title: The Four Es 1-year later: a tool for predicting the development of gambling problems.
abstract: The Four Es is a 40-item scale measuring psychological risk for the development of problem gambling behavior. One-year follow-up interviews (n = 395) from a previously reported phone survey in Queensland, Australia (n = 2,577) (Rockloff & Dyer, 2006) tested the ability of the Four Es instrument to prospectively identify persons who would later develop gambling problems. Two groups of participants were selected for the 1-year follow-up interviews, including (1) persons who had gambling problems, high-risk alcohol abuse problems, and/or substance abuse problems (abuse group); and (2) a random selection of other persons from the original survey (random group). The results indicated that the "Excess" trait, which measures impulsive behavior, was predictive of relative increases in gambling problems for both groups over the 1-year period. Additionally, the Four Es questionnaire showed good psychometric properties in the surveys, with a test-retest reliability of r = .70 and a Cronbach's alpha reliability of alpha = .90 and .92 in the original and follow-up interviews, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Sociology, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Queensland, 4702, Australia. m.rockloff@cqu.edu.au
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Rockloff
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012931:Social Environment; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires