biostudies-literatureNilsson AHNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and AlcoholismNIAAA NIH HHSe0298300https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC10917301biostudies-literatureUnknown19(3)<h4>Background</h4>Unhealthy alcohol consumption is a severe public health problem. But low to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with high subjective well-being, possibly because alcohol is commonly consumed socially together with friends, who often are important for subjective well-being. Disentangling the health and social complexities of alcohol behavior has been difficult using traditional rating scales with cross-section designs. We aim to better understand these complexities by examining individuals' everyday affective subjective well-being language, in addition to rating scales, and via both between- and within-person designs across multiple weeks.<h4>Method</h4>We used daily language and ecological momentary assessment on 908 US restaurant workers (12692 days) over two-week intervals. Participants were asked up to three times a day to "describe your current feelings", rate their emotions, and report their alcohol behavior in the past 24 hours, including if they were drinking alone or with others.<h4>Results</h4>Both between and within individuals, language-based subjective well-being predicted alcohol behavior more accurately than corresponding rating scales. Individuals self-reported being happier on days when drinking more, with language characteristic of these days predominantly describing socializing with friends. Between individuals (over several weeks), subjective well-being correlated much more negatively with drinking alone (r = -.29) than it did with total drinking (r = -.10). Aligned with this, people who drank more alone generally described their feelings as sad, stressed and anxious and drinking alone days related to nervous and annoyed language as well as a lower reported subjective well-being.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Individuals' daily subjective well-being, as measured via language, in part, explained the social aspects of alcohol drinking. Further, being alone explained this relationship, such that drinking alone was associated with lower subjective well-being.PloS oneLanguage-based EMA assessments help understand problematic alcohol consumption.PMC109173011R01AA028032-01R01 AA028032Mahwish SUngar LSchwartz HAMcKay JRCho YMRosenthal RNNilsson AHVu HGanesan AVfalseLanguage-based EMA assessments help understand problematic alcohol consumption.<h4>Background</h4>Unhealthy alcohol consumption is a severe public health problem. But low to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with high subjective well-being, possibly because alcohol is commonly consumed socially together with friends, who often are important for subjective well-being. Disentangling the health and social complexities of alcohol behavior has been difficult using traditional rating scales with cross-section designs. We aim to better understand these complexities by examining individuals' everyday affective subjective well-being language, in addition to rating scales, and via both between- and within-person designs across multiple weeks.<h4>Method</h4>We used daily language and ecological momentary assessment on 908 US restaurant workers (12692 days) over two-week intervals. Participants were asked up to three times a day to "describe your current feelings", rate their emotions, and report their alcohol behavior in the past 24 hours, including if they were drinking alone or with others.<h4>Results</h4>Both between and within individuals, language-based subjective well-being predicted alcohol behavior more accurately than corresponding rating scales. Individuals self-reported being happier on days when drinking more, with language characteristic of these days predominantly describing socializing with friends. Between individuals (over several weeks), subjective well-being correlated much more negatively with drinking alone (r = -.29) than it did with total drinking (r = -.10). Aligned with this, people who drank more alone generally described their feelings as sad, stressed and anxious and drinking alone days related to nervous and annoyed language as well as a lower reported subjective well-being.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Individuals' daily subjective well-being, as measured via language, in part, explained the social aspects of alcohol drinking. Further, being alone explained this relationship, such that drinking alone was associated with lower subjective well-being.2024-01-01T00:00:00Z20242026-06-09T07:00:08.302Z2026-06-09T03:12:07.303ZS-EPMC109173013844679610.1371/journal.pone.0298300