The Effect of Caffeine Consumption on Teenager’s Mental Health in Bangkok, Thailand

Nowadays, caffeinated drinks play a significant role not only for adults but also for teenagers. Some teenagers believe that it will help them with their school tasks, such as exams, projects, and more. Many research projects have also claimed that caffeine can help people become more energized and less tired [10]. Along with mental health, indicating that it is important, it is vital to maintain good mental health since it can make a huge impact on our daily lives [7]. We are curious about the relationship between caffeine consumption and teenagers’ mental health. So we decided to conduct a survey on teenagers ages 13-18. The data was collected online using Google Form and by sending questionnaires about the effect of caffeine consumption on teenager’s mental health in Bangkok, Thailand. We have gathered a total of 150 responses from students in grades between 7 and 12 mostly from Bangkok. Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) version 29 was used for data analysis. The results have shown that there is a slight significant effect of caffeinated drinks on teenager’s mental health, which involves the times of the day teenagers prefer to drink caffeinated drinks (p-value = 0.001). Despite the consumption period, the types of caffeinated drinks teenagers prefer (p-value = 0.163) and the participant’s grade level (p-value = 0.448) may have also affected adolescents too. Moreover, the result of this research came out that caffeinated drinks have nearly no effect on teenager’s mental health, but they do have an effect specifically on the period of time that the teenagers consume caffeinated drinks. From our data, we can conclude that caffeinated drinks, especially tea, will significantly affect teenagers’ mental health if consumed after lunch (afternoon). This research will help raise awareness on the effect of caffeinated drinks on teenagers ages 13-18 on their mental health and also provides us with more information for further research.