Pre-drinking motives in Canadian undergraduate students: Confirmatory factor analysis of the Prepartying Motivations Inventory and examination of new themes Ashlyne I. O'Neil ⁎, Kathryn D. Lafreniere, Dennis L. Jackson Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada HIGHLIGHTS • We examine the model of the Prepartying Motivations Inventory. • We propose additional motivations for pre-drinking, as reported by students. • The four motivational factors from the PMI are substantiated. • New motivations include socialization, inebriation, and peer influence. abstract article info Article history: Received 25 August 2015 Received in revised form 29 February 2016 Accepted 29 March 2016 Available online 6 April 2016 Introduction: Pre-drinking is a risky, yet common activity among college students whereby they consume alcohol prior to going to an event where more alcohol may be consumed (LaBrie, Hummer, Pederson, Lac, & Chithambo, 2012). While general drinking motives have been studied extensively, attention to pre-drinking is recent, and deserves more attention. This study assessed the reliability, validity, and factor structure of the Prepartying Motivations Inventory (PMI), and identified novel motivations through a thematic analysis. Method: A sample of 276 Canadian undergraduate students completed an online survey consisting of open-ended questions, drinking and pre-drinking questions, the PMI, and a brief demographic questionnaire. Results: It was demonstrated that a four-factor model, similar to that of the initial PMI, fits well, but that improve- ments are made by eliminating an item related to being under the legal drinking age. Further, five new themes emerged that warrant further investigation, and possible inclusion in the current PMI. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the PMI could be refined to further understand students' motivations for pre- drinking, and might inform alcohol intervention programs on post-secondary campuses. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Pre-drinking Prepartying Motivations Inventory Student Drinking Motivation 1. Introduction Pre-drinking (also referred to in the literature as prepartying, pregaming, preloading, and prefunking; Pederson & LaBrie, 2008) is defined as consuming alcohol before going out to an event where more alcohol may be consumed (Pederson & LaBrie, 2007). However, while the terms above are generally used interchangeably, it has been noted that some students include other behaviors under the umbrella of pregaming and prepartying, specifically smoking marijuana. One focus group participant from a study by DeJong, DeRicco, and Schneider (2010) indicated that “weed is a big factor in pregaming for some people” and that sometimes they just smoke, and save the drink- ing for the main event. Because of this, the current paper emphasizes the drinking part of the behavior and will use the term pre-drinking to denote this. Prevalence rates for pre-drinking have not been established, but es- timates from previous research in the United States have suggested that between 50% and 60% of students and 80% of student drinkers engage in this behavior (Hughes, Anderson, Morleo, & Bellis, 2007; LaBrie & Pederson, 2008; Paves, Pederson, Hummer, & LaBrie, 2012). While it seems quite prevalent in the U.S., there have been no published data regarding pre-drinking in Canada prior to the current study. Thomas (2007) said pre-drinking is a “dangerous new type of teen- age drinking” that researchers should begin to examine, and suggested the problem of pre-drinking in the U.S. could be solved by lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 or 19. Following this logic, college students who pre-drink because they cannot purchase alcohol in bars would no longer feel the need to do so. However, it is thought that students of all ages engage in this behavior, regardless of legal drinking age. For ex- ample, LaBrie, Hummer, Kenney, Lac, and Pederson (2011) conducted a Addictive Behaviors 60 (2016) 42–47 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: oneil8@uwindsor.ca (A.I. O'Neil). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.03.024 0306-4603/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Addictive Behaviors journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/addictbeh