title: Comparing the utility of a modified Diagnostic Interview for Gambling Severity (DIGS) with the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) as a research screen in college students.
abstract: The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) is compared in reliability to a modified version of the Diagnostic Interview for Gambling Severity (DIGS-S) for use as a pathological gambling (PG) screen in college students. Seventy-two undergraduates (83.3% male, mean age of 18.8) from the University of Georgia completed the measures, completing a longitudinal design with 3 sessions over a 2-month time period. The DIGS-S and the SOGS demonstrated good internal consistency over the 3 sessions, with Cronbach's Alphas ranging from 0.73 to 0.89, as well as strong concurrent validity, with correlations of .50 to .80 (Ps < .001) between the 2 measures across the 3 sessions. Both Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability were higher with the DIGS-S than the SOGS. Given this, and given that the DIGS directly measures symptoms of pathological gambling, future research could benefit from the use of the DIGS-S as a PG screening tool in a college-aged sample.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3013, USA.
authors.forename: Erica E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Fortune
authors.forename: Adam S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Goodie
mesh_terms: D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult