Alcohol consumption patterns and association with educational attainment in Europe: an analysis of the 2023-24 European Social Survey.
18 affiliations
- 1Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
- 2Department of Public Health, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
- 3Department of Periodontology, Oro-Dental and Implant Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Liège, CHU of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
- 4Department of Epidemiology and Public health, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium.
- 5Institute for Advanced Family Studies (IESF), Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
- 6Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellatarra, Spain.
- 7CERPOP, UMR1295, unite mixte INSERM - University of Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
- 8Research Unit in Public Health, Epidemiology and Health Economics, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
- 9Department of Cardiovascular, Endocrine-metabolic Diseases and Aging, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
- 10Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus.
- 11Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
- 12Centre for Health Equity Analytics (CHAIN), Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
- 13Department of Disease Burden, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway.
- 14Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
- 15School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
- 16Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary. [email protected].
- 17Syreon Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary. [email protected].
- 18Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), Public Health Research Center, LA-REAL, National School of Public Health, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal. [email protected].
Abstract
Background
Alcohol consumption is a risk factor to several non-communicable diseases, posing a threat to vulnerable populations. This study aims to analyse the association between alcohol consumption patterns and educational attainment across Europe.Methods
a cross-sectional study was conducted using pooled data from the European Social Survey 2023-2024 Round 11, which included individual data from 33,987 respondents aged between 25 and 74 years from 27 European countries. Alcohol consumption was assessed using self-reported frequency and quantity of consumption, using standardised questions to assess consumption patterns and alcohol quantities. Our main outcome was frequency of alcohol consumption. A mixed ordinal logistic regression model assessed associations between sex, age, educational attainment, and alcohol consumption.Results
The highest percentages of frequent drinkers were found in Western Europe (28.0%) and the lowest in Eastern Europe (14.5%), whereas moderate drinking was most common in Northern Europe (52.5%) and lowest in Eastern Europe (28.9%). The regression model indicated that female gender was positively associated with alcohol consumption (adjOR = 2.05, p < 0.001). Primary education was found to be a risk factor compared to tertiary education (adjOR = 1.31, p = 0.022). Early adulthood age groups (25-34 and 35-44) presented a positive association compared to the 65-74 group (adjOR = 1.44, p = 0.003 and adjOR = 1.33, p = 0.001, respectively).Conclusions
Being female and having lower educational attainment were associated with increased alcohol consumption. The differences in consumption patterns may, in part, reflect the heterogeneity of alcohol policy frameworks across European countries, including variations in taxation, availability restrictions, marketing regulations, and enforcement strategies. Together, these findings highlight that age-specific drinking patterns reflect a combination of socialisation, cultural normalisation, and health-related transitions across the life course.
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BibTeX
@article{mahrouseh2026alcohol,
title = {{Alcohol consumption patterns and association with educational attainment in Europe: an analysis of the 2023-24 European Social Survey.}},
author = {Nour Mahrouseh and Diana A Grad and Carlos Alexandre Soares Andrade and Sarah Nayani and Jeroen J A Spijker and Romana Haneef and Brigid Unim and Mary Economou and Mirza Balaj and Terje Andreas Eikemo and Carl Michael Baravelli and Elena von der Lippe and Grant M A Wyper and Orsolya Varga and José Chen-Xu},
journal = {BMC public health},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s12889-026-28558-9},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42902186},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Alcohol consumption patterns and association with educational attainment in Europe: an analysis of the 2023-24 European Social Survey.
AU - Nour Mahrouseh
AU - Diana A Grad
AU - Carlos Alexandre Soares Andrade
AU - Sarah Nayani
AU - Jeroen J A Spijker
AU - Romana Haneef
AU - Brigid Unim
AU - Mary Economou
AU - Mirza Balaj
AU - Terje Andreas Eikemo
AU - Carl Michael Baravelli
AU - Elena von der Lippe
AU - Grant M A Wyper
AU - Orsolya Varga
AU - José Chen-Xu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - BMC public health
DO - 10.1186/s12889-026-28558-9
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42902186
AB - Background Alcohol consumption is a risk factor to several non-communicable diseases, posing a threat to vulnerable populations. This study aims to analyse the association between alcohol consumption patterns and educational attainment across Europe.Methods a cross-sectional study was conducted using pooled data from the European Social Survey 2023-2024 Round 11, which included individual data from 33,987 respondents aged between 25 and 74 years from 27 European countries. Alcohol consumption was assessed using self-reported frequency and quantity of consumption, using standardised questions to assess consumption patterns and alcohol quantities. Our main outcome was frequency of alcohol consumption. A mixed ordinal logistic regression model assessed associations between sex, age, educational attainment, and alcohol consumption.Results The highest percentages of frequent drinkers were found in Western Europe (28.0%) and the lowest in Eastern Europe (14.5%), whereas moderate drinking was most common in Northern Europe (52.5%) and lowest in Eastern Europe (28.9%). The regression model indicated that female gender was positively associated with alcohol consumption (adjOR = 2.05, p < 0.001). Primary education was found to be a risk factor compared to tertiary education (adjOR = 1.31, p = 0.022). Early adulthood age groups (25-34 and 35-44) presented a positive association compared to the 65-74 group (adjOR = 1.44, p = 0.003 and adjOR = 1.33, p = 0.001, respectively).Conclusions Being female and having lower educational attainment were associated with increased alcohol consumption. The differences in consumption patterns may, in part, reflect the heterogeneity of alcohol policy frameworks across European countries, including variations in taxation, availability restrictions, marketing regulations, and enforcement strategies. Together, these findings highlight that age-specific drinking patterns reflect a combination of socialisation, cultural normalisation, and health-related transitions across the life course.
SN - 1471-2458
ER -