Alcohol consumption, alcohol expectancies, and drinking contexts in young Argentinean college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a one-year follow-up study

ABSTRACT

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns are known to affect alcohol consumption. This study examines drinking expectancies and contexts upon alcohol consumption of Argentinean students.

Objectives: To assess within-person changes in alcohol consumption in Argentinean college students (aged 18–24), from August 2019 with a one-year follow-up during the COVID-19 lockdown, considering alcohol expectancies, drinking contexts, and main socio-demographic variables. To validate the stability of these predictors, we discuss the effects on the alcohol consumption across dependent and independent measures.

Methods: We assessed one longitudinal (N = 300, 70% female) and one cross-sectional (N = 165, 78% female) sample via online surveys and applied multilevel analysis and regressions, respectively.

Results: Alcohol consumption significantly increased during lockdown compared to one-year before (mean: 6.91 and 8.26 alcohol units, correspondingly). In the longitudinal sample, social facilitation (medium effect sizes [ES]: 0.21, 0.22) and parental presence (medium ES: 0.12, 0.21) significantly and stable (through time) predicted increasing effects on consumption. In the cross-sectional sample, stress control (high ES: 0.78) and parental presence (high ES: 0.42) were associated with higher consumption during lockdown.

Conclusion: College students increased their alcohol consumption during lockdown, suggesting that restrictive sanitary measures may negatively affect consumption. Literature is not conclusive as both decreases and increases in alcohol consumption in students from developed countries were reported. Before and during COVID-19 lockdown, parental presence is a stable predictor of increased alcohol consumption, though unusual according to the literature. Health policies aimed at modifying the behavior of parents who promote/share alcohol consumption with their offspring may help reduce drinking in college students.

RESUMEN

Antecedentes: Numerosas investigaciones indican que la pandemia de COVID-19, y los confinamientos instaurados para prevenir su diseminación, impactaron el consumo de alcohol. Esta investigación examina las expectativas y los contextos de consumo de alcohol de estudiantes argentinos durante el confinamiento por el COVID-19.

Objetivos: (1) Evaluar los cambios intrapersonales en el consumo de alcohol en estudiantes universitarios argentinos (18 a 24 años), desde agosto de 2019 a agosto 2020, en función de las expectativas hacia el alcohol, los contextos de consumo y variables sociodemográficas. (2) Validar la estabilidad de los efectos de estos predictores sobre el consumo de alcohol a través de medidas dependientes e independientes.

Métodos: Se aplicó una encuesta online a dos muestras, una longitudinal (N = 300; 70% mujeres) y otra transversal (N = 165, 78% mujeres). Los datos fueron analizados mediante análisis multinivel y regresiones, respectivamente.

Resultados: El consumo de alcohol aumentó significativamente durante el confinamiento, comparado con el año previo (M: 8,26 y 6,91 unidades de alcohol, respectivamente). En la muestra longitudinal, la facilitación social (tamaños de efecto [TE] medianos: 0,21, 0,22) y la presencia parental (TE medianos: 0,12, 0,21) predijeron los incrementos del consumo de manera significativa y estable (a través del tiempo). En la muestra transversal, el control del estrés (TE alto: 0,78) y la presencia parental (TE alto: 0,42) se asociaron con mayor consumo durante el confinamiento.

Conclusión: Los estudiantes universitarios argentinos aumentaron su consumo de alcohol durante el confinamiento, lo que sugiere que las medidas sanitarias restrictivas pueden tener consecuencias negativas. La literatura es conflictiva porque reporta, en estudiantes de países desarrollados, tanto disminuciones como aumentos en el consumo de alcohol. Antes y durante el confinamiento por COVID-19, la presencia parental fue un predictor estable del aumento del consumo de alcohol, un hallazgo no consistente con la literatura. Las políticas de salud dirigidas a modificar el comportamiento de los padres, particularmente de aquellos que promueven/comparten el consumo de alcohol con sus hijos, podrían ayudar a reducir el consumo de alcohol en estudiantes universitarios.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol drinking
• alcohol drinking in college
• COVID-19
• longitudinal studies
• expectations
• quarantine
• developing countries

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Angelina Pilatti, Ph.D., and Dr. Yanina Michelini, Ph.D. for their important suggestions and comments in pre-reviewing this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Psychological Research, Faculty of Psychology, National University of Córdoba (CEIIPsi-UNC-CONICET; [email protected]). All participants gave their informed consent for their data to be used in the research.

Data availability statement

The dataset and the reproducible R code are available in the Open Science Framework (OSF) repository, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/FMHUJ

Additional information

Funding

This research was carried out during the postdoctoral fellowship granted by the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) to Dr. López Steinmetz but did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.