Feelings and alcohol consumption

Abstract

Consumption choices depend on the feelings experienced in the period preceding a consumer's decisions. We confirm this hypothesis using a large sample of Italian consumers collected by ISTAT (the Italian National Statistics Institute) as part of the multi-purpose survey “Indagine multiscopo sulle famiglie: Aspetti della vita quotidiana” (n = 114,052). Specifically, positive feelings are associated with wine and beer consumption, while negative feelings relate to spirits consumption. The latter pattern is common among men and women, whereas the former is only applicable to male consumers. Additionally, older consumers drink more following a period of positive feelings, whereas younger consumers drink less. Our two-level modelling strategy confirms the mediating role of personal characteristics in explaining the relation between feelings and alcohol consumption.