Patterns of Alcohol Use Among Italian Young Adults Before and During a COVID-19 Lockdown: A Latent Class Analysis Study.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 9918351283506676 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2731-5541 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 27315533 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Prev (2022) Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: [Cham, Switzerland] : Springer Nature Switzerland AG, [2022]-
    • Subject Terms:
      COVID-19*/epidemiology; Communicable Disease Control ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Italy/epidemiology ; Latent Class Analysis ; Male ; Pandemics ; Young Adult
    • Abstract:
      Two not mutually exclusive theories explain the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol use. The Availability hypothesis contends that reduced opportunities to drink due to the closure of outlets and consumption sites should lead to decreases in alcohol use, whereas the Stress and Coping hypothesis argues that those exposed to stressful situations may increase drinking. The primary aim of this study was to examine changes-separately by gender-in the prevalence of drinking patterns among Italian young adults (18-34 years) before and during a COVID-19 lockdown. Study design was a repeated cross-sectional study, whereby data collected in 2015 and 2020 from nationally representative samples were analyzed. Latent class analysis identified five, fully invariant for women and partially invariant for men, drinking pattern classes among both cohorts: current non-drinkers (CND), weekend risky (WRD) and weekend non-risky drinkers (WnRD), daily non-risky (DnRD) and daily risky drinkers (DRD). In support of the Availability hypothesis, increases in abstaining and moderate drinking women and men were observed from 2015 to 2020. Concomitantly, among men only there were also increases in the prevalence of patterns characterized by risky drinking, coping drinking motives and related harm (Stress and Coping hypothesis). The pandemic and the three-tier lockdown imposed by the Italian government likely reduced overall alcohol use in the general population who drink moderately. However, there was a substantial increase in the prevalence of a small but significant group of men who drank daily and heavily to cope. Outreach and prevention efforts should target primarily this group, but also consider the opportunities that the exceptional circumstances of a quarantine offer to any individuals to reshape their lifestyle and health-related behaviors.
      (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Alcohol use; COVID-19; Drinking patterns; Italy; Lockdown; Person-centered approach; Young people
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20220319 Date Completed: 20220422 Latest Revision: 20220725
    • Publication Date:
      20240105
    • Accession Number:
      PMC8934024
    • Accession Number:
      10.1007/s10935-022-00675-2
    • Accession Number:
      35305212