Different drugs come with different motives: Examining motives for substance use among people who engage in polysubstance use undergoing methadone maintenance therapy (MMT)

• Published in: Drug and alcohol dependence Vol. 229; no. Pt B; p. 109133
• Main Authors: Mahu, Ioan T., Barrett, Sean P., Conrod, Patricia J., Bartel, Sara J., Stewart, Sherry H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.12.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Addictions; Adult; Alcohol Drinking; Bayes Theorem; Bayesian analysis; Cannabis; Conformity; Coping; Drinking; Drinking behavior; Drug abuse; Drug use; Humans; Maintenance; Marijuana; Methadone; Methadone - therapeutic use; Motives; Multiple drugs; Narcotics; Opiate agonist therapy; Opioids; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Polysubstance Use; Prevention programs; Social anxiety; Stimulants; Substance abuse; Substance use; Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Substance-Related Disorders - therapy; Tobacco; Withdrawal; Motives; Opiate agonist therapy; Polysubstance Use; Methadone; Opioids
• ISSN: 0376-8716; 1879-0046
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.109133

Substance use motives (i.e., reasons for using a substance) are thought to be the most proximal variable leading to substance use. These motives have been described by various typologies, the most well known being the four-factor drinking motives model which separates motives into enhancement, social, coping, and conformity (Cooper, 1994). Although extensively studied in adult community samples, motives for use have less commonly been investigated among populations at a later stage of addiction, where polysubstance use is more common. Moreover, because the motives literature has largely focused on drinking motives, it is not clear whether existing findings can also be applied to other substances (Cooper et al., 2016). Using Zero-inflated beta Bayesian linear mixed modeling, we investigated the stability of seven distinct substance use motives (enhancement, social, expansion, coping with anxiety, coping with depression, coping with withdrawal, and conformity) across six different drug categories (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, opioids, stimulants, and tranquilisers) to determine the extent to which drug class can influence motive endorsement. One-hundred-and-thirty-eight methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) clients (F = 34.1%; M = 65.9%; age = 40.18 years) completed a novel short-form polysubstance motives questionnaire. External motives (i.e., conformity and social motives) were the most stable across drug categories, while all internal motives (i.e., enhancement, expansion, and all three coping motives) demonstrated varying levels of inter-drug variability. These findings have important implications for prevention and intervention strategies among people who engage in polysubstance use, highlighting the importance of both universal and substance-specific programming. •Investigated motives for use using a novel measure in a polysubstance use context.•External motives for use were stable across drug categories (trait-like properties).•Internal motives for use displayed varying levels of inter-drug variability (state-like properties).•Intervention strategies with polysubstance users should consider substance specific programming.