ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1516090
This article is part of the Research TopicCOVID and Psychotropics 2024: Lessons Learnt and Future Directions for ResearchView all 4 articles
Changes in self-reported alcohol consumption at high and low consumption in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: A test of the polarization hypothesis
Provisionally accepted- 1The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
- 2Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Kaunas, Lithuania
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Background The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated public health measures impacted alcohol use. It was hypothesized that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a polarization of drinking–that is, heavy drinkers increased their drinking, while light to moderate drinkers decreased their drinking. The aim of the current study was to probe deeper into this hypothesis to determine precisely which segment of heavy drinkers increased their consumption. Methods We obtained data from the Reducing Alcohol Related Harm Standard European Alcohol Survey for Lithuania, for two separate years; 2015 (n = 1354, mean age = 41.04 ±13.04, females = 680, 50.2%) and 2020 (n = 1015, mean age = 42.27 ±13.44, females = 513, 50.5%). Average daily consumption (in grams per day) was decomposed into deciles and compared pre-COVID-19 to onset of the COVID-19 pandemic across the 10th, 9th , and 1st deciles. To test our hypothesis we conducted a non-parametric pairwise comparison (Mann-Whitney U test) of alcohol consumption at the upper deciles. We also conducted a multivariate linear regression using mental well-being and sociodemographic variables as predictors of consumption. Results Alcohol consumption decreased from 2015 to 2020, mean = 11.49 cl of pure alcohol (SD = 8.23) vs. mean = 10.71 cl of pure alcohol (SD = 12.12), p < .00001, respectively. However, in the highest decile there was an increase from 2015 to 2020 mean = 29.26 cl of pure alcohol (SD = 5.44) vs. mean = 39.23 cl of pure alcohol (SD = 20.58), p = .0003, respectively. This reversal pattern was not observed in the second highest nor the lowest decile. The multivariate model was significant (F(11,1881) = 20.85, p < .00001, adjusted R2 = 0.10) and showed significant year by sex interaction (p = .021) and year by occupation interaction (p = .023) on alcohol consumption. Conclusion Although COVID-19 was associated with declines in alcohol consumption, in Lithuania it appears that there was an increase in consumption among the heaviest drinkers, driven partially by a smaller difference in consumption between males and females.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Alcohol consumption, drinking polarization, heavydrinking, Drinking patterns
Received: 23 Oct 2024; Accepted: 25 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tran, Jiang, Lange, Štelemėkas, Stumbrys, Tamutienė and Rehm. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Alexander Tran, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
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