Comparison of alcohol consumption and tobacco use among Korean adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

by Wonseok Jeong

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant changes worldwide, and due to the strict “Social Distancing Plan” including school closures, Korean adolescents have experienced unprecedented changes in their lives. Considering the peer effect on adolescents’ health behavior impacted due to the changes brought about by the pandemic, it would be interesting to explore differences in substance use in Korean adolescents. This study examines how these risk behaviors among Korean adolescents have changed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey of 87,532 adolescents was used to collect the data for the period 2019, 2020, and 2021. The KYRBWS is conducted by a national institution which uses a stratified two-stage cluster sampling, and the data is statistically reliable and representative of the population. The Cochran-Armitage and Chi-squared test for linear and non-linear time trends, respectively, were calculated to assess the difference across the period (2019, 2020, 2021). Also, the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs for current smoking status and current alcohol use status among 2020 and 2021 participants were compared with those of the 2019 participants using multiple logistic regression analysis.

The degree of current smoking status was lower in 2020 and 2021 participants than in the 2019 participants (2020: OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.61–0.71; 2021: OR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.61–0.71). On the same token, current alcohol use status was also lower in the participants during the pandemic than those before the pandemic (2020: OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.66–0.73; 2021: OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.66–0.73).

This study found that alcohol and tobacco use were reduced among Korean adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the decrease, future research on the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents is warranted.