Reliability and validity of the English version of the South Oaks Gambling Screen in a multiracial Asian community sample in Singapore

Abstract

A reliable and valid instrument is necessary for measuring and tracking the prevalence of gambling problems in the general population. The purpose of the present study was to examine the reliability and construct validity of the English version of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) in a multiracial Asian community sample from Singapore. A national cross-sectional study was conducted between December 2009 and December 2010. A total of 1826 respondents completed the SOGS. The mean age of respondents was 40.2 years and 61.1% were men. The SOGS demonstrated high internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.84. CFA supported a one-factor solution for the SOGS. The goodness-of-fit indices fit the data well (χ²(df) = 391(170), p = < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.03, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95). The results of the validation study provide evidence of reliability and construct validity of the English version of the SOGS for screening gambling problems in a multiracial Asian community sample.

Keywords:

• gambling
• screening
• assessment
• Asia
• psychometrics

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Singapore Millennium Foundation and the Ministry of Health, Singapore.

We thank Dr Henry Lesieur for granting the permission to use the SOGS for our study. The SOGS was translated and reprinted with permission from the South Oaks Foundation.