title: Prevalence estimates of pathological gambling in Quebec.
abstract: Pathological gambling was officially defined and recognized as a psychiatric illness by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980. This survey reports the results of a province-wide study in Quebec based on telephone interviews using standardized assessment instruments with 1,002 subjects. The current prevalence of pathological gambling is 1.2%. The results also show that 88% of the respondents have gambled at least once in their life. The implications of these results for the prevention and treatment of this debilitating disorder are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Ecole de Psychologie, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Québec.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ladouceur
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology