Reflection

This assignment in particular enhanced my ability to “develop and engage in the collaborative and aspects of the writing process.” This was important because I had to express my ideas while taking into account my colleagues ideas as well. We had to format our writing in a way that contained all our thoughts, while still flowing as if it was one continuous assessment,” was another strength in this assignment. The information within the lab report, as well as the poster, had to be written in a way that represented the information for my intended audience in a cohesive manner. The poster and lab report also had to be free of grammatical errors, therefore revising my writing as well as my colleagues was a task I overcame. One difference as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility.” This was a difficult task because I was unaware of my colleagues’ abilities, but as we progressed with the assignment, I became more open0minded and aware of their strengths as well as used this in our group work.

---

The Effect of Caffeinated Beverages on Academic Performance of College Students

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to assess whether or not caffeinated beverages have an effect on college student’s academic performance. Participants included both male and female students between the ages of 17 and 22 who were currently enrolled in college. There was a variety of majors, including STEM majors and art majors. The online survey consisted of nine questions and the data from each was placed into charts and graphs. The frequency in which the caffeinated beverages are consumed and the purpose for consumption was determined. Majority of students consumed beverages only when necessary for the purpose of enjoyment. Almost 49% of the participants believed that the beverages were effective in achieving their goal of remaining focused, energetic, or awake. There was an equal division in whether or not they believed it affected their academic performance. Overall, participants perceived that caffeinated beverages have a positive effect or a sometimes negative or positive effect on their academic performance.

 

Introduction

College students are exposed to multiple stressors which negatively impact their health and daily performance. The American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment reports that among the three greatest impacts that jeopardize the academic performance of college students are stress, difficulty sleeping, and anxiety (2009). Caffeinated beverages contribute to these growing problems, and aggressive marketing of these beverages has caused a recent hike in the consumption of energy drinks. Caffeine is a common drug that people consume daily, existing in beverages ranging from coffee to tea to energy drinks. Caffeine affects the human body both positively and negatively. It provides people the ability to remain awake and focused and to have higher energy levels. However, its negative impacts may include addiction, high level of anxiety, high blood pressure, and elevated blood sugar levels. Energy drinks, a cause of concern for many health experts, contain harmful ingredients and their intake is often unregulated, leading to caffeine overdoses and other health issues (Reissig et al. 2009). In an article published by the Journal of American College Health, researchers found data suggesting that most college students consume energy drinks twice a week, and between one to four drinks on each occasion (Pettit and DeBarr 2011). They also found that students with higher perceived stress were more likely to consume more beverages more frequently and that higher intakes of energy drinks were negatively correlated with academic performance (Pettit and DeBarr 2011).

   However, students most often drink caffeinated beverages for their perceived beneficial effects on their attention. According to Pettit, caffeinated beverages offer benefits such as increased attention, emotional states, endurance, and physical performance (2011). We wanted to study how students perceived the effects of caffeine since they would most likely contradict the findings in previous studies. This led to our research question: do caffeinated beverages have an effect on students’ perceived academic performances? Due to the fact that students often consume caffeinated beverages because of their belief that it affects their academic performance, we hypothesize that caffeinated beverages have a positive effect on students’ perceived academic performance.

 

Material and Methods

Fifty New York City College students were given an online survey that was created using Google Forms to measure the effects of caffeinated beverages on their academic performances. All participants were selected randomly to conduct the experiment and all of their responses were anonymous.

 

Material

All participants were given an online survey created by the researchers to measure the effects of caffeinated beverages on their academic performances. The online survey consisted of three demographic questions about their age, sex, and major and six questions about their caffeinated beverage intake, the frequency in which they consume these beverages, and the effects it has on them. The questions asked will be included in the appendix below.

 

Procedure

Each participant was given the link to an online survey. They were also informed before conducting the experiment that their response was completely anonymous. Each participant was able to skip any questions they did not want to answer and was given the option of providing their own response if none of the options pertained to them.

 

Results

The final results were collected after the completion of all fifty surveys. The final results revealed that of the 41.9% that believe caffeine is effective and the 48.8% that believe it is sometimes effective, 50% agree that if affects academic performance, while 50% believe that it does not. The participants consisted of 72% female and 28% male, with the majority ranging from ages 17-19. Only 10% were ages 20-22, as seen in Figure 1.

 

Figure 1: Ages of participants

There was also a variety of majors, including some STEM and humanity majors. The list of majors and how many participants in each are depicted in Figure 2. The top major was Sophie Davis. Of the 88% of participants that responded yes to taking caffeinated beverages, the majority responded to taking it only when necessary, accounting for 34.1%. Up to 15.9% of participants consume caffeinated beverages more than once a day.

 

Figure 2:List of majors

As seen in Figure 3, there were various reasons as why the participants consumed these beverages; 35 of the 50 participants consume them for enjoyment, 25 to stay awake, 16 to stay energized, and 17 to stay focused. There was an even split on whether or not it affected academic performance.

 

Figure 3: Reasons for Consumptions

 

Discussion

The goal for this research was to determine whether or not caffeinated beverages positively affected the academic performance in college students and the results showed that of the 50% of students who believed that caffeine does affect academic performance, 47.8% believe it has a positive effect, while 52.2% believe it is sometimes negative and sometimes positive. This supports this study’s hypothesis that there is a positive effect because none of the students responded that there was always a negative effect. However, this is a limitation because the study did not take into account the students’ academic performance or overall GPA before and after caffeine intake. By having this information, researchers can quantitatively analyze their academic performance and calculate the caffeine’s effect instead of basing of the participant’s beliefs.  In regards to the purpose of consumption, most of the students stated that it was for enjoyment, insinuating that their initial reasoning for consuming these caffeinated beverages is not academically related, however, it still assists them overall. A majority of the participants were STEM majors that consumed caffeine, suggesting that there may be a correlation between caffeine intake and majors or stress levels. This is a study that may be done in the future to understand whether or not certain stress levels affect the amount of caffeine a college student consumes. This is also a limitation, as there was a lack of diversity in regards to the majors. Another limitation is the fact that the participants consisted of 72% female and only 28% male. Future studies may want to determine whether or not the effects differ based on gender as well. Overall, the hypothesis was supported by the results despite the various limitations of this study.

 

References

American College Health Association. 2009. American College Health Association-National

College Health Assessment II. Linthicium, MD.

Cole JS. 2015. A survey of college-bound high school graduates regarding circadian preference,

caffeine use, and academic performance. Sleep Breath 19:123–127

Pettit ML, DeBarr KA. 2011. Perceived Stress, Energy Drink Consumption, and Academic

Performance Among College Students. Journal of American College Health 59(5):

335-341

Reissig CJ, Strain EC. 2009. Caffeinated energy drinks—a growing problem. Drug Alcohol

Depend 99(1-3):1-10

 

---

Lab Poster

---