This study found that in the earliest stage of the pandemic, psychological-coping mechanisms may have been a stronger driver of changes in adults’ alcohol use than ‘affordability-availability’ alone.

Author

Orla McBride (email: o.mcbride@ulster.ac.uk), Eimhear Bunting, Oisín Harkin, Sarah Butter, Mark Shevlin, Jamie Murphy, Liam Mason, Todd K. Hartman, Ryan McKay, Philip Hyland, Liat Levita, Kate M. Bennett, Thomas V. A. Stocks, Jilly Gibson-Miller, Anton P. Martinez, Frédérique Vallières and Richard P. Bentall

Citation

McBride O, Bunting E, Harkin O, Butter S, Shevlin M, Murphy J, et al. (2022) Testing both affordability-availability and psychological-coping mechanisms underlying changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS ONE 17(3): e0265145. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265145

Source
PLoS ONE
Release date
24/03/2022

Testing Both Affordability-Availability and Psychological-Coping Mechanisms Underlying Changes in Alcohol Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction

Two theoretical perspectives have been proffered to explain changes in alcohol use during the pandemic: the ‘affordability-availability’ mechanism (i.e., alcohol use decreases due to changes in physical availability and/or reduced disposable income) and the ‘psychological-coping’ mechanism (i.e., alcohol use increases as adults attempt to cope with pandemic-related distress).

Method

The researchers tested these alternative perspectives via longitudinal analyses of the COVID-19 Psychological Consortium (C19PRC) Study data (spanning three-time points from March to July 2020).

Respondents provided data on:

  • psychological measures (e.g., anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, paranoia, extraversion, neuroticism, death anxiety, COVID-19 anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, resilience),
  • changes in socio-economic circumstances (e.g., income loss, reduced working hours),
  • alcohol use motives,
  • solitary alcohol use, and
  • ‘at-risk’ alcohol use (assessed using a modified version of the AUDIT-C).

Structural equation modeling was used to determine:

  • whether ‘at-risk’ alcohol use during the pandemic differed from that recalled before the pandemic,
  • dimensions of alcohol use motives and the psychosocial correlates of these dimensions,
  • if increased alcohol consumption was predicted by alcohol use motives, solitary alcohol use, and socio-economic changes.

Results

The proportion of adults who recalled engaging in ‘at-risk’ alcohol use decreased significantly from 35.9% pre-pandemic to 32.0% during the pandemic. Alcohol use to cope was uniquely predicted by experiences of anxiety and/or depression and low resilience levels. Income loss or reduced working hours were not associated with coping, social enhancement, or conformity to alcohol use motives, nor changes in alcohol use during the lockdown.

Conclusion

In the earliest stage of the pandemic, psychological-coping mechanisms may have been a stronger driver of changes in adults’ alcohol use than ‘affordability-availability’ alone.

Source Website: PLOS ONE