The Inventory of Gambling Situations in problem and pathological gamblers seeking alcohol and drug abuse treatment.

Abstract

Identifying situations in which individuals gamble may be important for developing or improving treatments, but few instruments exist for examining high-risk gambling situations. This study evaluated the factor structure of the Inventory of Gambling Situations (IGS), an instrument that assesses situations that may lead to gambling episodes. Individuals seeking alcohol and drug abuse treatment who were identified as problem or pathological gamblers (N = 283) completed the IGS, and principal component analysis revealed a 4-factor solution best fit the data; the factors represented items related to Negative Affect, Positive Affect, Gambling Cues, and Social Situations. Across the whole scale, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.97, ranging from 0.83 to 0.96 for the four factors. IGS total scores correlated with other indices of gambling problems, including number of pathological gambling criteria endorsed and frequency and intensity of gambling. Race, education, and severity of psychiatric, drug and alcohol problems were significantly predictive of some factor scores. Specifically, African Americans were more likely to gamble in response to Negative Affect situations than Caucasians, and education was inversely associated with wagering in response to Gambling Cues. Psychiatric symptoms were predictive of gambling in response to both Positive and Negative Affect situations and Gambling Cues. Severity of drug and alcohol problems were related to gambling in Social Situations. Results from this study indicate that the IGS has good psychometric properties and suggest areas in which intervention efforts may be tailored to prevent or treat gambling problems among individuals seeking substance abuse treatment.

Dimensionality of Cognitions in Behavioral Addiction

“…Older gamblers are less likely to report anxiety, family problems, and illegal behaviors [ 122 ]. Furthermore, race and education significantly predict gambling severity [ 123 ], and differences within race groups are present, with white (Australian) compared to Chinese gamblers reporting higher perceived stress, expectancy bias, and negative affect [ 124 ]. Thus, demographically separable subgroups may form once more thorough characterizations have been established, yielding more individualized prospects for treatment strategies.…”

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Inventory of Gambling Situations: Evaluation of the Factor Structure, Reliability, and External Correlations

“… 1 Note we originally called our instrument the IGS. However, we recently discovered that another group of authors (Weiss and Petry 2008 ; Petry et al 2010 ), have already used the name IGS. To avoid confusion we have added CAMH to the name.…”

Predicting Gambling Situations: The Roles of Impulsivity, Substance Use, and Post-Traumatic Stress

“…That is, different people often demonstrate different vulnerabilities to gambling behaviors, depending on the situation in which they might find themselves. 15 Whereas some work has framed these differences in terms of gambling motivations, 16,17 there is also a body of work that has specifically focused on the situations in which a person is particularly prone to gamble. Consistent with previous empirical literature on substance use disorders (SUDs), such as situational vulnerabilities to drinking and drug-taking (ie, using substances to cope with negative emotion vs using substances in response to social pressure), [18][19][20] there is strong basis to differentiate between the types of situations in which gamblers might be prone to gamble.…”