Evaluation of the Factor Structure of the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (MDMQ-R) in Brazil

Abstract

The study of drinking motives is of paramount importance for understanding the psychological aspects underlying alcohol intake. Psychological instruments have been used to assess these constructs, focusing on specific motivations associated with alcohol use and drinking problems, such as the Modified and Revised Alcohol Use Motives Questionnaire (MDMQ-R). This research aimed to adapt the MDMQ-R to the Brazilian context and evaluate its psychometric properties (validity and reliability) in this reality. 334 university students took part in the study, with a mean age of 22.9 (SD=4.2) years, a predominance of females (68.0%), single (86.0%) and catholic (47.0%). They answered online instruments for sociodemographic characterization and items from the MDMQ-R adapted to the Brazilian context. Descriptive, confirmatory factor and internal consistency analyses were carried out. The factor structure of this measure showed good fit indices (TLI = 0.97; CFI= 0.97; RMSEA [IC90%] = 0.078 [0.073 - 0.084]) and excellent reliability (α = 0.94; Ω = 0.94). Finally, the correlations between the MDMQ-R scores and the MCR-A results showed evidence of discriminant validity. The empirical evidence was suggestive of the psychometric suitability of the MDMQ-R to assess motives linked to alcohol use in samples similar to this study.