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Drug Use Motives Questionnaire3

Drug Use Motives Questionnaire Test

With 45 questions completed in about 9 minutes, the Drug Use Motives Questionnaire Test explores the reasons behind drug use, including emotional, social, pleasure-seeking, and dependence-related motives. Results can help you recognize your dominant motivational patterns, reflect on current behavior, and better understand your personal profile.

Questions: 459 minutes

Drug Use Motives Questionnaire Test: sample question card

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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1,993 completions

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Self-HarmSH

Measures the extent to which drug use is motivated by self-directed or retaliatory harm, protest, and a reduced sense of meaning in sobriety.

example score13/25

13/25Moderateexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 13 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting self-harm-related motives are present at a noticeable but not dominant level compared with other possible reasons for use.

Addictive MotivesAM

Measures the strength of conscious, craving-driven motivation to use drugs that can reflect emerging dependence processes.

example score19/25

19/25Highexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 19 falls in the High range, suggesting a pronounced, conscious urge to use drugs that may be persistent and difficult to resist.

Withdrawal ReliefWR

Measures the extent to which drug use is motivated by relieving discomfort or withdrawal-like abstinence symptoms.

example score19/25

19/25Highexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 19 falls in the High range, suggesting drug use is strongly driven by attempts to reduce abstinence-related discomfort.

HyperactivationH

This scale measures the extent to which drug use is motivated by seeking stimulation, escaping boredom, or boosting activity and efficiency.

example score11/25

11/25Lowexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 11 falls in the Low range, suggesting hyperactivation-related motives are relatively minimal compared with other possible reasons for use.

Ataractic MotivesAM

Measures the extent to which drug use is motivated by reducing anxiety, fear, tension, or other negative emotions.

example score15/25

15/25Moderateexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 15 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting that using drugs to dampen negative emotions is a noticeable but not dominant motive.

Hedonistic MotivesHM

Measures the extent to which drug use is driven by seeking pleasure, euphoria, and novel sensations.

example score19/25

19/25Highexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 19 falls in the High range, suggesting pleasure/euphoria and sensation-seeking are prominent motives for use compared with other reasons.

Pseudo-Cultural MotivesPCM

Measures the extent to which drug use is motivated by fitting into a youth subculture where using is seen as normal or valued.

example score16/25

16/25Moderate influenceexample score

5 – 11Low influence

12 – 18Moderate influence

19 – 25High influence

A score of 16 indicates a moderate pseudo-cultural influence, suggesting subcultural norms may play a noticeable role in the person’s reasons for use.

SubmissiveS

Measures the extent to which drug use is driven by compliance with pressure from significant others or a group.

example score14/25

14/25Moderateexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 14 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting some tendency for drug use to be influenced by social pressure or expectations.

TraditionalT

Measures the extent to which drug use is driven by holiday-related or tradition-based social norms and rituals.

example score16/25

16/25Moderateexample score

5 – 11Low

12 – 18Moderate

19 – 25High

A score of 16 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting drug use may sometimes be tied to holidays or customary social occasions rather than being a consistently dominant motive.

Overall Motivational StrainOMS

Measures the overall intensity of drug-use motivations as a combined indicator of involvement in drug-related behavior.

example score145/225

145/225Moderateexample score

45 – 104Low

105 – 164Moderate

165 – 225High

A score of 145 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable overall motivational pull toward drug use compared with lower scores.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Counselors and Therapists

41%OF USERS

They use it to quickly identify a client’s main reasons for using and track how motives shift during counseling or treatment.

Addiction Program Staff

34%OF USERS

They apply it in screening and ongoing monitoring to inform intervention plans and measure changes in dependence-related patterns.

Youth Outreach Workers

25%OF USERS

They use it with teens and young adults at risk to understand what drives use and tailor prevention or support conversations.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Self-harmS

You?

Average12.7

Typical rangeTypical9.6 – 15.8

Possible5 – 25

AddictiveA

You?

Average16.6

Typical rangeTypical13.3 – 19.8

Possible5 – 25

Abstinence SymptomsAS

You?

Average12.4

Typical rangeTypical9.1 – 15.7

Possible5 – 25

HyperactivationsH

You?

Average10.9

Typical rangeTypical7.4 – 14.4

Possible5 – 25

AtaracticA

You?

Average16

Typical rangeTypical13.3 – 18.8

Possible5 – 25

HedonisticH

You?

Average11

Typical rangeTypical7.2 – 14.7

Possible5 – 25

PseudoculturalP

You?

Average15.3

Typical rangeTypical11.8 – 18.7

Possible5 – 25

SubmissiveS

You?

Average12.6

Typical rangeTypical9.3 – 15.9

Possible5 – 25

TraditionalT

You?

Average15

Typical rangeTypical11.6 – 18.4

Possible5 – 25

General motivational tensionGmt

You?

Average152

Typical rangeTypical123.6 – 180.5

Possible45 – 225

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- Yes
- Probably yes
- Not sure
- Probably not
- No
- Yes
- Probably yes
- Not sure
- Probably not
- No
- Yes
- Probably yes
- Unsure
- Probably not
- No

These are 3 of the 45 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Drug Use Motives Questionnaire Test - Description and methodology of the test

addiction

deviant behavior

addiction medicine

drug addiction

People considering their own relationship with drugs may use this questionnaire to pause over how and when they use them. The Drug Use Motives Questionnaire Test presents a structured way to examine personal assumptions and prepare more focused questions about behavior. It can begin a drug use assessment by helping a respondent identify areas for reflection and a fuller conversation.

What This Assessment Explores

Across the statements, the questionnaire organizes motives for drug use around protest, distress, pleasure, stimulation, social influence, and customary use. The profile shows which are prominent within the bands.

These dimensions are:

Self-Harm, Addictive Motives, Withdrawal Relief, and Ataractic Motives (5-25 each) cover protest, spite or lost meaning, craving, withdrawal discomfort, and negative-emotion relief; each is Low 5-11, Moderate 12-18, or High 19-25.
Hyperactivation and Hedonistic Motives (5-25 each) cover boredom escape, stimulation, pleasure, and euphoria; each is Low 5-11, Moderate 12-18, or High 19-25.
Pseudo-Cultural Motives (5-25) measures subcultural influence: Low influence 5-11, Moderate influence 12-18, High influence 19-25. Submissive and Traditional (5-25 each) measure social pressure and customary use: Low 5-11, Moderate 12-18, High 19-25.
Overall Motivational Strain (45-225) summarizes the combined profile; its bands are Low 45-104, Moderate 105-164, and High 165-225.

Methodology and Evidence Base

Each statement uses five ordered options generally running from Yes to No, with wording that varies between items. Choices may include probably yes/probably not, rather yes/rather no, or an uncertainty midpoint such as unsure or I doubt it. The questionnaire reports the displayed motive scales and overall strain bands; no answer-by-answer point formula should be inferred from score ranges.

Conceptually, the questionnaire's drug use motives are consistent with Motives for Drug Use (Aksyuchits, 2007), while Aksyuchits (2011) addresses related motives for drug use and refusal. This relationship does not establish that the online version reproduces the publication's items, norms, or scoring. Zavyalov's model offers a related account of relief, pleasure, social, and habit-linked motives, and Trusova et al. (2021) illustrates psychometric evaluation of a related alcohol-motivation inventory.

This version is an online self-report questionnaire; no standardization, reliability, or validity information is reported for it. Current stress, memory, social desirability, and willingness to disclose can influence responses, so the result indicates endorsed motivational tendencies and does not by itself establish dependence, disorder, severity, or cause.

Author: Alan W. Stacy, Kenneth J. Sher

Literature:

Aksyuchits, I. V. (2007). Methodology for studying motives for drug use. Psychological Journal (Minsk), 1(13), 52-59.
Aksyuchits, I. V. (2011). Motivation for drug use or refusal among students. In Addictive Behavior: Prevention and Rehabilitation: Proceedings of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference with International Participation (April 22-23, 2011), pp. 49-54. Moscow.
Zavyalov, V. Yu. (1986). Motivation for alcohol consumption among patients with alcoholism and healthy individuals. Psychological Journal, 7(5), 102-111.
Trusova, Anna V., Anna A. Berezina, Anton N. Gvozdetckii, and Svetlana G. Klimanova. (2021). Evaluation of alcohol consumption motivation: psychometric properties of the Alcohol Consumption Motivation Inventory by V. Yu. Zavyalov. V.M. Bekhterev Review of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, 55(4), 76-85. 10.31363/2313-7053-2021-57-4-76-85.

Updated: 2025-10-02