STUDY: Testing both affordability-availability and psychological-coping mechanisms underlying changes in alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic

Two theoretical perspectives have been proffered to explain changes in alcohol use during the pandemic: the ‘affordability-availability’ mechanism (i.e., drinking decreases due to changes in physical availability and/or reduced disposable income) and the ‘psychological-coping’ mechanism (i.e., drinking increases as adults attempt to cope with pandemic-related distress). We tested these alternative perspectives via longitudinal analyses of the COVID-19 Psychological Consortium (C19PRC) Study data (spanning three timepoint during 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), drinking motives, solitary drinking, and ‘at-risk’ drinking (assessed using a modified version of the AUDIT-C). Structural equation modelling was used to determine (i) whether ‘at-risk’ drinking during the pandemic differed from that recalled before the pandemic, (ii) dimensions of drinking motives and the psychosocial correlates of these dimensions, (iii) if increased alcohol consumption was predicted by drinking motives, solitary drinking, and socio-economic changes. The proportion of adults who recalled engaging in ‘at-risk’ drinking decreased significantly from 35.9% pre-pandemic to 32.0% during the pandemic. Drinking 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 drinking motives, nor changes in drinking during lockdown. In the earliest stage of the pandemic, psychological-coping mechanisms may have been a stronger driver to changes in adults’ alcohol use than ‘affordability-availability’ alone.

本研究提出了两种理论视角来解释疫情期间酒精使用的变化：‘可负担性-可获得性’机制（即，由于物理可获得性变化和/或可支配收入减少，饮酒量降低）以及‘心理应对’机制（即，成年人试图应对与疫情相关的压力时，饮酒量增加）。通过对2020年3月至7月期间的COVID-19心理联盟（C19PRC）研究数据的纵向分析（涵盖三个时间点），我们检验了这些不同的视角。受访者提供了关于心理指标（例如，焦虑、抑郁、创伤后应激障碍、偏执、外向性、神经质、死亡焦虑、COVID-19焦虑、对不确定性的容忍度、恢复力）的数据，社会经济状况的变化（例如，收入损失、工作时间减少），饮酒动机，独饮，以及‘风险饮酒’（使用修改后的AUDIT-C进行评估）。结构方程模型被用于确定：（i）疫情期间的风险饮酒是否与疫情前回忆的饮酒不同，（ii）饮酒动机的维度及其心理社会相关因素，（iii）增加的酒精消费是否由饮酒动机、独饮和社会经济变化所预测。回忆参与风险饮酒的成年人比例从疫情前的35.9%显著下降到疫情期间的32.0%。应对饮酒的独特预测因素是焦虑和/或抑郁的经历以及低恢复力水平。收入损失或工作时间减少与应对、社交增强或遵从性饮酒动机无关，也与封锁期间饮酒习惯的变化无关。在疫情初期，心理应对机制可能比单纯的‘可负担性-可获得性’更能驱动成年人酒精使用习惯的变化。