While Dry January is in full swing, a team of researchers from the Le Vinatier Hospital Center (Bron) looked into the popularity of this challenge among the French and their participation. As a reminder, Dry January – January challenge in French – was launched in the United Kingdom in 2013 and has been taking place in France since 2020. It involves not drinking a drop of alcohol from the 1is as of January 31. 5,000 French adults, representative of the general population, participated in the study, the results of which were published in the journal Frontiers. They responded to a cross-sectional survey, online, between January 8 and 17, 2024 – during the 5e edition in France.
4.5 million participants in France
Results: among the 4,075 alcohol consumers over the past year, 61% were aware of the campaign. And among them, 20% participated in the challenge, which represents 12% of all alcohol consumers in France. This is a clear increase compared to previous editions. In 2021, according to Public Health France, 53% of 18-75 year olds had heard of the January challenge and 4.5% declared having changed their alcohol consumption in connection with the challenge, half of whom indicated having been completely abstinent during a month. In 2024, extrapolated to the entire French adult population, 4.5 million people would have participated in Dry January.
A campaign that found its target audience
Participation was similar between men and women (19% and 21%) but higher among younger generations. “Participation being lower as age increased (29% among those aged 18-34, 20% among those aged 35-54 and 15% among those aged 55 and over),” note the authors of the study. As for participants, they were more likely to identify their drinking as risky, a possible addiction and were more concerned about the effects of alcohol on their health and their control, or lack of control, over alcohol. Thus, according to the authors of the study, “Dry January appears to fulfill one of its key aims by attracting people at higher risk of alcohol-related harm, i.e. those most likely to benefit from such a campaign” .
Participants who reduce their consumption in the medium term
In a second part of the study, carried out on nearly 2,000 people, participants were invited to answer a questionnaire concerning the improvements observed and their level of alcohol consumption in particular. “Early analyzes show that all of these health-related measures – physical well-being, mental well-being and sleep quality – are improving in February,” explained on the RMC set Louis-Ferdinand Lespine, psychologist, researcher in psychiatry and addictology at Vinatier, and main author of the study.
Additionally, alcohol consumption declines several months after the January challenge. In the Quotidien du Médecin, he specifies : “nearly 60% of participants report a drop in their consumption in frequency, quantity or both”continues the researcher. Participants also declared themselves more “able to refuse consumption”. The results of this second part of the Janover study, of which the French Society of Addictology is a partner, have not yet been published.
