Individual, Social, and Environmental Correlates of Energy Drink Use Among Adolescents

To investigate the correlates of adolescent energy drink (ED) use using a socioecological approach to inform future interventions.In 2017-2018, 3,688 students attending 25 randomly selected Western Australian secondary schools completed a self-report survey. A backward stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to construct a model of the most significant individual (n = 12), social (n = 3), and environmental (n = 4) factors associated with being an ED user (ie, past month ED use).Overall, 18% of participants were ED users. The factors significantly associated with being an ED user included being male (P0.001), having a higher disposable income (P0.001), perceiving EDs as good for health (P = 0.009), perceiving EDs as safe for someone their age to drink (P0.001), having a sensation-seeking personality (P = 0.011), having friends who drink EDs (P0.001), having parents who would give them an ED if asked (P0.001), and having EDs available at home (P0.001).Initiatives to reduce ED intake among adolescents need to be multifaceted, addressing individual, social, and environmental factors. It is also important that educational interventions target both parents and adolescents.