Citation

Dolli I, Slade T, Teesson M, Chapman C. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/dar.13602

PMID

36682030

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a unique concern regarding the potential for pandemic-related increases in alcohol use. However, most studies which have measured pandemic-related changes to date utilise self-attribution measures of changes in alcohol use using cross-sectional designs, which rely on accurate self-attributions for validity. There has been minimal investigation of correspondence of self-attributed and longitudinally measured changes in alcohol use during the pandemic. The current study seeks to examine this correspondence.

METHODS: A total of 856 participants originally recruited from Australian secondary schools completed follow-up surveys of an ongoing study at two timepoints (2018-2019, mean age 18.6 and 2020-2021, mean age 19.9; 65.3% female). Alcohol use was measured as any drinking (1+ drinks) and binge drinking (5+ drinks) frequency in the past 6 months. The correspondence and relationship between 'longitudinal change' measured from the first to the second timepoint and 'self-attributed change' measured at the second timepoint were examined.

RESULTS: For both any drinking and binge drinking frequency, moderate correspondence was observed between self-attributed and longitudinal change in drinking (37.1% and 39.3%). Most participants with longitudinal increases in any drinking or binge drinking frequency failed to correctly self-attribute this increase.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that self-attributed increases do not correspond well with longitudinally measured increases in pandemic-related drinking and may underestimate increases measured longitudinally.

METHOD of measurement needs to be taken into account if data are to be used to identify sub-groups at risk of alcohol use increases and facilitate appropriate direction of public health efforts.

Language: en

Keywords

COVID-19; alcohol consumption; binge drinking; epidemiologic measurements; self-report