Comparisons between the South Oaks Gambling Screen and a DSM-IV—Based Interview in a Community Survey of Problem Gambling

Abstract

Objective: To directly compare 2 forms of assessment for determining gambling problems in a community survey, and to examine the characteristics of respondents who endorsed DSM-IV symptoms but who scored below the formal DSM-IV diagnostic cutoff for pathological gambling. Method: We interviewed 1489 Winnipeg adults by phone (response rate 70.5%) using the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), a DSM-IV-based instrument, and several gambling-related variables. Results: The lifetime prevalence of "probable pathological gambling" (according to the SOGS, having a score of $ 5) was 2.6%. The SOGS items and DSM-IV symptoms were highly correlated (r = 0.80), but a score of 5 or more symptoms for a DSM-IV diagnosis produced lower prevalence figures. Comparisons between recreational gamblers (those with no DSM-IV symptoms), subthreshold pathological gamblers (those with 1 to 4 DSM-IV symptoms), and pathological gamblers (those with $ 5 DSM-IV symptoms) on a series of gambling-related variables (for example, high use of video lottery terminals) revealed that subthreshold individuals significantly differed from recreational gamblers and more closely approximated the characteristics displayed by pathological gamblers. Conclusions: SOGS items show a high degree of association with the DSM-IV clinical symptoms of pathological gambling, but the DSM-IV cutoff of 5 symptoms is more conservative in defining gambling problems. Results support a continuum view of gambling problems in the community. DSM-IV scores of 3 or 4 represent the higher end of the group officially considered diagnostically "subthreshold" and may be important from both a clinical and public health perspective.

Internet gambling and risk-taking among students: An exploratory study

“…The DSM-IV diagnostic criteria have demonstrated satisfactory reliability, validity and classification accuracy (Stinchfield, 2003). The use of the DSM-IV as an index for pathological gambling is well established, both in the general population and in gambling treatment samples Lesieur & Klein, 1987;Lesieur & Rosenthal, 1991;Petry, 2005;Stinchfield, 2002;Wood & Griffiths, 1998); it is highly correlated with other gambling measures (e.g., South Oaks Gambling Screen) (Cox, Enns & Michaud, 2004;Stinchfield, 2002Stinchfield, , 2003, though with fewer false positives (Shaffer, Hall & Vander Bilt, 1997;Stinchfield, 2002).…”

Relación entre juego patológico y consumo de sustancias en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios

“…Concretamente el primer objetivo que hacía referencia a la prevalencia del juego patológico, los resultados obtenidos guardan relación con los resultados de otros trabajos de investigación con población adulta donde entre el 1 y el 3% eran jugadores patológicos (Becoña y Fuentes, 1995;Cox et al, 2004;Gill et al, 2006;Hing y Breen, 2002;Wiebe y Cox, 2005). No así con estudios realizados con población universitaria donde la prevalencia es bastante más alta (entre el 3% y el 18% de jugadores patológicos) (Engwall et al, 200;Jiménez et al, 2011;Oyebisi et al, 2012;Villoria, 2003).…”

« All in or fold » : les hauts et les bas de la carrière des joueurs excessifs

“…Selon Ferris et Wynne, cet outil diagnostique permet d'éviter ou du moins d'atténuer les problèmes de sous-estimation du DSM-IV criminologie, vol. 45 n o 1 (Cox et al, 2004) et de surestimation du SOGS (Ladouceur et al, 2004) 4 . Le score moyen des sujets de l'échantillon à l'ICJE est de 17,6 et l'écart-type de 4,9.…”