Alcohol consumption has significantly decreased among young people who abuse alcoholic beverages during the COVID pandemic and after it, reported the electronic edition “Medical Express"“. The results were published in the specialized publication Nature Mental Health.
„The pandemic has given us a unique opportunity to determine how widespread measures such as social distancing and bar and restaurant closures have affected alcohol consumption, said study lead author Casey Creswell, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, US. specifies bTV.
He explained that they focused on young people who had been drinking well before the pandemic to see if there were changes in alcohol consumption and related problems.
Unlike other studies of alcohol consumption patterns during the pandemic, the study looked at the use of 234 alcohol-abusing young people aged 21 to 29 during and after the end of the pandemic. They previously reported binge drinking at least four times in the past month, defined as consuming five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women. Data collected for every six months from February 2018 to March 2022.
Results show that study participants significantly reduced the amount and frequency of alcohol use during and after the pandemic. Monthly alcohol intake was reduced by nearly 13 drinks, with participants also reporting a significant reduction in alcohol-related problems. The trend remains stable even two years after the start of the pandemic, the study found.