Regrets, I've Had a Few: Exploring Factors Associated with Getting Drunk and Regret in an International Study of People Who Drink Alcohol

Used in 2 entries

For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.

1. [1] Regular drinking Decision · action side

   Statistic

   70% of respondents who drank alcohol in the past 12 months reported regretting getting drunk at least once; median regretted occasions was 2 out of a median 6 times drunk

   “"In the last 12 months, the median times drunk was 6 and the median number of regretted occasions was 2. There was an inverse relationship between times drunk and regret, with respondents who got drunk more often regretting it a smaller percentage of the time than those who got drunk less often."”

   Calculation notes

   Data from the Global Drug Survey 2020 (n = 82,821, 31 countries). The 70% figure represents respondents who regretted getting drunk at least once in the prior year. Per-occasion regret was 33% overall (women 39%, men 30%). We use the any-regret prevalence (70%) as the action-regret rate because it captures the share of drinkers who experienced regret at all, not the per-episode rate. The GDS sample is self-selected and skews younger and heavier- drinking than the general population, so 70% is an upper bound.
   

   Source date: 2024-01-16 · Accessed: 2026-04-26

2. [2] NA substitute Decision · inaction side

   Statistic

   70% of respondents who drank alcohol in the past 12 months reported regretting getting drunk at least once; median regretted occasions was 2 out of a median 6 times drunk

   “"In the last 12 months, the median times drunk was 6 and the median number of regretted occasions was 2. There was an inverse relationship between times drunk and regret, with respondents who got drunk more often regretting it a smaller percentage of the time than those who got drunk less often."”

   Calculation notes

   Data from the Global Drug Survey 2020 (n = 82,821, 31 countries). The 70% figure represents respondents who regretted getting drunk at least once in the prior year. Used here as the inaction-side proxy for the regret signal from continuing to drink. The GDS sample is self-selected and skews younger and heavier-drinking than the general population, so 70% is an upper bound on any-regret prevalence among all adult drinkers. This is the cleanest peer-reviewed regret measure in the alcohol literature and matches the inaction side directly (people who kept drinking instead of substituting NA alternatives). Same source as used in the alcohol-vs-abstain entry, which is appropriate: the inaction-side population is identical (drinkers who continue drinking), only the action-side comparison differs.
   

   Independence note: Independent peer-reviewed analysis of the Global Drug Survey dataset; GDS is an independent academic-led harm-reduction survey with public methodology. No shared sample frame with Yoshimoto or NielsenIQ.

   Source date: 2024-01-16 · Accessed: 2026-05-30