The effect of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on women’s alcohol consumption in Victoria, Australia–an event-level study

Background
The aims of this study were to assess the impact of the lockdowns on Victorian women’s alcohol consumption and to examine impacts by age.

Methods
149 Victorian women (Mage (SD) = 42.6 (12.7)) completed 2,416 weekly surveys between May 2020 and February 2021. Multi-level models were estimated to assess the impact of COVID-19 lockdown period and age on the frequency and quantity of participants’ weekly drinking.

Results
Overall, reductions in Victorian women’s alcohol consumption were observed during both lockdowns, although greater reductions were apparent during the stricter lockdown with curfew. Both lockdowns also resulted in larger reductions in weekly drinking quantity, with fewer changes to drinking frequency.

Conclusions
The COVID-19 lockdowns resulted in overall reductions in the quantity, and to a lesser extent, the frequency of women’s drinking in Victoria and these effects were significantly larger for younger women (aged 18–29).