Valle Vera, Belén delCarmona Márquez, JoséLozano Rojas, Óscar MartínParrado González, AlbertoVidal Giné, ClaudioMarcos Pautassi, RicardoFernández Calderón, Fermín2021-11-252021-11-252021Vera, B. del V., Carmona-Márquez, J., Lozano-Rojas, Ó. M., Parrado-González, A., Vidal-Giné, C., Pautassi, R. M., & Fernández-Calderón, F. (2021). Changes in Alcohol Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Young Adults: The Prospective Effect of Anxiety and Depression. In Journal of Clinical Medicine (Vol. 10, Issue 19, p. 4468). MDPI AG. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm101944682077-0383 (electrónico)http://hdl.handle.net/10272/20256Versión editorHealth measures instantiated to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have imposed significant constraints for the population and impacted on drinking habits and mental health. This study longitudinally compared changes in alcohol consumption before and after the COVID-19 outbreak and the impact of sociodemographic and mental health variables on such changes among a community sample of young adults. Data were collected in the context of a larger, ongoing longitudinal study. The sample consisted of 305 young adults from Spain aged between 18 and 26 years (mean age = 21.27, (SD = 2.21), female = 53.4%; college students = 61.6%) who completed first (November-2019 and February-2020; i.e., before the outbreak of COVID-19) and second follow-up questionnaires (March 2021, a year after the COVID-19 outbreak). Alcohol use (quantity and drinking frequency), depression and anxiety symptoms were measured. Quantity and frequency of alcohol use decreased from the preto post-COVID-19 period. A decrease in drinking frequency was observed among college students, but not in noncollege peers. Although we found no effect of pre-COVID-19 anxiety on alcohol use changes, those with more depressive symptoms at the pre-COVID assessment were more resistant to decreasing their drinking quantity and frequency after the COVID-19 outbreak. This information will be of value when designing interventions aimed at reducing harmful alcohol use and highlights the role of mental health status when identifying high risk populations of young-adults during this, and future, public health crisesengAtribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/COVID-19LongitudinalAlcohol useMental health statusYoung adultjournal article10.3390/jcm10194468open access