Psychometric features of the Cocaine Use Motivation Questionnaire (CUMQ)

Objectives

Cocaine use has tended to increase over the past decade, particularly among younger populations. Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit substance in France. Over the past few years, there has been an uptick in cocaine consumption in the country. The observed increase in consumption raises questions about the underlying motives. The goal of the present study is to construct and validate a questionnaire that explores the motivation behind cocaine use.

Materials and methods

This paper consists of two studies conducted on different data collections. In the first study, one thousand, one hundred and thirteen (n = 1113) individuals participated and six hundred and seventy (n = 670) individuals participated in the second study. All participants were current or former cocaine users. These participants completed an online sociodemographic questionnaire, a constructed questionnaire exploring motivations for cocaine use. This questionnaire was developed using the self-determination theory of (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and 11 semi-structured interviews with users. The purpose of these interviews was to explore the motivation for cocaine use, the expected benefits, and the negative consequences. From literature and the corpus of previously completed interviews, a first version of the questionnaire with 31 items was produced. The research respects the ethical recommendations of Helsinki and has received a favorable opinion from the research ethics committee. The data was collected anonymously and on a voluntary basis.

Results

In the first study, 574 (51.6%) men and 539 (48.4%) women participated. The mean age of the participants was 25.0 years (SD = 5.83) ranging from 18 to 65 years old. In the second study 310 (46.3%) men and 360 (53.7%) women participated. The mean age of the participants was 25.7 years (SD = 4.23) ranging from 18 to 48 years old. Initially, an exploratory factor analysis was carried out. This first analysis resulted in a 23-item questionnaire with a four-factor solution: pleasant sensations, social pressure and self-image, absence of motivation, and curiosity and experience. The psychometric indicators were quite satisfactory with X² (465) = 15951, P < 0.001 for the Bartlett test and 0.91 for the KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) test. In the second part of the research, the confirmatory factor analysis indicated a solution with three factors and 21 items. Psychometric indicators showed CFI (Comparative Fit Index) = 0.89, RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) = 0.06 and SRMR (Standardized Root Mean Square Residual) = 0.06. The three main factors for cocaine use were: pleasant and positive sensations, social pressure and self-esteem, and amotivation.

Conclusions

This study laid the groundwork for the development of a valid questionnaire to explore and better understand the cocaine users’ motivations, thereby enabling preventive and therapeutic measures to be adjusted accordingly. This questionnaire can also be used for future research on cocaine use, which is focused on mental health as well as family history and history of traumatic life events, as associated with cocaine use. We may also consider replicating this study on a clinical population with a cocaine-dependency diagnosis, potentially revealing additional motivations.