521. Epub 2022 Jul 6.

Perceptions of Sports and Energy Drinks: Factors Associated with Adolescent Beliefs

Emily Pfender  1 , Amy Bleakley  1 , Morgan Ellithorpe  1 , Michael Hennessey  1 , Erin Maloney  1 , Amy Jordan  2 , Robin Stevens  3
Affiliations

Perceptions of Sports and Energy Drinks: Factors Associated with Adolescent Beliefs

Emily Pfender et al. Am J Health Promot. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: To understand what factors are associated with adolescents' perceived healthfulness of sports drinks (SD) and of energy drinks (ED), with a focus on health risk, athletics, and media-related variables.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Online.

Subjects: U.S. adolescents ages 14-18 years (n = 501) recruited from a combination of non-probability and probability-based panels.

Measures: Outcome variables were perceived healthfulness of SDs and of EDs. Independent variables included adolescents' health background (oral health, diabetes risk, self-reported weight); behaviors (SD and ED consumption, athletic identity, sports participation, physical activity), and media items (media literacy, exposure to advertisements on TV, YouTube, social media).

Results: Regression results indicated that adolescents' increased perception that SDs are healthy was significantly associated (P<.05 level) with casual sports participation (b=.56, se=.27), athletic identification (b=.28, se= .11), exposure to SD advertisements on social media (b=.55, s =.25), and higher consumption (b=.28, se= .13). For adolescents' perceptions of EDs, significantly related correlates included athletic identification (b=.26, se=10), having an increased risk of diabetes (b= -.79, s =.26), poorer oral health (b=.33, se=.16), and consumption (b=.76, s =.16); increased media literacy was associated with more accurate perceptions (b=-.35, se=.14).

Conclusions: Adolescents' hold different perceptions about the healthfulness of sports and energy drink, and their beliefs about each drink are related to different types of factors that may have implications for public health interventions. Cross-sectional survey design and adolescent self-reports are limitations.

Keywords: adolescents; energy drinks; media literacy; perceived healthfulness; sports drinks.

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Conflict of interest statement

Contributors certify that all potential conflicts of interest have been acknowledged in the Contribution and covering letter accompanying the Contribution, including but not limited to, all forms of financial and commercial support, including pharmaceutical company support and any commercial or financial involvements that might present an appearance of a conflict of interest related to the Contribution and any other potential conflicts identified in the Journal’s manuscript submission guidelines.

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