COVID-19 exposure and diagnosis among college student drinkers: links to alcohol use behavior, motives, and context.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health crisis. College student alcohol use is highly prevalent and primarily occurs in social settings where risk for COVID-19 transmission is heightened. This study explored the associations between alcohol use frequency, quantity, motives, and context with: (i) quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure and (ii) a positive diagnosis for COVID-19. A sample of n = 409 college student drinkers completed an online survey about their health and behaviors during the Fall 2020 semester. Since the start of the semester, 36% of students quarantined and 13% of students received a COVID-19 diagnosis. More frequent alcohol use was associated with increased odds of both quarantine and COVID-19 diagnosis. More frequent drinking for social motives was associated with increased likelihood of quarantine, and more frequent drinking for conformity motives was associated with increased likelihood of COVID-19 diagnosis. Participants who often drank alone or with a small group of friends were about half as likely to have quarantined, while those who often drank with a large group of friends were almost twice as likely to have quarantined. Participants who often drank in a bar or nightclub had almost three times the odds of a COVID-19 diagnosis. Frequent alcohol use and drinking for social and conformity motives and in certain contexts are linked to increased likelihood of COVID-19 exposure and diagnosis. Alcohol use prevention efforts, coupled with messaging to discourage large social gatherings in public places, might help to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 among college students.

Behavioral medicine challenges in the shadow of a global pandemic.

Health behavior researchers should refocus and retool as it becomes increasingly clear that the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic surpass the direct effects of COVID-19 and include unique, drastic, and ubiquitous consequences for health behavior. The circumstances of the pandemic have created a natural experiment, allowing researchers focusing on a wide range of health behaviors and populations with the opportunity to use previously collected and future data to study: (a) changes in health behavior prepandemic and postpandemic, (b) health behavior prevalence and needs amidst the pandemic, and (c) the effects of the pandemic on short- and long-term health behavior. Our field is particularly challenged as we attempt to consider biopsychosocial, political, and environmental factors that affect health and health behavior. These realities, while daunting, should call us to action to refocus and retool our research, prevention, and intervention efforts.