Alcohol use and drinking motives across five countries: a post-COVID-19 pandemic update
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in: American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 13.02.2025.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Alcohol use and drinking motives across five countries
T2 - a post-COVID-19 pandemic update
AU - Rupprecht, Joana
AU - Spitzweck, Bettina
AU - Oettingen, Gabriele
AU - Sevincer, A. Timur
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2025/2/13
Y1 - 2025/2/13
N2 - Background: It is necessary to understand drinking motives to inform tailored interventions counteracting high-risk alcohol use and alcohol use disorder. Research suggests that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, drinking to cope with the current situation (i.e. coping motive) increased. This was alarming since the coping motive is a predictor of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Objective: In the current study, we aimed to elucidate whether this COVID-19-induced increase in coping-motivated alcohol use outlasted the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA, Great Britain, Mexico, Spain, and Germany. We provide a 2023 post-COVID-19 update on alcohol use and drinking motives. Methods: In spring 2023, 1032 participants recruited via Prolific (48% female) across the five countries completed a cross-sectional online survey, including the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) for alcohol use patterns and the Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (DMQ-R) for drinking motives. Results: Across all five countries, 20–30% of the participants exceeded the AUDIT cutoff score for high-risk alcohol use. The ranking of all four motives for alcohol use was cross-nationally consistent: Social > Enhancement > Conformity > Coping. Conclusion: Compared to most research before the pandemic, with a Social > Enhancement > Coping > Conformity motive ranking, and research during COVID-19, with an Enhancement > Coping > Social > Conformity motive ranking, our data suggests that post-COVID drinking to socialize and to enhance one’s own mood, are again the most important motives to drink alcohol. Furthermore, it seems like the increase in the coping motive found in research during the pandemic, did luckily not persist but conversely, post- compared to pre-COVID, the conformity motive seems more important than coping motive.
AB - Background: It is necessary to understand drinking motives to inform tailored interventions counteracting high-risk alcohol use and alcohol use disorder. Research suggests that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, drinking to cope with the current situation (i.e. coping motive) increased. This was alarming since the coping motive is a predictor of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Objective: In the current study, we aimed to elucidate whether this COVID-19-induced increase in coping-motivated alcohol use outlasted the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA, Great Britain, Mexico, Spain, and Germany. We provide a 2023 post-COVID-19 update on alcohol use and drinking motives. Methods: In spring 2023, 1032 participants recruited via Prolific (48% female) across the five countries completed a cross-sectional online survey, including the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) for alcohol use patterns and the Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (DMQ-R) for drinking motives. Results: Across all five countries, 20–30% of the participants exceeded the AUDIT cutoff score for high-risk alcohol use. The ranking of all four motives for alcohol use was cross-nationally consistent: Social > Enhancement > Conformity > Coping. Conclusion: Compared to most research before the pandemic, with a Social > Enhancement > Coping > Conformity motive ranking, and research during COVID-19, with an Enhancement > Coping > Social > Conformity motive ranking, our data suggests that post-COVID drinking to socialize and to enhance one’s own mood, are again the most important motives to drink alcohol. Furthermore, it seems like the increase in the coping motive found in research during the pandemic, did luckily not persist but conversely, post- compared to pre-COVID, the conformity motive seems more important than coping motive.
KW - Alcohol use
KW - AUDIT
KW - COVID-19-pandemic
KW - cross-cultural study
KW - drinking motives
KW - social distancing
KW - Psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85219721508&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00952990.2024.2442467
DO - 10.1080/00952990.2024.2442467
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 39945493
AN - SCOPUS:85219721508
JO - American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
JF - American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
SN - 0095-2990
ER -