- Data, Statistics and AI for Well-Being of People and Organisations
- A cura di Luigi Fabbris, Alberto Franci, Pietro Renzi
Drinking habits and future time perspectives of young Italians during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
- Angela Maria D'Uggento
- Luigi Fabbris
- © 2026 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1.32
The COVID-19 pandemic officially lasted about two years, from 2020 to 2022 and imposed more than one quarantine. When people were confined at home, their social habits changed dramatically. Some, psychologists and health operators, hypothesised that both viral threat and the physical isolation led many people to alter their drinking habits, starting a so-called emotional drinking. Indeed, there was an increase in the number of people showing themselves at hospitals and clinics for alcohol-correlated therapies. Population surveys and commercial data, instead, showed the number of consumers and the individual quantity of alcoholic beverages consumed decreased all over the world. To better understand this divergent situation, we conducted two surveys on samples of the Italian population right at the end of the pandemic and two years later. We asked the respondents whether their consumption of wine and alcoholic beverages had changed compared to pre-pandemic times and whether any consumption began during the pandemic. The issue is particularly relevant to young people because they showed to be the population group more liable to mental ailments. The data – analysed also with multivariate techniques – showed that a large majority of respondents did not change their drinking habits during the pandemic, although a minority of respondents reported consuming more than before, while others reported consuming less than before. The two divergent minorities about compensated each other, at least numerically. Further insight into the two subgroups highlighted that the young people who consumed more alcohol had problems with their physical and mental health, while those who engaged in more sober behaviour during the pandemic not only had particular social and demographic characteristics but also engaged in other sober behaviours at the same time. For the latter subgroup the pandemic was an opportunity to reflect on their own future and start a more essential and healthy lifestyle.
- Keywords:
- Drinking habits,
- Future Time Perspective,
- COVID-19,
- Italy,
- Young adults,
University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-9768-651X
University of Padua, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0001-8657-8361
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Informazioni sul capitolo
Titolo del capitolo
Drinking habits and future time perspectives of young Italians during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
Autori
Angela Maria D'Uggento, Luigi Fabbris
Lingua
Inglese
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1.32
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Informazioni bibliografiche
Titolo del libro
Data, Statistics and AI for Well-Being of People and Organisations
Curatori
Luigi Fabbris, Alberto Franci, Pietro Renzi
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
420
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1062-1
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1061-4
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1062-1
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1063-8
Collana
Applied Statistics Series