Among other results, we found that mild relapse was an infrequent event. This finding may be explained by the sample composition, which included a majority of people in long-term recovery who were not currently hazardous drinkers. Indeed, the study’s eligibility criteria excluded any person reporting current heavy drinking. Persons experiencing ongoing, and perhaps more severe, relapse events were unable to participate. Thus, our study likely underestimates the prevalence of all relapse events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, there are some useful insights. For example, the results underscore that early recovery may be a particularly vulnerable time. Although our final multivariate models showed that recovery length was a significant correlate only for women, bivariate tests of recovery length were highly significant for both genders, and the marginally significant multivariate association for men was not inconsistent with that estimated for women. The implication is that targeted supportive services for people in early recovery may be necessary during comparable large-scale stressors, such as natural disasters.
