ArticleAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2021
Is the COVID-19 Pandemic a High-Risk Period for College Student Alcohol Use? A Comparison of Three Spring Semesters.
Article in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Alcohol Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Review.Human psychopharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Changes in alcohol use during COVID-19 and associations with contextual and individual difference variables: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2022Pooled it
- Does self-affirmation augment the effects of a mandated personalized feedback intervention? A randomized controlled trial with heavy drinking college students.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2024Trial
- Social context of drinking moderates associations between descriptive norms and alcohol consumption among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of American college health : J of ACH · 2026Article
- Supervised tele-mental health training in Ecuador during COVID-19: stress and coping among psychology students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Pandemic Associated Changes in Personal Substance Use and Perceptions of Changes to Peer Substance Use among College Students: A Retrospective Assessment.Journal of drug education · 2025Article
- Temporal relations between alcohol use, posttraumatic stress disorder, and internalizing symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic: An ecological momentary assessment investigation.Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy · 2025Article
- Effects of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Alcohol Consumption, Hangovers and Smoking Among Young Adults (n = 140) in Germany: An On-Line Study.Human psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Harms from others' drinking among college students: Prevalence and risk factors, 2022.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Examining Whether Young Adults Differ in Their Endorsement and Subjective Evaluation of Alcohol Consequences by Age, Drinking Frequency, and Current Undergraduate Status.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2025Article
- Should I stay (home) or should I go (party)? Examination of drinking as a mediator of the relationship between alcohol-related social media content and adherence to COVID-19 recommendations among college students.Drug and alcohol review · 2024Article
- Alcohol to-go sales policies at on-premise drinking establishments near large public US universities during the COVID-19 pandemic.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2024Article
- Factors related to increased alcohol misuse by students compared to non-students during the first Covid-19 lockdown in France: the Confins study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Low levels of fitting in on campus moderates the relationship between enhancement drinking motives and drinks per week among college students.Addictive behaviors · 2023Article
- A pilot study of the acceptability, efficacy, and iatrogenic effects of a brief dynamic norms intervention for reducing young adult alcohol use.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2023Article
- University students' (binge) drinking during COVID-19 lockdowns: An investigation of depression, social context, resilience, and changes in alcohol use.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2023Article
- Alcohol Use, Anxiety and Depression among FrenchInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Hazardous alcohol use among Danish adolescents during the second wave of COVID-19: Link between alcohol use and social life.Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift : NAT · 2023Article
- Alcohol Use Before Sexual Violence and Cognitive Appraisals: Differential Associations With Barriers to Help-Seeking.Violence against women · 2023Article
- Are Cisgender Women and Transgender and Nonbinary People Drinking More During the COVID-19 Pandemic? It Depends.Alcohol research : current reviews · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere has been widespread concern that the COVID-19 pandemic may be a high-risk time for alcohol use among heavy drinking populations such as college students. Initial efforts to evaluate changes in college drinking have not yet accounted for typical drinking patterns within a semester.
methodsTo fill this gap, we evaluated how college student drinking patterns changed with the onset of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic during spring 2020 relative to spring 2018 and 2019. Participants were 1,365 college students aged 19 and older, including 895 students who reported past-month alcohol use. Daily drinking data were extracted from an online Timeline Followback survey.
resultsNegative binomial hurdle models revealed that, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, college student drinkers did not increase their drinking frequency as was typical in late spring semester, and the number of drinks per occasion declined substantially (28% reduction), greater than the change observed from early to late spring 2018 (3% reduction) or spring 2019 (8% increase). This reduction in drinking quantity in spring 2020 was larger for college student drinkers who moved residences because of the pandemic (49% reduction) than students who did not move (21% reduction). Perceptions in pandemic-related changes in drinking also revealed that 83.5% of college student drinkers self-reported that their drinking stayed the same or decreased.
conclusionsFindings suggest that, on average, college students drank less-not more-during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the importance of living situation in college student drinking behavior. More research is needed to assess alcohol use in other universities, as this information could be utilized in norms-based interventions to further reduce drinking in students who remain at risk.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.