An Exploratory Factor Analysis of an e-CHUG Drinking Motives Scale With Mandated Students

Objective: 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. Method: Participants were 3,546 students from a large public university who were mandated to complete e-CHUG (58% male, M-Age = 19.06, SDAge = 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). Results: 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. Conclusions: 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.Public Health Significance StatementThis study provides support for the validity of the previously unevaluated measure of drinking motives included in e-CHUG, an online substance use intervention program. This study also highlights the importance of continuing to examine the psychometric properties of e-CHUG's measures in efforts to improve the clinical utility of this intervention program.