Employment, Economic, and Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Changes in Smoking and Drinking Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea

Sun Yeop Lee, Sun Kim, Woong-Han Kim and Jongho Heo
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Sun Yeop Lee: JW LEE Center for Global Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03087, Korea
Sun Kim: Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Woong-Han Kim: JW LEE Center for Global Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03087, Korea
Jongho Heo: JW LEE Center for Global Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03087, Korea

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: The societal disruptions resulting from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have caused changes in smoking and alcohol consumption. Using data from the Koreans’ Happiness Survey, a nationally representative survey in South Korea, we (1) described population-level smoking and drinking behaviors; (2) assessed changes in smoking and drinking behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic; and (3) identified employment, economic, and sociodemographic factors associated with these changes using multinomial logistic regression. The overall amount of smoking and drinking decreased during the pandemic, but the changes were heterogeneous across subgroups. Male gender, receipt of the basic living allowance, self-employment, unemployment, and chronic disease status were associated with increased smoking, while higher household income, temporary worker status, living with someone (versus alone), and having fewer offline friends were associated with decreased smoking. Male gender, self-employment, living alone, having more offline friends, and chronic disease status were associated with increased drinking, while younger age, male gender, low and high household income (i.e., a U-shaped relationship), long-term rent with a deposit, temporary worker status, and chronic disease status were associated with decreased drinking. Our findings provide evidence on changes in smoking and drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea and differential changes across subgroups.

Keywords: smoking; alcohol consumption; employment status; COVID-19 pandemic; South Korea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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