Skip to main content

The Victorian Gambling Screen: Validity and Reliability in an Adolescent Population

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction volume 11, pages 514–525 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

Although many attempts have been made to assess problem or pathological gambling in adolescents, concerns have been raised about whether existing measures are ideally suited for this purpose. Such measures are heavily influenced by traditional addiction models common to the study of substance use. In contrast, more recent public health approaches to gambling place a greater emphasis on the role of behavior and its harmful consequences and this is implicit in many currently accepted definitions of problem gambling. This paper reports on the use of one such measure (Victorian Gambling Screen -VGS), with 926 grade 7–12 adolescents surveyed in the Australian Capital Territory. The VGS was shown to correlate well with the gold standard Diagnostic & Statistical Manual-IV-Juvenile Screen (DSM-IV-J) for problem gamblers producing similar prevalence estimates. The measure also has sound internal reliability and concurrent validity. The findings suggest that harm-based measures such as the VGS are credible with adolescent populations in Australia and that various forms of harm observed in adult populations can also be observed in adolescent problem gamblers.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington: APA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Tovim, D., Esterman, A., Tolchard, B., & Battersby, M. (2001). The Victorian Gambling Screen: project report. Adelaide: Flinders Technologies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiesi, F., Donati, M. A., Galli, S., & Primi, C. (2012). The Suitability of the South Oaks Gambling Screen–Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA) as a Screening Tool: IRT-Based Evidence. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. doi:10.1037/a0029987.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Delfabbro, P., & Thrupp, L. (2003). The social determinants of youth gambling in South Australian adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 26, 313–330.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Delfabbro P., Lahn, J., & Grabosky, P. (2005) Adolescent Gambling in the ACT: Report to the ACT Gambling and Racing Commission. Canberra, Centre for Gambling Research, Australian National University.

  • Delfabbro, P., Lahn, L., & Grabosky, P. (2006). Psychosocial correlates of problem gambling in Australian students. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 587–595.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Derevensky, J., & Gupta, R. (2000). Prevalence estimates of adolescent gambling: A comparison of the SOGS-RA and the GA 20 questions. Journal of Gambling Studies, 16, 227–251.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Derevensky, J., Gupta, R., & Winters, K. (2003). Prevalence rates of youth gambling problems: Are the current rates inflated? Journal of Gambling Studies, 19, 405–425.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dodder, R. A., & Astle, D. J. (1980). A methodological analysis of Srole’s nine-item anomia scale. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 15, 329–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowling, N.A., Jackson, A.C., Thomas, S.A., & Frydenburg, E. (2010). Children at Risk of Developing Problem Gambling. Report to Gambling Research Australia in fulfilment of Tender 103/06, May 2010.

  • Eack, S. M., Greeno, C. G., & Lee, B.-J. (2006). Limitations of the Patient Health Questionnaire in identifying anxiety and depression in community mental health: many cases are undetected. Research on Social Work Practice, 16, 625–631.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, S. (1992). Measuring pathological gambling in children: The case of fruit machines in the U.K. Journal of Gambling Studies, 8, 263–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, S. (1999). A prevalence study of gambling and problem gambling in British adolescents. Addiction Research, 7, 509–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, S. (2000). Developing the DSM-IV-DSM-IV criteria to identify adolescent problem gambling in non-clinical populations. Journal of Gambling Studies, 16, 253–273.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gambino, B. (2011). The Validation of Screening Tests: Meet the New Screen same as the Old Screen? Journal of Gambling Studies. doi:10.1007/s10899-011-9285-6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, D., & Williams, P. (1988). GHQ: A user’s guide to the general health questionnaire. Windsor: NFER-Nelson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardoon, K.K., Derevensky, J.L., & Gupta, R. (2002). An Examination of the influence of familial, emotional, conduct, and cognitive pProblems, and yyperactivity upon youth risk-taking and aAdolescent gambling problems: Report to the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre: R & G Child Development Consultants, Inc.

  • Lesieur, H. R., & Blume, S. B. (1987). The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS): A new instrument for the identification of pathological gamblers. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 1184–1188.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neal, P., Delfabbro, P., & O’Neill, M. (2005). Problem gambling and harm: towards a national definition, Report prepared for the National Gambling Research Program Working Party, Melbourne.

  • Pelletier, A., Ladouceur, R., Fortin, J.-M., & Ferland, F. (2004). Assessment of high school students’ understanding of DSM-IV-MR-J items. Journal of Adolescent Research, 19, 224–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poulin, C. (2002). An assessment of the validity and reliability of the SOGS-RA. Journal of Gambling Studies, 18, 67–93.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Productivity Commission. ( 2010), Gambling. Report no. 50, Canberra.

  • Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the Adolescent Self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, H. J., & Hall, M. N. (2001). Updating and refining prevalence estimates of disordered gambling behaviour in the United States and Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 92, 168.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stinchfield, R. (2010). A critical review of adolescent problem gambling assessment instruments. International Journal of Adolescent Medical Health, 22(1), 77–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streiner, D., & Norman, G. R. (2003). Health measurement scales. In A pracitcal guide to their development and use (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiggemann, M., & Winefield, A. H. (1984). The effects of unemployment on the mood, self-esteem, locus of control, and depressive affect of school-leavers. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 57, 33–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolchard, B., & Battersby, M. (2010). The Victorian Gambling Screen: Reliability and validation in a clinical population. Journal of Gambling Studies, 26(4), 623–638.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tremblay, J., Wiebe, J., Stinchfield, R., & Wynne, H. (2010). The Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory: Phase III final report. Toronto: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and the Interprovincial Consortium on Gambling Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vachon, J., Vitaro, F., Wanner, B., & Tremblay, R. E. (2004). Adolescent gambling: Relationships with parent gambling and parenting practices. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 398–401.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, D. J., & Yoes, M. E. (1991). Item response theory. In R. K. Hambleton & J. N. Zaal (Eds.), Advances in educational and psychological testing: Theory and applications (pp. 69–95). New York, NY, US: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winters, K., Stinchfield, R., & Fulkerson, J. (1993). Toward the development of an adolescent gambling problem severity scale. Journal of Gambling Studies, 9, 63–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health, University of New England, Armidale, Australia, 2351

    B. Tolchard

  2. School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia

    P. Delfabbro

Authors
  1. B. Tolchard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. Delfabbro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. Tolchard.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tolchard, B., Delfabbro, P. The Victorian Gambling Screen: Validity and Reliability in an Adolescent Population. Int J Ment Health Addiction 11, 514–525 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-013-9441-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-013-9441-6

Keywords

  • Adolescence
  • Measurement
  • Problem gambling
  • Australia
  • Addiction