Bubble tea consumption and its association with mental health symptoms: An observational cross-sectional study on Chinese young adults

•Self-report questionnaires were used to assess bubble tea consumption and mental status.•Symptoms of depression were assessed using PHQ-2 and symptoms of anxiety using GAD-2.•Bubble tea consumption was associated with an increased risk of experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Bubble tea has become enormously popular in China in recent years. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between bubble tea consumption and symptoms of anxiety and depression in a population-based sample. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess bubble tea consumption and mental status. Symptoms of depression were assessed using the self-rated Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) and anxiety using the self-rated Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2 (GAD-2). Logistic regressions were performed to evaluate the association between the frequency of bubble tea consumption (cups/week) (FBTC) and psychological symptoms, adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Path analysis was used to investigate the possible meditating effects of confounding factors. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, high frequency of bubble tea consumption was observed to be significantly associated with high risk for depression in the regression model (p for trend = 0.045); no significant association was found with anxiety (p for trend = 0.332). In path analysis model, education mediated the association between FBTC and depression. Unlike the result in regression model, with education, exercise time and occupation as mediating factors, anxiety was found to be indirectly associated with FBTC. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were self-reported. And the cross-sectional nature of the study does not allow inferring causality. Bubble tea consumption was associated with an increased risk of experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety in Chinese young adults. Additional longitudinal research is required to elucidate the possible reverse causation from bubble tea consumption on symptoms of depression and anxiety.