Loneliness and alcohol use in alcohol use disorder: A longitudinal within-person analysis
Abstract
Background: Alcohol use is a major public health concern and a leading cause of preventable disease and death worldwide. Loneliness has been identified as a psychosocial risk factor associated with negative mental health outcomes such as increased alcohol use and alcohol-related problems through stress-relieving or self-medication processes. In turn, alcohol use may exacerbate loneliness through social and interpersonal consequences. Our goal was to examine the longitudinal dynamics of these factors in a population with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Methods: Data were drawn from the Collaborative Research Center Transregio (TRR) 265 longitudinal cohort study, which included adults with AUD who were assessed across four waves with 4 months in-between waves. Alcohol use was measured by frequency, quantity, binge drinking of alcohol, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Subjective loneliness was assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Dynamic panel models were used to examine within-person associations over time. Gender and age were tested as moderators. Results: Analyses revealed no evidence that loneliness predicts subsequent alcohol consumption frequency, quantity, or binge drinking episodes. However, elevated loneliness was associated with lower subsequent AUDIT scores. This relationship was significantly moderated by baseline age, specifically, the negative association was more pronounced among older birth cohorts. In contrast, alcohol use did not significantly predict subsequent loneliness across any indicator. No evidence of gender interactions was observed. Conclusions: The relationship between loneliness and alcohol use appears asymmetric rather than bidirectional, characterized primarily by fluctuations in problematic drinking rather than consumption levels in an AUD sample over four waves with four-month intervals. Diverging from self-medication hypotheses, loneliness was associated with fewer alcohol-related problems, particularly among older adults. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems and of using within-person approaches to understand their dynamic interplay.
Related
- Daily loneliness and alcohol use in Alcohol Use Disorder: an 8-week EMA study of within-person associations
- From Daily Attitudes to Alcohol‐Related Harm: A Within‐Person Serial Mediation Test Informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior
- Neuropsychosocial–Spiritual Correlates of Serene Abstinence in Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder Receiving Community-Based Recovery Care in Romania: A Longitudinal Observational Study Protocol (SER-ABS-AUD)
- Emotional Improvement Despite General Clinical Deterioration During Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation in Stiff Person Syndrome: A Longitudinal Case Report
- Core schema instability in youth at clinical high risk for psychosis: within-person variability as an index of self-belief precision
BibTeX
@misc{kraplin2026loneliness,
title = {{Loneliness and alcohol use in alcohol use disorder: A longitudinal within-person analysis}},
author = {Anja Kräplin and Michael A. Rapp and Jan Luca Wiedenhöft and Gianna Spitta and Louisa Diallo and Shuyan Liu and Tobias Banaschewski and Andreas Heinz and Fabian Arntz},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/3trh7_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/3trh7_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Loneliness and alcohol use in alcohol use disorder: A longitudinal within-person analysis
AU - Anja Kräplin
AU - Michael A. Rapp
AU - Jan Luca Wiedenhöft
AU - Gianna Spitta
AU - Louisa Diallo
AU - Shuyan Liu
AU - Tobias Banaschewski
AU - Andreas Heinz
AU - Fabian Arntz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/3trh7_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/3trh7_v1/
AB - Background: Alcohol use is a major public health concern and a leading cause of preventable disease and death worldwide. Loneliness has been identified as a psychosocial risk factor associated with negative mental health outcomes such as increased alcohol use and alcohol-related problems through stress-relieving or self-medication processes. In turn, alcohol use may exacerbate loneliness through social and interpersonal consequences. Our goal was to examine the longitudinal dynamics of these factors in a population with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Methods: Data were drawn from the Collaborative Research Center Transregio (TRR) 265 longitudinal cohort study, which included adults with AUD who were assessed across four waves with 4 months in-between waves. Alcohol use was measured by frequency, quantity, binge drinking of alcohol, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Subjective loneliness was assessed using the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Dynamic panel models were used to examine within-person associations over time. Gender and age were tested as moderators. Results: Analyses revealed no evidence that loneliness predicts subsequent alcohol consumption frequency, quantity, or binge drinking episodes. However, elevated loneliness was associated with lower subsequent AUDIT scores. This relationship was significantly moderated by baseline age, specifically, the negative association was more pronounced among older birth cohorts. In contrast, alcohol use did not significantly predict subsequent loneliness across any indicator. No evidence of gender interactions was observed. Conclusions: The relationship between loneliness and alcohol use appears asymmetric rather than bidirectional, characterized primarily by fluctuations in problematic drinking rather than consumption levels in an AUD sample over four waves with four-month intervals. Diverging from self-medication hypotheses, loneliness was associated with fewer alcohol-related problems, particularly among older adults. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems and of using within-person approaches to understand their dynamic interplay.
ER -