‘I’m not managing it; it’s managing me’: a qualitative investigation of Australian parents’ and carers’ alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has brought significant changes to people’s lives. Research indicates parents and carers faced particular challenges and were one of the few groups reported in survey data to increase their alcohol consumption during the pandemic. Drawing on interviews with 30 Australian parents and carers of young children, and using a family practices approach, we explore how participants considered their alcohol practices as entangled with, or affected by, their family dynamics and their role as carers during the pandemic. Drinking practices during COVID-19 vary across the sample, with some participants increasing their consumption and others reducing it. Participants' accounts show how drinking was constructed as rewarding, pleasurable, and relaxing, while for others it was associated with guilt and heightened stress. The complex reflections on alcohol consumption were shaped by circumstances unique to the pandemic, including an absence of alternative leisure options, new stresses, increased bodily density and sharing of space, and new forms of care/emotional responsibilities. Findings highlight the ways the pandemic aggravated existing tensions, which in turn were shaped by and entangled with their alcohol consumption, and illustrate how consumption may have been productive, potentially with few repercussions for them and their families.