The Role of Adolescent Victimization in Energy Drink Consumption: Monitoring the Future, 2010-2016.

Energy drinks have been linked to a number of deleterious health outcomes among youth. Even so, the underlying risk factors for energy drink consumption among youth are less frequently examined. The present study examines the link between adolescent victimization experiences (i.e., property and violent victimization) and energy drink consumption among a nationally representative sample of adolescents. We employed the seven most recent cohorts (2010-2016) from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to acquire the U.S. sample. Youths reported the extent to which they consumed energy drinks. Additionally, three indicators of property victimization and four indicators of violent victimization were available in the data. The findings reveal a significant dose-response relationship between energy drink consumption and victimization. This relationship was especially pronounced among females. For instance, more than 52% of females with the highest count of various violent victimization experiences consumed energy drinks, which was three times the rate of females who had no previous violent victimization experiences. Practitioners who interact with adolescent victims may probe for energy drink usage in addition to other addictive substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Additional scrutiny may also be in order in regulating the amount of caffeine and sugar allowed in these beverages.