Nisha Breukelman - 6497192

Knowledge Mobilization Assignment - How Covid-19 has affected college students’ alcohol
use

Purpose of the briefing: The information found is for college students and more specifically,
college students who consumed alcohol during the pandemic. It is also important to mention that
this could be useful for future college students who may experience similar situations. The
findings from this research could be helpful for students learning how to cope with stress or
lifestyle changes.
Context: The Covid-19 pandemic changed many students' lives, whether moving to online
classes or increased health precautions. This could increase stress in many students and possibly
increase the amount they drink. Before the researcher started, they thought that the pandemic's
effect on students would increase the amount they drink/binge drink because they could be under
higher stress levels. On the other side, the pandemic forced many students to move back home,
which decreased their opportunities for socialization, closely related to how much a college
student drinks.
Research Overview
a. The researchers in this study did their research on college students at a public North Carolina
University. The 474 first-year participants in this study were all between the ages of 18 and
21. The participants did two 25 minute online surveys with information collected twice; once
before the covid-19 pandemic and then once during the pandemic. To get the participants to
do both surveys, they offered gift cards. About 90% of the students surveyed during the
pandemic were living at home with their parents. Six main categories were tested; alcohol
use and binge drinking, Covid-19 stressors/stress, social engagement, coping, mental health,
and other controls. The categories which involved Covid-19 questions were only on the
second survey. An example of questions which was on the survey was "Over the past 30
days, on how many days did you have four or more drinks in a row, that is within a couple of
hours if you are female; five or more drinks in a row if you are male?" and responses were
on a scale by the number of days. All the questions varied by topic and response type, where
some were on a Likert Scale while others were high, moderate, or low response types. In the
other controls section, basics like demographics, race, sex and age were recorded. The
researchers looked at the data collected and analyzed it through a series of tests. For most of
the results, they were able to compare the data from before the pandemic with during the
pandemic to find changes/relations between college students' alcohol use.
b. The sample demographic sample in this research was very comparable to the actual school
demographic, meaning that there was not an over or under-representation of any of the
school's populations. The researchers found many interesting findings from the data
collected, but not all supported their original statements. They found no significant
relationship between social isolation and increased drinking, Covid-19 stressors and an
increase in alcohol use or binge drinking, and how supportive people thought their friends
were and binge drinking. These findings go against what the researchers previously assumed
about drinking habits concerning Covid-19. The overall changes in alcohol before and during
the pandemic showed a slight decrease by about 10% in both alcohol use and binge drinking.
In terms of social engagement, students who engaged in low social distancing had higher
alcohol use than students who said that they engaged in moderate/high social distancing. This
means that people who were socially distanced more often were less likely to use alcohol or
binge drink than people who were low in social distancing. There was an increase in alcohol
 Nisha Breukelman - 6497192

use and the number of days binge drinking occurred for students who reported that they were
having difficulties with school-going online. The researchers found that stress related to
Covid-19 stressors was not related to an increase in alcohol use. The only increase in alcohol
use was for students who previously reported using alcohol (or drugs) to cope.
Implications: For college students, it is beneficial to know about alcohol consumption trends
during the pandemic and learn about the response to increase stress or lower social engagement.
The findings show that alcohol use and binge drinking are much more dependent on social
factors than Covid-19 stressors for most students. Students moving back home and away from
the "party" social life of the school was found to decrease student alcohol use. College students
may find these conclusions comforting as they do not need alcohol in their lives and that
drinking is a social event, although this is not true for all groups of students. The group of
students who used alcohol to cope before the pandemic were more likely to use alcohol (or
drugs) to cope during the pandemic. Students who struggled with the transition to online school
and who previously used alcohol to cope were much more likely to increase their alcohol use
during the pandemic. This is important as people who drink to cope may not have the proper
strategies to cope in alternative ways. Knowing that the pandemic would increase stress for
some, students who are coping with alcohol might need help to find different ways to cope
instead of increasing their drinking.
Recommendations: The next steps are fairly simple for college students who do not have a
history of coping with alcohol (or drugs). College students should continue to cope with stress in
ways that do not include substance abuse and be aware of social situations' magnitude on
drinking habits. As the findings show, social engagement strongly correlates with alcohol
consumption and shows the "power of the environment over drinking-related behaviours in
college students." It is also crucial for college students to be aware of their drinking habits when
returning to campus, as alcohol use could significantly increase social engagement. College
campuses could enforce stricter alcohol use laws or raise awareness to decrease alcohol
consumption when returning to campus. For college students who have a history of coping with
alcohol, different steps should be taken. As mentioned above, students with this history are
significantly more likely to drink than others, meaning they need to find alternative ways to
cope. Some ways of doing so could be finding healthier ways to deal with stress, like therapy or
living a healthier lifestyle. These college students should be aware of the social settings that
could encourage alcohol consumption and be conscious of their intake and why they drink.
Considerations: Barriers to the recommendations mentioned above are that social motivators
are also powerful even when students are conscious about their drinking habits. It would be
extremely hard or virtually impossible to limit students' alcohol consumption when they just
experienced decreased social engagement with others. The recommendation mentioned above
has many barriers for college students with a history of using alcohol to cope. These students
have already learned to cope with alcohol, and the increase in social engagement in the future
could encourage students to drink more.