Introduction: Hispanic emerging adults (HEAs) are a rapidly growing population in the United States that report high levels of alcohol consumption. Thus, there is a need to examine modifiable factors that can reduce alcohol consumption among this population. The present study addresses gaps by integrating social and cognitive determinants of alcohol use as they may be associated with alcohol use severity in HEAs. We investigated these relationships by a) examining the direct association between traditional gender roles and alcohol use severity among HEA college students, b) examining the indirect associations between traditional gender roles and alcohol use severity via drinking motives (DM), and c) the extent to which nativity status moderates the direct and indirect associations between traditional gender roles and alcohol use severity. Methods: A conditional process analysis was conducted on data from a convenience sample of 423 Hispanic college students from Texas and Florida who completed a cross-sectional online survey. Results: Higher levels of traditional gender roles were associated with higher alcohol use severity. Also, traditional gender roles had statistically significant indirect associations with alcohol use severity via DM-conformity and DM-coping. Lastly, nativity status moderated the direct and indirect associations between traditional gender roles and alcohol use severity whereby stronger associations were found among immigrants. Conclusion: Understanding the interplay of gender roles and drinking motives behind HEA’s alcohol use can help facilitate the development of culturally adapted interventions, especially when considering heterogeneity across nativity status.