Caffeine Addiction in College Students - Term Paper Example

Caffeine addiction among college Affiliation Caffeine addiction in college Caffeine is a stimulant drug found in variant quantities in leaves, fruits and roots of some plants. Extracts from such plants are consumed by humans in substances like coffee and energy drinks. It is also manufactured artificially and added to certain drinks and beverages. Although it is naturally bitter, it is processed and added to other substances to camouflage its natural taste. Aside from that, it is also used as a component in pain relieving drugs. Caffeine is the most commonly used psychoactive drugs, mostly due to the fact that it is legal in most parts of the world. This sets it apart from other psychoactive drugs. It promotes alertness and wakefulness. However, it is also said to have side effects such as increased heartbeat, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and insomnia, which are the most common. Rare side effects include abdominal bloating, dehydration and bloody diarrhea. Energy drinks such as Red Bull and Monster, are a popular beverage among college students as they are believed to give energy and boost performance while studying or working on major course projects, driving for long periods of time, to treat hangover and when drinking alcohol during partying. Energy drinks have also been marketed to aid in weight loss, maintain alertness, mood and cognitive enhancement, performance in athletics and concentration. The beverages stimulate the central nervous system and the users expect performance improvement physically and mentally (Hoyte, Albert, & Heard, 2013). Combining energy drinks and alcohol has dangerous effects since they enhance stimulation and promote behavioral inhibition. Most people tend to undermine their levels of alcohol intoxication since the symptoms of alcohol have been reduced. Energy drinks also increase the alcohol absorption rates and have also been associated with the use of marijuana, consumption of alcohol, aggressive behavior, risky sexual behavior and driving under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol related deaths are on the increase due to dampened intoxication levels (Velazquez, Poulos, Latimer, & Pasch, 2012). In addition, most people have very minimum knowledge regarding the ingredients found in energy drinks and their potential harmful effects both physiologically and psychologically. The drinks contain sugar, caffeine, vitamins, carbohydrates, guarana, taurine and ginseng, which are herbal supplements. Kola nuts and cocoa are additives that may be added to increase the caffeine content in the energy drinks. Varying ingredient combinations are common and thus they differ in taste and the claimed energy boost and health benefits. Students mainly get information about energy drinks from the media and peers. Marketing energy drinks basically targets college students due to their lifestyle, pressure to perform academically and for convenience and this has led to an exponential increase of the beverages every year. These are stressors that lead to a wide range of health risk behavior. (Ishak, Ugochukwu, Bagot, Khalili, & Zaky, 2012). However, these drinks are reported to have large amounts of caffeine, which can lead to adverse health effects on people such as headaches and insomnia. The Food and Drug Administration do not limit caffeine content therefore energy drinks are not regulated. Poor sleeping habits in students have mental and physiological consequences. Excessive sleepiness during daytime is due to getting less sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to psychomotor function and cognitive impairment. This can lead to poor grades due to dysfunction during the day, elevated incidences of sleep related accidents and deteriorated performance in academics (Pettit & DeBarr, 2011) Caffeine is a stimulant which gives boost to performance temporarily, hence increasing heart rate and blood pressure. Caffeine tolerance is moderate in healthy individuals, but heavy consumption of caffeine has been related to serious side effects such as stroke, tachycardia, myocardial infarction, seizures, mania, musculoskeletal problems and sudden death. Another averse disparity of caffeine containing energy drinks is an elevated level of glucose in the blood. A potential addiction of energy drinks is higher than coffee since they contain higher concentrations of caffeine. (Malinauskas, Aeby, Overton, Carpenter-Aeby, & Barber-Heidal, 2007) Consumption of caffeine leads to cerebral and coronary vasoconstriction, smooth muscle relaxation, skeletal muscle stimulation, cardiac effects and reduction of insulin sensitivity. An increase in the flow of urine and excretion of sweat has been associated with large amounts of caffeine. Adverse disparities of energy drink consumption include abdominal pain and vomiting, hallucinations, rigidity and altered consciousness. Other psychological effects include cognitive functions, mood, sleep and decision making. Withdrawal symptoms are short term and include headache and fatigue (Seifert, Schaechter, Hershorin, & Lipshultz, 2011) Early studies by Albert Bandura indicate that behavior is acquired as a result of consequences, punishment, rewards and environmental stimuli. Learning or acquisition of behavior. The basis of the social cognitive theory indicates that behavior was as a result of an inter-connection between environmental and personal factors include cognitive, affective and biological events and behavior. Factors that influence a person’s behavior make up the environment, for example, friends and college mates. The availability of energy drinks in stores near the colleges is the physical environment. This was discovered through advanced research on the effects of observation and modelling on acquisition of behavior. Consumption of energy drinks in college students is directly related to observing fellow students consuming the drinks. The development of this behavior is through observation, the environment, and cognition. These factors interact with one another, hence changing one factor will influence them all. When an individual watches another person’s actions and the supports that the person receives lead to learning. In addition, a person is capable of a certain behavior if they know what the behavior is and the skills to undertake it. Taking energy drinks does not require any skills, therefore consumption of the drinks can be easily widespread in a college scenario. It promotes mastery learning through skills training expectancies. The impact of learning by watching others is determined by the degree of attention given to the model. College students would yield into consuming energy drinks due to the attractiveness of the model such as packaging of the drink. The circumstances through which the students observed the consumption of the drinks would contribute to learning about the behavior. Energy drinks are assumed to enhance energy and performance depicting that importance and complexity of the behavior being learned influence drinking. Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in their own ability to finish tasks and reach the goals that they have set for themselves. Consumption of energy drinks will be adapted if the individual believes they can take the drinks, with the same effects or results as their fellow students. Performance in the past, learning through observation, persuasion verbally and emotional or physiological status are sources of information on self-efficacy. Marketing of energy drinks in the media is usually done by celebrities who tend to be imitated by the college students. An individual’s personal factors and specific capabilities as well as environmental factors which can be barriers or facilitators are likely to affect a persons self-efficacy (Foster, Neighbors, & Young, 2014). When students are working on major course projects or studying for finals, most of them take energy drinks to prevent them from sleeping, as it promotes alertness. Others tend to take the energy drinks to treat hangovers after partying. This trend can be easily observed by fellow students who expect the same outcome in similar situations. The response which may be emotional or physical occurs as a result of the behavior. The students mainly expect that these drinks will boost their performance in their academics. Emotional arousal could support either positive or negative health behavior. In this case, certain students might avoid consuming the energy drinks since they are unhealthy. The effects of energy drinks are usually formed even before the consumption of the drink and they significantly affect their motivation to drink. As a result, people tend to overuse or misuse energy drinks, leading to some negative effects on their health. These expectancies are beliefs that individuals hold about what will happen when they consume the energy drinks. Outcome expectancies are either positive or negative and is a key determinant of behavior. If an individual holds a more positive expectancies, they are likely to indulge in a habit of drinking these beverages. College students who drank heavier amounts have higher expectations for increased assertiveness and cognitive enhancement. These expectations may not be met, as excessive use of energy drinks leads to adverse effects. Negative expectations of the outcome reflect the anticipation of an aversive consequence. When a college student consumes an energy drink while studying in the night and it induces sleeplessness, one is more likely to consume it again while studying due to the positive reinforcement. Reinforcements are either positive or negative responses to a person’s behavior that affect the possibility of either acquiring or discontinuing a behavior. Positive reinforcements are referred to as rewards while negative reinforcement are referred to as punishments. Determinants of use of energy drinks consumption include the availability and reinforcement of minimum use of the beverages. People have varying levels of belief in their ability to control what happens to them and is independent of external and internal factors. People often believe that what happens to them is a result of their own choices. The college students should be informed that the adverse effects of consuming energy drinks is because of their personal choices. Decision making is affected by internality and externality. Depending on the situation, people change within a continuum of internality and externality. Persons that believe that they can control events that have effect on them is referred to as locus of control. Such persons may either be persuaded or dissuaded from using energy drinks. Those who believe in their capabilities without use of enhancements, will not be inclined to use the energy drinks. Others may have the strong belief that they can control themselves and avoid the negative effects that come from excessive consumption. This group of people will consume energy drinks with no inhibitions. Change of behavior can be effectively guided by social cognitive theory than other approaches. Social cognitive theory postulates that change of behavior is influenced by the interaction between personal factors, factors in the environment and the attributes of one’s behavior. Healthy drinking lifestyles can be adopted when reliable and valid social cognitive measures assess self-efficacy, intended goals, perceived environment, behavioral strategies, social support and outcome expectations and expectancies. To reduce caffeine addiction among college students, it is recommended that the students should be encouraged to have self-control against taking the drinks. Self-control encompasses personal regulation of behavior. Perceived positive reinforcements are an effective tool to help energy drinks consumers move towards healthier behavior. College students who combine energy drinks and alcohol should be particularly educated on the risks of combined use (Kensinger & Divin, 2013). Improvement in performance should be encouraged through self-efficacy via sports nutrition. The media should also focus on marketing healthy foods and drinks. Social cognitive theory suggests that in order to encourage healthy habits in college students, factors such as perceived benefits and risks of the energy drinks need to be considered. Other factors include, the influence of their peers and the availability of healthy drinks such as water, juices and milk instead of energy drinks. Changing the environment and expectancies to use of energy drinks by reducing access to the drinks by education about side effects of the beverages and regulation of the media advertisement would yield great success in reducing intake of energy drinks. Controlling the environment also includes regulation of the energy drinks, supply and sale to college students of energy drinks containing caffeine. Social cognitive theory emphasize more on the role of the environment in development of human behavior. The perception of congruence or incongruence of a goal influences an individual’s choice regarding consumption of energy drinks. A goal should be congruent, neutral or incongruent with other goals or specific behaviors. Students who successfully quit excessive consumption of energy drinks have high congruence. Incongruence among interpersonal goals has been related to poorer health practices. Individuals motivated to meet goals congruent with energy drink consumption should be compelled to use strategies aimed at self-regulation. Functions of self-regulation include the ability to plan, evaluate and execute goal directed activities. Behavior under the triadic view of reciprocal determinism is produced by cognitive, behavioral and environmental self-regulation. Avoiding situations where people heavily consume caffeine is the execution of goal to abstain using behavioral self-regulation. Higher use of self-regulatory strategies have been identified to correlate with lower drinking quantity and frequency among college students. In summary, college students should be informed on the effects of energy drinks with caffeine. They should also be educated on the ingredients and alternative methods of boosting energy and performance without taking alcoholic drinks. Addicted students should be guided on ways to avoid further consumption through the social cognition theory such as self-regulation, positive reinforcements and efficacy. The media should also focus on marketing healthy products instead of caffeinated energy drinks. Therapeutic and counseling efforts can be directed towards personal, behavior, and environmental factors. The reciprocal nature of the determinants of human functioning in social cognitive theory is an enabling factor. References Foster, D. W., Neighbors, C., & Young, C. M. (2014). Drink refusal self-efficacy and implicit drinking identity: An evaluation of moderators of the relationship between self-awareness and drinking behavior. Addictive behaviors, 196-206. Hoyte, C. O., Albert, D., & Heard, K. J. (2013). The use of energy drinks, dietary supplements, and prescription medications by United States college students to enhance athletic performance. J Community Health, 575-80. Ishak, W. W., Ugochukwu, C., Bagot, K., Khalili, D., & Zaky, C. (2012). Energy Drinks. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, 25-34. Kensinger, W. S., & Divin, A. L. (2013). Perceived Positive Reinforcements experienced by college students when combining alcohol and energy drinks. Journal of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. Malinauskas, B. M., Aeby, V. G., Overton, R. F., Carpenter-Aeby, T., & Barber-Heidal, K. (2007). A survey of energy drink consumption patterns among college students. Nutritional Journal, 1-7. Seifert, S. M., Schaechter, J. L., Hershorin, E. R., & Lipshultz, S. E. (2011). Health effects of energy drinks on children, adolescents and young adults. Pedriatics, 511-528. Velazquez, C. E., Poulos, N. S., Latimer, L. A., & Pasch, K. E. (2012). Associations between energy drink consumption and alcohol use behaviors among college students. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 167-172. Read More