(WWJ) -- Remember last spring at the onset of the pandemic when Michiganders and Americans everywhere were rushing to the stores to stock up on essential items? Like canned goods, bottled water, and toilet paper -- you know, just in case.
Well, many people were also stocking up on alcohol to help us get through it. No one really knew what lay ahead and a survey from American Addiction Centers, a leading provider of addiction recovery resources, found that nearly 1 in 5 Michiganders (say they deemed alcohol to be an essential purchase during the pandemic.
Michigan’s 19 percent was well below the national average of 37 percent, according to the study. Only five other states ranked lower than Michigan in the study.
Delaware (67 percent) checked in with the highest percentage of people saying alcohol was an essential purchase heading into the unknown. South Dakota was the lowest at 9 percent, according to American Addiction Centers.
“When it came to liquor, Michiganders were fortunate that supply could keep up with the demand when lockdowns were imposed, which is surprising since a significant number of those surveyed would have opted to buy a bottle or two before toilet paper,” the study says.
“When given a hypothetical and asked to purchase either tissue or alcohol, 25% said they would choose the latter.”
Respondents to the survey were asked another hypothetical -- if liquor sales had been banned during the pandemic in the U.S. (as occurred in some other countries) would they have broken the rules?
Nearly half (44%) said they would have found a way around the ban.
Related
Not surprisingly, though, given the stressful times many people have gone through, the survey revealed the extent to which people have used alcohol as a coping mechanism since the beginning of the pandemic.
Men appeared to have used alcohol more for this purpose than women. When asked to rank how difficult the pandemic would have been without alcohol on a scale of 1-10, men would have ranked it a “6/10” without the availability of alcohol, while women would have ranked it
4/10,” according to the study.
Data shows 25% of respondents would have opted for hard liquor -- such as whisky, vodka, rum or tequila -- over lighter drinks like beer or wine if they were presented with a binary choice between the two.
One last area of American Addiction Centers’ study was delving into alcohol’s impact on relationships during the pandemic.
“It’s widely know that alcohol has the ability to make people lose their inhibitions and can potentially fuel anger and arguments,” the study says. “In fact, nearly half (48%) of those in relationships say alcohol has hindered their relationship during lockdown.”
That could have something to do with nearly 1 in 5 partners admitting to keeping their drinking a secret from their partner during lockdown, according to a study last fall.