Development and psychometric evaluation of a new measure to assess pregaming motives in Spanish-speaking young adults

Abstract

Aims: The present study was divided into two different stages that sought to develop (Stage 1) and validate (Stage 2) the Argentinean-version of the Pregaming Motives Questionnaire (PMQ-Arg), a new, ecologically valid measure to assess pregaming (i.e., the consumption of alcohol prior to attending a social/sporting event where alcohol may or may not be available) motives among Spanish-speaking youth. Method: Two separate samples of Argentinian young adults (all last-year pregamers) were recruited by disseminating an invitation through online social networks and e-mail listings. Results: In Stage 1, a total of 635 participants answered an open-ended question about their reasons for pregaming. In Stage 2 (n = 361), exploratory factor analysis was conducted with the preliminary set of high-quality, high-frequency pregaming motives that were obtained in Stage 1, yielding a final 23-item measure that was grouped in four factors: (i) Intoxication and Fun, (ii) Gathering and Social Enhancement, (iii) Going with the Flow, and (iv) Beverage Preference. Despite some broad similarities with measures that were developed with U.S. young adults, the present results indicated that the narrow content of some items of the PMQ-Arg were somewhat unique, possibly reflecting cultural differences between the United States and Argentina. The findings supported the adequate reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity, and criterion-related validity of PMQ-Arg scores. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the PMQ-Arg meets the psychometric requirements of validity and reliability for its use to assess reasons for pregaming among Spanish-speaking youth.