The research, led by social policy expert Dr Ben Baumberg Geiger at the University of Kent, also found that people who developed drinking problems were less satisfied with life.
The study considered how people’s happiness and drinking change alongside each other over a period of time. The authors made use of both an iPhone-based app and a traditional cohort study to generate the findings.
The results suggested that there was no connection between people’s drinking and their happiness over a period of time. The exception to this was in situations where alcohol became a problem, leading to reduced feelings of wellbeing.
Both studies took into account other possible explanations for the relationship between alcohol and happiness, although the authors concede that being absolutely sure that alcohol is causing momentary happiness is difficult. They also acknowledge that those involved in the studies are not representative of the whole population.
But the study does offer at least some robust evidence when policymakers previously had nothing but ‘pub talk’ to rely on, say the paper’s authors. They hope the research will help policymakers properly take happiness into account when doing cost-benefit analyses of alcohol regulation – and therefore make better, more transparent decisions about which policies will benefit the population and which won’t.
Category(s):Happiness
Source material from University of Kent
