Register      Login
Public Health Research and Practice Public Health Research and Practice Society
The peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > PU > PU19192
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 28(3)

What do we know about alcohol mixed with energy drink (AmED) use in Australia? Expanding local evidence

Amy Pennay A B * , Amy Peacock C D , Nicolas Droste B , Peter Miller B , Raimondo Bruno D , Phillip Wadds E , Stephen Tomsen F and Daniel Lubman G H
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

B School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

C National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Australia

D School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

E School of Social Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Australia

F School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, NSW, Australia

G Turning Point, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

H Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

* Correspondence to: a.pennay@latrobe.edu.au

Public Health Research and Practice 28, e2831817 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp2831817
Published: 27 September 2018

Abstract

Objectives: Despite continued health concerns associated with the practice of consuming alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED), few Australian studies have examined the popularity of this combination or attempted to characterise AmED consumers. The purpose of this paper is to replicate two previously used survey approaches to consolidate a national picture of AmED consumption in Australia.

Methods: The survey approaches used were: an online survey with a convenience sample of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, residents (n = 1931; 63.7% female; median age 23.0 years); and street intercept surveys in regional and metropolitan entertainment precincts in NSW (n = 1265; 58.2% male; median age 21.0 years). Analyses explored the rates and frequency of AmED use across both samples, and the sociodemographic and substance use predictors of AmED consumption in the past 12 months.

Results: More than 90% of participants in both samples reported alcohol consumption in the past 12 months, with approximately 40% of current drinkers also reporting AmED use in the past 12 months. Three-quarters of participants interviewed in entertainment precincts reported alcohol consumption in the previous 12 hours, with one in six of these also reporting AmED consumption in the past 12 hours. AmED users across both samples were more likely than alcohol-only consumers to be younger and male, and to report riskier substance use practices.

Conclusions: Health promotion activities are warranted to promote awareness of energy drink guidelines, and the potential harms of exceeding these guidelines, among alcohol consumers. In addition, health workers should consider enquiring about AmED use as an indicator of risk related to substance use.

2018 © Pennay et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which allows others to redistribute, adapt and share this work non-commercially provided they attribute the work and any adapted version of it is distributed under the same Creative Commons licence terms.