Associations between alcohol consumption and empathy in a non-clinical sample: drinking motives as a moderator.

People consume alcohol for multiple reasons. Negative motives are often associated with alcohol-related problems. These problems might be explained by negative effects of high alcohol consumption on empathy.

Increased alcohol use to cope with COVID-19-related anxiety one year into the coronavirus pandemic.

An increase in drinking to cope with anxiety provoked by the coronavirus was observed during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the present study, we examined the role of drinking motives in the anxiety-alcohol link one year into the pandemic. Using a cross-sectional design, we collected data between April and May 2021: 678 participants located in Romania or the Netherlands completed an online survey on alcohol consumption in the past month (assessed using a simple quantity-frequency measure), change in drinking during the past year (assessed using a single item asking whether there had been an increase, decrease or no change), drinking motives (assessed using the Revised Drinking Motives Questionnaire), drinking-related problems (assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test), and COVID-19-related anxiety (assessed using the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale).

The acute effects of alcohol on social cognition: A systematic review of experimental studies.

Rationale: Alcohol effects on social cognition have been studied by measuring facial emotion recognition, empathy, Theory of Mind (ToM) and other forms of information processing.

Objectives: Using the PRISMA guidelines, we reviewed experimental studies that examined acute effects of alcohol on social cognition.

Methods: Scopus, PsycInfo, PubMed, and Embase were searched between July 2020 - January 2023.