Momentary Cannabis Craving Scale

Abstract

The Momentary Cannabis Craving Scale (MCCS), developed by Davis et al. (2025), is a specialized psychometric tool designed to evaluate transient fluctuations in cannabis craving among emerging adults. The scale utilizes an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) protocol to capture real-time craving experiences in naturalistic settings. The MCCS was initially compiled from eight items, five of which were adapted from the Marijuana Craving Questionnaire-Short Form (MCQ-SF), focusing on emotionality and purposefulness subfactors, supplemented by items capturing higher-intensity craving.

Following multilevel factor analysis conducted on data from heavy cannabis users aged 18–21 in the United States, two items were removed due to poor statistical fit. The final validated instrument comprises six items, demonstrating a robust two within-two between-factor model. The MCCS exhibits adequate convergent validity through associations with measures of negative affect, impulsivity, and cue-reactivity craving, establishing it as a valuable measure for studying the dynamic nature of cannabis desire.

Keywords

Cannabis, Craving, Ecological Momentary Assessment, Emerging Adults, Negative Affect, Emotionality, Purposefulness, General Desire to Use, Psychometric Properties.

Authors

Davis, Christal N., Gex, Kathryn S., Squeglia, Lindsay M., Trull, Timothy J., McCarthy, Denis M., Baker, Nathaniel L., Gray, Kevin M., McRae-Clark, Aimee L., Tomko, Rachel L.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the MCCS is to provide a precise, time-sensitive measure of momentary cannabis craving. This specificity is essential for research employing Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), allowing researchers to track the intensity, context, and immediate antecedents of craving experiences as they unfold in daily life among users.

The scale focuses specifically on the population of emerging adult cannabis users (aged 18-21), a demographic characterized by high rates of substance use and vulnerability to developing substance use disorders. By capturing momentary fluctuations, the MCCS facilitates a deeper understanding of the proximal mechanisms that drive cannabis use and relapse, offering a more granular perspective than traditional retrospective measures.

Construct

The MCCS measures the complex psychological construct of cannabis craving at a specific, transient moment in time, distinguishing it from global or trait-based craving measures. The final six-item model operationalizes craving through two distinct, momentary factors derived from the initial comprehensive item pool.

These two latent factors are Purposefulness/General Craving (representing a direct, intentional desire or general urge to use cannabis) and Negative Affect/Emotionality Craving (reflecting the desire to use cannabis to mitigate or regulate unpleasant emotional states, such as tension or anxiety). This bidimensional structure allows for the examination of both hedonic/appetitive and distress-reduction motivations underlying drug seeking behavior.

Validity

The initial validation study confirmed the scale’s convergent validity through associations with several critical external measures related to substance use pathology. These external measures included existing craving scales, symptoms associated with Cannabis Use Disorder, frequency of use, cannabis cue reactivity, general negative affect, and impulsivity.

The MCCS factors demonstrated significant and meaningful associations, particularly with cue-reactivity craving, overall negative affect, and various indices of impulsivity. These robust correlations confirm that the MCCS accurately captures the intended construct of momentary craving and is related to broader established measures of cannabis dependence and related psychological vulnerabilities.

Reliability

Specific traditional reliability coefficients were not explicitly detailed in the source content summary. However, the rigorous application of Multilevel Factor Analysis (MFA) in the scale’s development implies a high degree of model stability and internal consistency necessary for an EMA instrument. The strong fit indices achieved after item refinement suggest that the underlying factor structure is reliable and consistently measured across both within-person (state) and between-person (trait) levels.

Factor Analysis

The scale’s development involved Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using multilevel modeling, a necessity given the nested nature of EMA data. The analysis indicated that the most appropriate structural model specified two factors operating at both the between-person and within-person levels, leading to the adoption of the two within-two between-factor model.

During refinement, two items (Items 6 and 8 from the original pool) were identified as poor indicators and subsequently removed. Item 6 exhibited inconsistent loading patterns across within- and between-person levels, and Item 8 demonstrated problematic cross-loading onto both factors. The final six-item model exhibited significantly improved fit indices (e.g., χ² (df) = 23.862(8), RMSEA = 0.032, CFI = 0.998), confirming a clear two-factor structure: Factor 1 representing Purposefulness/General Craving and Factor 2 representing Negative Affect/Emotionality Craving.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: The items are rated on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree.”

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older); Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs)

Population Details: Age Group Reported: 18-21 Years Old. Gender Identities Reported: Cisgender Women; Cisgender Men. Location: United States. Respondents: Emerging Adult Recent Cannabis Users who reported using cannabis at least three times per week over the past 30 days.

Test Methodology: Test Validity; Convergent Validity; Factor Analysis; Exploratory Factor Analysis; Multilevel Modeling.

Keywords

Cannabis Use Disorder, Multilevel Modeling, Psychometrics, Purposefulness, Emotionality, Cue Reactivity, Substance Use Assessment, EMA Protocol.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Christal N. Davis: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3974-5598; Timothy J. Trull: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9935-7939

Affiliation Email addresses: Christal N. Davis: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, 109 Bee Street, Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 19104, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: May use for Research/Teaching

Fee: No

Test Year: 2025

Commercial: No

Reference’s

Davis, C. N., Gex, K. S., Squeglia, L. M., Trull, T. J., McCarthy, D. M., Baker, N. L., Gray, K. M., McRae-Clark, A. L., & Tomko, R. L. (2025). Development and initial validation of a momentary cannabis craving scale within a homogeneous sample of U.S. emerging adults. Assessment, 32(1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/10731911241237055

Items of the Momentary Cannabis Craving Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Momentary Cannabis Craving Scale

Items:

1. It would be great to smoke cannabis right now.

2. I would feel more in control of things right now if I could smoke cannabis.

3. Smoking cannabis would be pleasant right now.

4. I have a desire to use cannabis right now.

5. If I smoked cannabis right now, I would feel less tense.

6. I would feel less anxious if I smoked cannabis right now.

Notes:

• Items 6 (“I am craving cannabis right now”) and 8 (“Nothing would be better than using cannabis right now”) were removed due to cross-loading onto both factors.

• Factor 1 (Items 1, 3, and 4) refers to purposefulness/general craving.

• Factor 2 (Items 2, 5, and 7) refers to negative affect/emotionality craving.

• Items administered to participants used the term marijuana rather than cannabis; the term cannabis is used here due to the racist origins of the term marijuana.