Understanding Adolescent Caffeine Use (Article Sample)

SUMMARY FOR UNDERSTANDING ADOLESCENT CAFFEINE USE: CONNECTING USE PATTERNS WITH EXPECTANCIES, REASON AND SLEEP
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u MAIN PURPOSE OF THE STUDY PAGEREF _Toc11093687 \h 3MAIN FINDINGS PAGEREF _Toc11093688 \h 3REAL LIFE IMPLICATIONS PAGEREF _Toc11093689 \h 4RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT PAGEREF _Toc11093690 \h 4REFERENCES PAGEREF _Toc11093691 \h 4
MAIN PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Little has been done to examine adolescent use, mood and attitude on caffeine use (Ludden & Wolfson, 2010, p.330). This necessitated for a study assessing this group’s use of caffeine. Therefore, the current study was carried out with an objective of assessing high school students’ use of caffeine and patterns they adopt with respect to expectances, reason and sleep ((Ludden & Wolfson, 2010, p.331). To achieve this, the researcher assessed frequency of use, timing and type of caffeinated product used. Then using cluster analysis assessed the pattern of use ((Ludden & Wolfson, 2010, p.332).
MAIN FINDINGS
The study reported a high number of respondents using caffeine in the last 2 days (68%). Out of which a high number used caffeine a day before the survey (86%). Caffeinated soda and coffee drink were found to statistically influence the time of use ((Ludden & Wolfson, 2010, p. 334) with caffeinated drink being the highly used (60.5%). It was also reported that 95% of the respondents used caffeinated product within a span of two weeks. In addition, males were found to use caffeine products more compared to female and the difference was significant at 5%. Also, students that used most of the caffeine products were in 9th grade and females were found to have more expectances than males. In addition, females were found to be more affected by appetite suppression. However, the reasons of uses was not statistically different among female and males. Similarly, no reason difference was found among students of different grades.
For the caffeine use pattern, there were three major groups that were identified and most of the respondents lied in the high caffeine use group (37%). It was realised that there existed a significant difference in caffeine use among the three groups where persons in the high and mixed group were found to have used significantly higher level of caffeine in the last two weeks. In addition, the mixed group was found to have used significantly higher caffeine in the last one day compared to other groups.
It was found that the mixed group reported higher expectances, higher mood and energy changes, appetite suppression and performance enhancement compared to the other groups. In addition, they were more likely to have “getting through the day” as their major reason of using caffeine products. Also they were more likely to report that they used caffeine for enjoyment as compared to the high caffeine group ((Ludden & Wolfson, 2010, p.335). With regards to the sleep patterns, students in the mixed group got up earlier and got more daytime sleepiness as compared to the other groups.
REAL LIFE IMPLICATIONS
Research has shown that caffeine use influences anxiety and dependency among adults ((Ludden & Wolfson, 2010, p.330). It has also been linked to depr