Adolescents’ reasons for consuming energy drinks: Validation and factor structure of a new scale

Abstract

Energy drinks (EnDs) are popular caffeinated beverages, especially among youth. Despite high consumption, links with risky behaviors, and adverse health effects, very few measures exist for examining reasons that drive consumers to continued use. This study aimed to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a new scale for detecting reasons for consuming EnDs. Participants were 184 adolescent energy drink consumers. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the 25 items of the scale were grouped into two components: “Habit and negative affect reduction”, “Pleasure and Socialization”. The factors had high reliability and satisfactory convergent and divergent validity. This measure could lead to more systematic research on the effects of EnDs consumption