An exploratory factor analysis of an e-CHUG drinking motives scale with mandated students

Colleges maintain alcohol policies in response to student alcohol misuse, and sanctions for violating these policies often mandate students to attend alcohol education and/or counseling (Anderson & Gadaleto, 2021). Electronic Checkup to Go (e-CHUG) is a widely used online motivational intervention program that provides feedback to college students to encourage them to alter their drinking behaviors (eCheckup to Go, 2021). While measures included in e-CHUG have clear clinical utility, their psychometric properties have not been evaluated. The present study was designed to evaluate the factor structure and validity of the 18-item drinking motives scale included in the intervention.

Participants were 3,546 students from a large public university who were mandated to complete e-CHUG (58% male, M_Age = 19.06, SD_Age = 1.35) between 2013 and 2021. Students completed a battery of measures, including questions regarding alcohol consumption, drinking motives and consequences, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).

An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to investigate the structure of the drinking motives scale. Two factors were retained: The first factor represented coping motives, and the second factor represented a mixture of enhancement and social motives. Hierarchical regression analyses explored the associations between the retained drinking motives factors and alcohol-related variables. Both coping motives and enhancement/social motives positively and uniquely predicted drinking consequences and AUDIT scores.

This study provides support for the construct and incremental validity of e-CHUG's drinking motives measure and could have important implications for the consideration of drinking motives during e-CHUG interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).