Drinking during social isolation: investigating associations between stress, inhibitory control, boredom, drinking motives, and alcohol use

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the sample.

Variable	Total (SD)	Female (SD)	Male (SD)
N	337	243	94
Age	34.69 (12.84)	32.96 (11.70)	39.18 (14.53)
Ethnicity
White	95.25%	94.24%	97.87%
Black	0.30%	0.41%	0.00%
Asian	2.08%	2.06%	2.13%
Mixed	2.08%	2.88%	0.00%
Other	0.30%	0.41%	0.00%
Sub-region
N. Europe	39.17%	41.56%	32.98%
E. Europe	5.04%	4.12%	7.45%
S. Europe	21.07%	19.34%	25.53%
W. Europe	13.06%	13.58%	11.70%
N. America	15.73%	16.46%	13.83%
Oceania	5.93%	4.94%	8.51%
Education
GCSE/GED	6.23%	5.76%	7.45%
A-levels/high-school diploma	18.69%	16.87%	23.40%
Undergraduate degree	22.85%	22.63%	23.40%
Graduate degree	31.45%	32.51%	28.72%
Doctoral degree or higher	20.77%	22.22%	17.02%
Occupation
Full-time students	23.44%	25.51%	18.09%
Never worked/long-term unemployment	13.35%	9.88%	22.34%
Consultant	2.37%	2.06%	3.19%
Skilled laborer	4.15%	2.88%	7.45%
Trained professional	22.85%	23.87%	20.21%
Support staff	4.45%	4.53%	4.26%
Administrative staff	6.53%	8.64%	1.06%
Junior management	10.98%	11.11%	10.64%
Middle management	8.01%	8.64%	6.38%
Upper management	3.86%	2.88%	6.38%
Key worker = Yes	21.07%	17.70%	29.79%
Income
Under £2500	14.24%	15.23%	11.70%
£2500 to £4999	4.45%	4.94%	3.19%
£5000 to £9999	7.42%	5.76%	11.70%
£10,000 to £14,999	10.68%	11.93%	7.45%
£15,000 to £19,999	10.09%	11.11%	7.45%
£20,000 to £24,999	7.72%	9.05%	4.26%
£25,000 to £29,999	8.31%	8.23%	8.51%
£30,000 to £34,999	6.82%	8.64%	2.13%
£35,000 to £39,999	4.15%	3.29%	6.38%
£40,000 to £44,999	4.75%	4.94%	4.26%
£45,000 to £49,999	3.26%	2.88%	4.26%
£50,000 or more	18.10%	13.99%	28.72%
Subjective social status
Working class	15.13%	16.05%	12.77%
Lower-middle class	39.76%	40.33%	38.30%
Upper-middle class	43.03%	41.15%	47.87%
Upper class	2.08%	2.47%	1.06%
Marital status
Single/separated/widowed/divorced	56.08%	60.91%	43.62%
Married/domestic partnership	43.92%	39.09%	56.38%
Experienced COVID-19 symptoms	15.43%	14.40%	18.09%
No. people in same household	2.65 (1.18)	2.69 (1.21)	2.55 (1.08)
No. offspring	0.55 (0.99)	0.46 (0.94)	0.78 (1.08)
Isolated with^a
Alone	11.57%	10.70%	13.83%
With children	67.56%	67.36%	68.09%
With romantic partner	62.50%	61.98%	63.83%
With parents	18.15%	20.66%	11.70%
With siblings	2.98%	4.13%	0.00%
With housemates	8.33%	7.85%	9.57%
With friends	1.19%	1.65%	0.00%
With extended family	20.83%	16.94%	30.85%

Note. Data are presented as mean (SD) for continuous measures and % for categorical measures. Symptoms included: (1) a high temperature, (2) a new, continuous cough, (3) a continuous headache, (4) a loss of taste and/or smell, (5) muscle aches, (6) a sore throat. Countries in the sample included: Australia (n = 17), Austria (n = 3), Bulgaria (n = 1), Canada (n = 3), Denmark (n = 2), Finland (n = 1), France (n = 18), Germany (n = 21), Hungary (n = 14), Ireland (n = 1), Italy (n = 63), Luxembourg (n = 1), New Zealand (n = 3), Portugal (n = 4), Romania (n = 1), Russia (n = 1), Serbia (n = 1), Spain (n = 3), Switzerland (n = 1), United Kingdom (n = 128), United States (n = 50).

^an = 336.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics (M and SD) for main study variables (N = 337).

Variable	Total (SD)	Female (SD)	Male (SD)	% Miss.
AUDIT	6.52 (4.35)	6.10 (3.89)	7.62 (5.23)	12.76
Alcohol units change	−1.57 (6.89)	−0.87 (6.84)	−3.38 (6.72)	12.46
Drinking days change	−0.21 (1.50)	−0.05 (1.41)	−0.62 (1.63)	12.46
Heavy days change	−0.12 (0.61)	−0.13 (0.66)	−0.10 (0.45)	12.46
APQ change	−1.39 (2.19)	−1.46 (2.21)	−1.21 (2.14)	8.61
DMQ-R social	13.67 (5.25)	13.59 (5.23)	13.86 (5.31)	9.79
DMQ-R coping	8.56 (3.63)	8.60 (3.59)	8.46 (3.75)	9.79
DMQ-R enhancement	11.58 (4.86)	11.57 (5.00)	11.61 (4.49)	9.79
DMQ-R conform	6.69 (2.16)	6.68 (2.12)	6.71 (2.26)	9.79
SOS-S change	−0.83 (5.91)	−0.89 (6.35)	−0.67 (4.62)	11.28
PSRS total	22.19 (7.98)	23.66 (7.74)	18.4 (7.33)	11.28
MSBS change	18.51 (33.29)	19.71 (35.75)	15.41 (25.79)	9.79
SUPPS-P negative urgency	8.58 (2.59)	8.67 (2.59)	8.34 (2.59)	12.17
SUPPS-P premeditation	6.80 (2.01)	6.83 (2.04)	6.72 (1.94)	12.17
SUPPS-P perseverance	7.22 (1.95)	7.16 (1.93)	7.37 (1.98)	12.17
SUPPS-P sensation seeking	9.39 (2.76)	9.13 (2.68)	10.06 (2.87)	12.17
SUPPS-P positive urgency	6.76 (2.25)	6.70 (2.29)	6.91 (2.15)	12.17
DOSPERT total	87.11 (20.14)	85.83 (19.28)	90.41 (21.95)	11.87

Note. Summary statistics calculated using imputed data (m = 40). 1 unit = 8 g pure ethanol; 1 heavy day = consuming >8 units per day for men or >6 units per day for women; APQ: Alcohol Problems Questionnaire; DMQ-R: Revised Drinking Motives Questionnaire; SOS-S: Short Stress Overload Scale; PSRS: Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale; MSBS: Multidimensional State Boredom Scale; SUPPS-P: The Shortened Urgency, Premeditation (lack of), Perseverance (lack of), Sensation Seeking, Positive Urgency, Impulsive Behavior Scale; DOSPERT: Domain-Specific Risk-taking Scale.

Figure 1. Changes in alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, stress, and boredom during social isolation (N = 337). Note. Both prevalence estimates (top) and effect sizes (bottom) were calculated using imputed data (m = 40). Adjusted models controlled for age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, the number of symptoms experienced, and whether the respondent was isolating with children. 1 unit = 8 g pure ethanol; 1 heavy day = consuming >8 units per day for men or >6 units per day for women; APQ: Alcohol Problems Questionnaire; SOS-S: Short Stress Overload Scale; MSBS: Multidimensional State Boredom Scale. *FDR-adjusted p < .05, **FDR-adjusted p < .01, ***FDR-adjusted p < .001.

Figure 2. Johnson-Neyman plots illustrating significant inhibitory control x boredom interactions (N = 337). Note. Models were fitted using imputed data (m = 40). Models were adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, the number of symptoms experienced and whether the respondent was isolating with children. The first imputed dataset was used to visualize statistically significant interactions. 1 unit = 8 g pure ethanol; 1 heavy drinking day = consuming > 8 units per day for men or > 6 units per day for women. Dashed lines represent the 95% CI.