ABSTRACT:
OBJECTIVE: Caffeine though commonly used by world population yet its addiction tendency and conventional belief are not exceptionally studied hence in order to determine the age of onset for caffeine consumption, positive beliefs about caffeine consumption and prevalence of caffeine addiction among young adults, the study is proposed. MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY: The caffeine project was a cross sectional study conducted among late adolescence (18- 21 years). About 150 late adolescents participated in the study. The questionnaire was divided into three sections: Section (A) contained four questions in regard to their demographic profile and amount of caffeine consumed. Section (B) contained seven different positive effects of caffeine and the participants were asked to scale them. Section (C) contains five polar question types. The five questions were selected by focusing on the desire to have caffeine and their anticipation of positive benefits on caffeine consumption. RESULTS: The study showed that 62.59% of the participants have started caffeine consumption before 8 years of age. The late adolescence participants were moderate to low group caffeine consumers. 26% of the participants were addicted to caffeine. CONCLUSION: Early caffeine exposure can increase the risk of drug habituation must be understood and sensitizing the public about the risk and long term consequences of early caffeine use is mandatory.