Randy Stinchfield

Reliability, validity, and classification accuracy of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS)

The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) was originally developed to screen for pathological gambling in clinical settings; however, its use has expanded to other purposes, settings, and populations, including prevalence studies of pathological gambling in the general population. Questions have been raised about the accuracy of the SOGS with its use in these new settings and populations. The purpose of this study is to examine current estimates of the reliability, validity, and classification accuracy of the SOGS in two different samples: (a) a general population sample (N= 803) and (b) a gambling treatment sample (N = 1,589). DSM-IV diagnostic criteria served as the standard against which to measure the SOGS classification accuracy and both the SOGS and DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were administered to participants. The SOGS was found to have satisfactory reliability with coefficient alphas of .69 and .86 in the general population and gambling treatment samples, respectively. The SOGS demonstrated satisfactory validity by differentiating between the general population and the gambling treatment sample and by exhibiting high correlations with DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and moderate correlations with other measures of gambling problem severity. The SOGS demonstrated good to excellent classification accuracy in the gambling treatment sample, but had poorer accuracy in the general population sample with a 50% false positive rate. The SOGS overestimated the number of pathological gamblers in the general population, as compared to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria.

Toward the development of an adolescent gambling problem severity scale

The development and initial psychometric properties of an adolescent gambling problem severity measure are described. The scale, based on a revision of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (Lesieur & Blume, 1987), was administered to 1,101 older (ages 15 to 18) Minnesota adolescents as part of a state-wide gambling survey. Study results indicated that the scale had moderate internal consistency reliability and was significantly related to alternate measures of problem severity for male subjects. Because the rate and severity of gambling among females was very low, the psychometric adequacy of the scale for females is not known at this time. The implications of study findings to the conceptual understanding of adolescent gambling problem severity as well as study limitations and future research needs, are discussed.

Validity of adolescent self-report of alcohol and other drug involvement.

Validity of adolescent self-report of alcohol and drug use and consequential effects and problems is examined. Validity is discussed in terms of its importance in research and clinical work. Also, results from a recent study are presented that focus on self-report temporal stability and response bias tendencies as evidence of validity of self-report. Study results indicate that the great majority of drug clinic and school teenagers gave temporally consistent reports of substance involvement and that only a small proportion of drug clinic and school subjects presented extreme response bias tendencies.

Patterns and characteristics of adolescent gambling

Minnesota youth (15 to 18-years of age) were surveyed regarding their gambling experiences and psychosocial risk status. Gambling was reported by most of the subjects, with 8.7% classified as problem gamblers. Correlates of problem gambling included school difficulties, regular drug use, delinquency, parental gambling, and being male. Adolescent gambling is conceptualized as a normal experience of youth, yet those in the problem gambling group may be particularly vulnerable to future gambling problems.

A prospective study of youth gambling behaviors

Little is known about the course and outcomes of adolescent gambling. This prospective study describes findings from a 3-wave (Time 1 [T1], Time 2 [T2], and Time 3 [T3]) assessment of gambling behaviors among youth (N = 305). Stable rates of any gambling and regular gambling (weekly or daily) were observed across T1, T2, and T3. The rate of at-risk gambling significantly increased at T3 (young adulthood), whereas the rate of problem gambling remained stable over time. Several adolescent risk factors were associated with either T3 at-risk or problem gambling, many of which are risk factors for adolescent substance abuse. Findings suggest that important to the origins of young adult gambling problems are risk factors associated with the problem behavior syndrome of adolescence.

Monitoring adolescent gambling in Minnesota

Youth gambling was investigated in a prospective sample of 532 Minnesota adolescents and young adults. Of particular interest was the possible impact among the study sample of a recent state lottery and of reaching the legal age for gambling on changes in the rate and type of gambling. Overall rates of gambling involvement and pathological gambling did not change across the 1.5 year interval. However, a preference for certain types of gambling activities (e.g., lottery, casino machines) significantly increased, whereas more informal and unregulated games (e.g., betting on games of personal skill) significantly decreased. Also, access to gambling activities by underage youths was high, suggesting the need for tighter controls of legalized games and greater awareness of this problem by the gaming industry and public health officials.

Gambling and Correlates of Gambling Among Minnesota Public School Students

This study examines the prevalence of gambling and measures the relationships between gambling behavior and a number of demographic, psychosocial, and behavioral variables among Minnesota public school students. The sample includes 78,582 male and female Minnesota public school students enrolled in the 9th and 12th grades. Students were administered the 1998 Minnesota Student Survey, a 121-item, anonymous, self-administered, paper-and-pencil questionnaire that inquires about multiple health-related content domains, including gambling behavior. The majority of students were found to have gambled at least once during the past year, however, most students did not report gambling frequently, nor did they report problems associated with their gambling. Boys reported gambling more often than girls, and older students gambled more often than younger students. A larger percentage of Mexican/Latin American, African American, American Indian, and mixed race students gambled at weekly and daily rates than Asian American and Caucasian students. Variables associated with gambling frequency included antisocial behavior, gender (being a male), alcohol and tobacco use, age, feeling bad about the amount of money they bet, a desire to stop gambling, and increased sexual activity. Gambling appears to be related to other risk-taking behaviors and may be a part of the adolescent experimentation with adult behaviors.

Gambling and Problem Gambling among Youths

With the rapid expansion of gambling have also come concerns about underage gambling and youth problem gambling. Most studies of youth gambling have found that the majority of youths have gambled but do so infrequently and do not suffer any adverse consequences. A minority of youths, however, appear to be over-involved in gambling and are experiencing problems associated with their gambling. This is the first generation of youths to be exposed to such widespread access to gambling venues, ubiquitous gambling advertising, and general social approval of gambling. Gambling is the only so-called vice endorsed and promoted in many locales by both the church and state. On the one hand, youths are instructed by their teachers (and ostensibly their state department of education) that the way to get ahead in life is to study and work hard; on the other hand, their state lottery tells them that they need only to be lucky. Youths are adept at recognizing these apparent discrepancies and may be confused by this mixed message. Future research will need to address a number of gaps in our knowledge about youth gambling.

Prevalence of gambling among Minnesota public school students in 1992 and 1995.

The purposes of this study were to examine the prevalence of gambling among youth, compare rates of gambling between 1992 and 1995, and determine what levels of gambling frequency may be considered common and uncommon. The two samples included 122,700 Minnesota public school students in the 6th, 9th, and 12th grades in 1992; and 75,900 9th and 12th grade students in 1995. Students were administered the Minnesota Student Survey, a 126-item, anonymous, self-administered, paper-and-pencil questionnaire that inquires about multiple content domains, including gambling behaviors. The same questionnaire, with minor revisions to the gambling items, was administered in both 1992 and 1995 to students in their classrooms by the Minnesota Department of Education. There were slight decreases in overall gambling rates from 1992 to 1995. The majority of students gambled at least once during the past year. However, most did not play any game on a weekly/daily rate and did not report any problems associated with their gambling. Gender, grade, and race effects were found for gambling frequency. Boys gambled more often than girls, and 9th and 12th grade students gambled more often than 6th grade students. Asian American and White students reported lower rates of gambling frequency than Mexican/Latin American, African American, and American Indian students. From a statistical standpoint (i.e., beyond the 97.7 percentile), it may be considered in the uncommon range for girls to play two or more games at a weekly/daily rate, and for boys to play four or more games at a weekly/daily rate. Variables associated with gambling frequency included antisocial behavior, gender, and alcohol use frequency. Although the finding that gambling did not increase from 1992 to 1995 is encouraging, this is the first generation of youth to be exposed to widespread accessability to gambling venues and gambling advertising and it will be important to continue monitoring the prevalence of youth gambling.

DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Pathological Gambling: Reliability, Validity, and Classification Accuracy

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability, validity, and classification accuracy of the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling. Given the lack of a laboratory test to diagnose pathological gambling, two groups were recruited in order to test DSM-IV diagnostic classification accuracy, one which likely had the disorder and the other which likely did not have the disorder (121 men and women clients at a gambling treatment facility) (138 men and women selected at random from the Windsor, Ontario, community who had gambled in the past twelve months). The Gambling Behavior Interview was administered to both groups. The Gambling Behavior Interview was administered to both groups. The Gambling Behavior Interview includes items that measure the ten DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling as well as other gambling problem severity measures and scales that served as tests of convergent validity. The ten DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were found to exhibit satisfactory reliability, validity, and classification accuracy; however, lowering the cut score to four and using item weights yielded improved classification accuracy over the standard cut score of five. Some diagnostic criteria were found to have greater discriminatory power than other criteria. The results of this study suggest that the classification accuracy of DSM-IV diagnostic criteria can be improved upon with a lower cut score or using weighted criteria.