Associations between Mental Resilience, Mood, Coping, Personality, and Hangover Severity

Abstract

Extensive research exists on relationships between psychological constructs and alcohol consumption. However, research on relationships with hangover severity remains limited. This study aimed to assess the associations between mental resilience, mood (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress), coping, personality, and hangover severity. A total of N = 690 participants completed an online survey by answering questions regarding their demographics, alcohol use, hangover prevalence and severity, and several psychological assessments (Brief Resilience Scale, DASS-21, Brief Cope, and Brief Version of the Big Five Personality Inventory). Significant associations were found between hangover severity and mental resilience, mood, and avoidant coping. Higher levels of mental resilience were associated with less severe hangovers, whereas poorer mood was associated with more severe hangovers. No significant associations were found with personality traits. These findings demonstrate that several associations between psychological constructs and hangover severity exist and suggest a role of psychological factors in the pathology of the alcohol hangover. As our findings contrast with the results of previous studies that did not report an association between mental resilience and the presence and severity of hangovers, further research is warranted.

Does Personality, Trait Emotion Regulation, and Trait Attentional Control Contribute toward the Experience and Impact of an Alcohol Hangover?

“…Previous research has been mixed regarding the link between hangover and personality, with some suggesting neuroticism predicts hangover experience [ 6 ], and others finding no association between personality and severity [ 7 ]. Our findings provide additional evidence for the link between personality and severity with results indicating that agreeableness positively predicts severity.…”

“…One early study by Harburg et al [ 6 ] suggested that neuroticism may predict hangover, but they have since been criticized for including participants who reported no hangover symptoms. Recently, Terpstra et al [ 7 ] re-examined the link between personality and overall severity with results suggesting no association with any of the big five personality factors (Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness). These results are surprising given that individuals who score high on extraversion are more likely to binge drink [ 8 ] and greater frequency of hangovers is associated with greater subjective severity [ 9 ].…”

“…Furthermore, the way a person is able to cope with an adverse event has been linked with severity. Avoidant coping styles [ 7 ], i.e., those whereby individuals deny, minimize or otherwise avoid dealing with emotional turmoil, and emotion dysregulation [ 10 ] are both positively associated with hangover severity. In addition, qualitative research suggests that individuals may be better able to cope with hangover experiences through communal bonding, where they discuss the previous night’s activities and how they are currently feeling [ 11 ].…”

“…Furthermore, state-based scores in subjective difficulties for regulating emotions are greater when hungover than not, and scores are related to current hangover severity. As previously mentioned, recent survey data have also indicated that avoidant coping is positively related to severity, suggesting that individuals with maladapted coping strategies may experience more severe hangovers [ 7 ]. Together, these data suggest that our inherent abilities to cope with difficulty relate to how hangover is experienced, and that we perceive greater difficulties regulating emotions whilst hungover.…”

Availability of different types of alcohol and amount of intake and next-day hangover – a naturalistic randomized controlled pilot trial

“…Although hangover is 100% attributable to alcohol, certain risk factors affect hangover sensitivity and severity. Although these risk factors have received little attention in the scientific literature, several factors can aggravate the severity, including sleep deprivation, smoking, congeners, health status, genetics, sex and individual differences such as mental resilience (Jackson et al , 2013; Penning et al , 2010; Terpstra et al , 2022; Tolstrup et al , 2008). Evidence suggests that alcohol metabolites and other biological factors such as hormonal alterations and de‐regulations in cytokine pathways play a role in manifestation of hangover symptoms (Jayawardena et al , 2017).…”