The widespread use of substances such as alcohol, cannabis, stimulants, e-cigarettes, and opioids among U.S. college students represents a significant concern, particularly when experimentation progresses to misuse or polysubstance use. Motives play a critical role in understanding these behaviors, as existing literature has identified enhancement, socialization, conformity, self-expansion, performance improvement, and coping with negative affective states as key predictors of both single and polysubstance use. However, despite these findings, there remains insufficient research examining how specific motivations relate to the breadth of substances used and the frequency of consumption within defined timeframes. The current study addresses this gap by investigating the associations between diverse substance use motivations and patterns of polysubstance use among college students.
The study surveyed a total of 425 undergraduates from a public university in the rural southeast. The survey items included demographics, attention checks, substance use, and motivations for substance use using the Substance Use Motives Measure (SUMM). Multiple linear regression was employed to assess motives as predictors for the number of unique substances endorsed within a 30-day period. Additionally, a second multiple linear regression was conducted to examine whether motives functioned as predictors for the frequency of substance use within the same timeframe.
The majority of participants reported alcohol use (55.2%) within the past 30 days, followed by nicotine vaping (25.3%) and cannabis (22.3%). Over one-third of the sample (33.5%) engaged in polysubstance use, defined as using more than one substance within a 30-day period. Regression analyses revealed that engagement, social, conformity, coping with anxiety, performance, and self-expansion motives were significantly associated with the number of unique substances used, with performance serving as the strongest predictor. Specifically, higher engagement, social, conformity, anxiety, and performance motives predicted greater polysubstance use, whereas coping with depression was associated with fewer unique substances used. Regarding frequency of use, engagement, conformity, coping with anxiety, coping with depression, and performance motives were significant predictors, with coping with anxiety emerging as the strongest predictor. Higher engagement, anxiety coping, and performance motives predicted more frequent substance use, while conformity and depression coping motives predicted less frequent use.
Takeaway: Performance and anxiety coping motives emerged as the strongest predictors of polysubstance use breadth and frequency respectively among college students, highlighting the need for motive-specific prevention programming on college campuses.