Abstract:
The objective of this research was to develop and validate a structural model of difficulties in emotion regulation and alcohol-related problems which haddrinking motives as mediatingfactors in university students. Thirty hundred and eighty-five undergraduates were selected based on inclusion criteriaof being over 18 years old and having drunk alcohol in the previous 12 months. The research instruments werethe demographic questionnaire, the drinking behavior questionnaire, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (DMQ-R), and DrinkingRelated Problems Scale for College Students (DPS-C). These four questionnaires have a reliability range from 0.708 to 0.945 The results indicated that the hypothesized model had a good fit with empirical data (!2 /"# = 0.028, RMSEA < 0.001, CFI = 1.000, TLI = 1.000, SRMR = 0.001). Additionally, the path analysis demonstrated that 1) the 4-factor drinking motives were directly influenced by difficulties in emotion regulation, 2) coping motive and enhancement motive were statistically significant direct effects on alcohol-related problems among college students, and 3) the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation on alcohol-related problems was mediated by coping motive (IE = 0.122) and enhancement motive (IE = 0.029).