Quantifying cannabis problems among college students from English and Spanish speaking countries: Cross-cultural validation of the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R)

Abstract

Objective: The Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test - Revised (CUDIT-R) is a broadly employed measure of cannabis-related problems. However, minimal research has tested the measurement invariance of the CUDIT-R among youths from different countries, hindering cross-national comparisons. Thus, the present study aimed to test the measurement invariance of the CUDIT-R between seven countries and gender groups, and provide different sources of reliability and validity evidence of the scale. Methods: A sample of 4,712 college student lifetime cannabis users (mean age = 20.57, SD = 3.97; 70.4% females) from seven countries completed the CUDIT-R. Last 30-day cannabis users (n = 2402; mean age = 20.09, SD = 3.18; 67.7% females) additionally completed another measure of cannabis-related problems, and measures of cannabis frequency, quantity and motives. Results: Multigroup analysis showed configural (equal number of factors and pattern of factor-indicator relationships), metric (equal factor loadings) and scalar (equal thresholds) invariance of the CUDIT-R across five countries and across gender in the sample of lifetime cannabis users. Cronbach's alphas and ordinal omegas ranked from .72 and .85. Large correlations were found between the CUDIT-R and another cannabis-related problem scale. Small to large associations were found between the CUDIT-R and other criterion variables (frequency and quantity of consumption and cannabis-related motives) providing convergent and discriminant validity evidence. Only a few differences in the magnitude of the correlations across countries were found. Conclusions: The results suggest that the CUDIT-R is a suitable measure to assess cannabis-related problems among college student from the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Spain, and Argentina and across gender groups.