Adolescence and early adulthood are periods of life which can become increasingly stressful. Such increases in exposure to stress may account for the rise in prevalence rates of alcohol intake during these age periods, in general, and of stress-reactive drinking, in particular [34], [35]. Overall, our findings indicated that the level of stress during the past four years was associated with higher current drinking. This association was most marked regarding the AUDIT score (i.e. signs of harmful drinking), while the number of drinking days appeared to be unrelated to stress.
