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Investigating the impact of COVID-19 related worries and loneliness on alcohol consumption: an ecological momentary assessment.

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Title: Investigating the impact of COVID-19 related worries and loneliness on alcohol consumption: an ecological momentary assessment.
Authors: Haucke, Matthias (AUTHOR), Heinz, Andreas (AUTHOR), Heinzel, Stephan (AUTHOR), Liu, Shuyan (AUTHOR)
Source: European Archives of Psychiatry & Clinical Neuroscience. Oct2025, Vol. 275 Issue 7, p2119-2128. 10p.
Abstract: Adverse alcohol consumption is a major public health concern, which might have been further increased by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study we investigated the impact of a lockdown stage on the association between alcohol consumption, loneliness, and COVID-19-related worries. We used smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. We recruited 280 participants from the general population, who experienced at least mild loneliness and distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed daily alcohol intake, loneliness, and COVID-19-related worries every evening for 7 consecutive days across a no-lockdown [8th August 2020–1st November 2020] and lockdown stage [2nd November 2020–11th March 2021]. We did not find that a lockdown stage, compared to a no-lockdown stage, is associated with increased alcohol consumption. We found that loneliness, previous day drinking, and COVID-19-related worries were not associated with increased, but with decreased alcohol consumption. Moreover, COVID-19-related worries were more negatively associated with alcohol consumption during a no-lockdown stage compared to a lockdown stage. We found that the effect of COVID-19 related worries on alcohol consumption is mediated by loneliness. Our study suggests that heightened levels of worry can decrease alcohol intake. This association can be explained by loneliness: individuals who worry more are lonelier and thus less likely to engage in social drinking. However, during a lockdown stage, the negative association between worrying and drinking diminishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of European Archives of Psychiatry & Clinical Neuroscience is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Investigating the impact of COVID-19 related worries and loneliness on alcohol consumption: an ecological momentary assessment.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Haucke%2C+Matthias%22">Haucke, Matthias</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Heinz%2C+Andreas%22">Heinz, Andreas</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Heinzel%2C+Stephan%22">Heinzel, Stephan</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Liu%2C+Shuyan%22">Liu, Shuyan</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22European+Archives+of+Psychiatry+%26+Clinical+Neuroscience%22">European Archives of Psychiatry & Clinical Neuroscience</searchLink>. Oct2025, Vol. 275 Issue 7, p2119-2128. 10p.
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Adverse alcohol consumption is a major public health concern, which might have been further increased by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study we investigated the impact of a lockdown stage on the association between alcohol consumption, loneliness, and COVID-19-related worries. We used smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. We recruited 280 participants from the general population, who experienced at least mild loneliness and distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed daily alcohol intake, loneliness, and COVID-19-related worries every evening for 7 consecutive days across a no-lockdown [8th August 2020–1st November 2020] and lockdown stage [2nd November 2020–11th March 2021]. We did not find that a lockdown stage, compared to a no-lockdown stage, is associated with increased alcohol consumption. We found that loneliness, previous day drinking, and COVID-19-related worries were not associated with increased, but with decreased alcohol consumption. Moreover, COVID-19-related worries were more negatively associated with alcohol consumption during a no-lockdown stage compared to a lockdown stage. We found that the effect of COVID-19 related worries on alcohol consumption is mediated by loneliness. Our study suggests that heightened levels of worry can decrease alcohol intake. This association can be explained by loneliness: individuals who worry more are lonelier and thus less likely to engage in social drinking. However, during a lockdown stage, the negative association between worrying and drinking diminishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of European Archives of Psychiatry & Clinical Neuroscience is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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