Study: Divergent drinking patterns acquired by US adults during COVID-19

Editor's Note

In this study from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, researchers identify distinct demographic subpopulations with diverging drinking trajectories during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 8,130 US adults were surveyed biweekly from March 2020 to January 2021 on their past-week alcohol drinking frequency and intensity.

Though most US adults surveyed maintained stable patterns of drinking, 20.5% increased their drinking frequency, and 6.9% increased their binge drinking during the pandemic, and these subpopulations never returned to their baseline levels.

More males, Whites, middle-aged/older adults, college degree recipients, those consistently working, and those above the poverty line increased their drinking frequency.

More males, Whites, nonmarried individuals, those without a college degree, 18 to 39-year-olds, and middle aged adults increased their binge drinking.

If heightened drinking patterns acquired during COVID-19 persisted, alcohol use disorder, alcohol-related injury, and other alcohol-related problems could become public health concerns, the authors note.