Problematic alcohol use in Austrian apprentices during the COVID-19 pandemic

Teresa O'Rourke; Rachel Dale; Elke Humer; Paul Plener; Christoph Pieh

doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100414

Problematic alcohol use in Austrian apprentices during the COVID-19 pandemic

Addict Behav Rep. 2022 Jun:15:100414. doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100414. Epub 2022 Feb 22.

Authors

Teresa O'Rourke¹, Rachel Dale¹, Elke Humer¹, Paul Plener^{2

3}, Christoph Pieh¹

Affiliations

¹ Department for Psychotherapy and Biopsychosocial Health, Danube University Krems, Austria.
² Department of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
³ Department of Child and Adolescents Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Ulm, 89075 Ulm, Germany.

Abstract

This study assessed problematic alcohol use in Austrian apprentices during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was performed via REDCap with a sample of 1442 apprentices (53.3% female, 45.4% male, 1.1% non-binary, 28.4% migration background) from 29th March to 18th May 2021. The CAGE questionnaire was used to measure problematic alcohol use. Chi-square tests revealed that problematic alcohol use was more likely in apprentices with depressive symptoms (OR: 2.1), anxiety (OR: 2.1) or insomnia (OR: 1.4) and those over 18 (OR: 1.6). There were no differences in problematic alcohol use according to gender, migration background, or lockdown status.

Keywords: Alcohol use; Apprentices; CAGE questionnaire; COVID-19.