How has COVID-19, lockdown and social distancing changed alcohol drinking patterns? A cross-cultural perspective between britons and spaniards. (January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rodrigues, Heber; Valentin, Dominique; Franco-Luesma, Ernesto; Ramaroson Rakotosamimanana, Vonimihaingo; Gomez-Corona, Carlos; Saldaña, Erick; Sáenz-Navajas, María-Pilar
• Is Part Of: Food quality and preference. Volume 95(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-01
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- Lockdown -- Social distancing -- Quarantine -- Drink behaviour -- Culture; Food preferences -- Periodicals; Food -- Quality -- Periodicals; Food industry and trade -- Quality control -- Periodicals; Préférences alimentaires -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Qualité -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Industrie et commerce -- Qualité -- Contrôle -- Périodiques; Food industry and trade -- Quality control; Food preferences; Food -- Quality; Periodicals; 664
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104344
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-3293

Abstract

Highlights: Britons did not experience significant changes in alcohol consumption patterns. Spaniards experienced decreases on alcohol consumption due to the absence of their usual social contexts. British and Spaniards were compared concerning alcohol consumption patterns during the lockdown. Cultural responses to social distancing and lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic were studied. Abstract: During the early months of 2020, the world experienced a novel, violent, and relentless pandemic era. By the end of the year more than seventy-seven million cases of COVID-19 had been reported around the globe. Due to it being a highly contagious disease, the recommended measures adopted by most nations to prevent infection include social distancing and quarantine. How did these measures affect people's relationship with alcohol consumption in cultures where alcohol plays an important social role? A questionnaire-based study, designed to follow the drinking behaviour of people before and during lockdown was applied to two different cultural groups impacted by the pandemic during the strict phase of lockdown. These are the British and Spanish populations (179 participants from each country were interviewed). Considering the frequency of consumption of the alcoholic beverages evaluated (wine, beer, cider, whisky and spirits), the results showed that a significant lockdown*country interaction was observed. Overall, Spanish participants consumed alcoholic beverages less frequently during lockdown than before, while British participants reported no change in their consumption habits. Spaniards' decrease in alcohol consumption is related to the absence of a social contexts while Britons seems to have adapted their consumption to the modified context. Results suggest that, alcohol consumption is a central core of the British culture, while for the Spanish, socialization is more a cultural characteristic than the alcohol itself.